Proposal to increase Motorway speed limit

[laserblazer]

Speed limit could reach 80mph - Yahoo! Cars

 

Don't they realise that anyone in a hurry does at least 80 anyway? They will simply add 10mph t whatever speed they think they can get away with now. I agree with the 80mph limit but accompanied with speed cameras.

[featured_spectre]

in most sections of the Autobahn in Germany there is no limit...and they have one of the lowest motorway accident rates in Europe

[joe90bass]

A few years ago I'd have been all for this, but with increasing fuel costs I tend to drive a little bit slower now to increase the mpg! I have a 1.4 automatic Corsa hire car at the moment (someone drove into the side of my car!) the difference in MPG between 60 and 70mph is quite considerable!

 

As for speed cameras, I haveno objection to by play areas, schools, etc. But on the motorwar I'd ratehr see police catching dangerous drivers

[Dos_Box]

I spent 7 years in Germany and the autobahns were possibly the safest roads I ever drove on. It helps that the German driving test/lessons have a compulsary autobahn driving module. In many places the autobahns were down to 2 lanes. Your were either going fast, or slow. If you were going slow in the outside lane then you had to pull over to let faster vehicles past. Also with many modern cars you now don't get the best fuel efficiancy unless you are 'at speed'.

[somabc]

Makes sense in most of Europe the speed limit is 130 Kph (80 mph)

[TechMonkey]

I think the best change they could do is make it law to pull over to the left side unless overtaking. The number of times I have been happily tootling along the inside lane on a near empty motorway only to have to pull all the way out to the outside lane to over take one car that thinks they are fine sitting in the middle lane. The M25 is interesting as often it is easier, and you can make better progress, to sit in the inside lane and undertake everything and it is safer as the majority are sitting in lanes 3/4 so 1&2 are empty!

[Theblacksheep]

Compulorary motorway lessons focusing on lane use and breaking would speed up traffic more than a 10mph increase.

[aerospacemango]

I think the best change they could do is make it law to pull over to the left side unless overtaking. The number of times I have been happily tootling along the inside lane on a near empty motorway only to have to pull all the way out to the outside lane to over take one car that thinks they are fine sitting in the middle lane. The M25 is interesting as often it is easier, and you can make better progress, to sit in the inside lane and undertake everything and it is safer as the majority are sitting in lanes 3/4 so 1&2 are empty!

 

Well said, that person!!!

 

It really does my head in that people seem to think that they can sit in the middle lane, for mile after mile, and not pull in. These people should be taken off the road until they can drive properly. Although there's nothing like the smug feeling of pulling past them, and then immediately pulling into the inside lane, with the thought....

 

"HA! See? That's how you drive!"

 

Going through your head!

 

*When I say immediately.....I don't mean cutting them up....I mean pulling in, at a proper distance, and then pulling over to the inside lane! Thought that was worth pointing out!!*

[laserblazer]

Also with many modern cars you now don't get the best fuel efficiancy unless you are 'at speed'.

 

Really? I kind of doubt that on a motorway. Drag will increase with speed and that's what clobbers the mpg. F1 cars are probably the most highly tuned for efficiency but if it's wet or they are stuck behind the safety car, they go a lot further on a tank full.

[somabc]

I thought it was the Law! It's in the Highway Code anyway.

Lane discipline -264

 

You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past. Slow-moving or speed-restricted vehicles should always remain in the left-hand lane of the carriageway unless overtaking.

[LeMarchand]

I think the best change they could do is make it law to pull over to the left side unless overtaking.

 

I thought that was the law?

 

I will admit that I do occasionally spend longer in the middle lane than I probably should, but only when I know that if I get into the lh lane I will be trapped by those exceeding the limit in the centre lane. For clarification, as I know this is an emotive subject: there are cars within a couple of hundred yards in the lh lane (doing <70mph) when I do this!

[bladedanny]

... there are cars within a couple of hundred yards in the lh lane (doing <70mph) when I do this!

 

Then IMHO you are overtaking making this perfectly legal.

[Hightower]

I thought it was the Law! It's in the Highway Code anyway.

 

Highway code isn't law.

 

I do a speed I'm comfortable with doing on motorways. I don't do it because it's cool, or because I may want to flaunt the law. If they increase the speed limit I will still do the speed I am comfortable with.

[bladedanny]

I thought it was the Law! It's in the Highway Code anyway.

 

There also this rule.

 

268

 

Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.

 

Which depending on how busy the motorway is, would be legal to over/undertake in the left hand land doing ~70Mph

[TechMonkey]

I may be wrong then but I thought unless a highway code was a MUST then it wasn't law. If it is law then I wish it was used more often.

 

I don't see a prob with that LeM I do the same, it is when you are out on the outside lane which is chock full because everyone is having to be out there to pass one car that could quite easily move over to the near side. Once you get a few of them in a row you get the problem that everyone sticks to the outside lane so they don't get caught in the middle lane & this is a massive cause of congestion. Roll on automated driving systems as they will make driving so much more efficent

[LeMarchand]

Then IMHO you are overtaking making this perfectly legal.

 

I wish someone would explain that to the idiots who feel that anyone who isn't breaking the speed limit should remain in the lh lane at all times...

 

Highway code isn't law.

 

I do a speed I'm comfortable with doing on motorways. I don't do it because it's cool, or because I may want to flaunt the law. If they increase the speed limit I will still do the speed I am comfortable with.

 

I'm trying to work out if you mean that you drive at up to the limit but drop down if conditions dictate it would be sensible to, or whether you mean that you consider yourself above any speed restrictions.

[TechMonkey]

The word I have heard is that the law that prevented undertaking was dropped or modified. Police can now get you for dangerous driving or driving with undue care and attention but if you can show & explain that you took necessary checks and weren't reckless you are fine. A friend on a motorbike (so this may be different from a car) proved this by undertaking a car while in view of a police car. He made sure he did all round checks, stayed over to the left side of his lane and did it in a controlled manner. He got pulled, explained what he did, the police radioed control and were happy and let him go on his way. Now any chance of being pulled maybe enough to stop people doing this but it proves it isn't against the law to undertake.

[gshaw]

The problem you have is that the left hand lane ends up being lorries (limited to 52mph) and nervous drivers \ those choosing to go slowly... if you keep weaving in and out that ends up being more of a problem than sitting in the middle lane doing 70mph.

 

What winds me up is on national limit A-roads, left land is the slower traffic as above and you're then caught between being stuck doing 20mph less than the limit or having a succession of **** Audi \ BMW drivers up your backside. I react to that by sitting in the faster lane and slowing down to 60mph just to wind them up... I'm not breaking the limit for anybody and definitely not forcing myself to 50mph so some idiot in an luxo barge can go speeding around at 90mph

[teejay]

I thought it was the Law! It's in the Highway Code anyway.

 

The Highway Code is not law, it quotes some part of the law but it is just a guide.

Overtaking on the nearside is not an criminal offense, you are however likely to be charged with driving without due care and attention or dangerous driving. It really does depend how you overtake on the nearside, if you have all the tailgaters in lane 3 and you have been cruising along in lane 1 at a steady speed and nearside overtake then plod is unlikely to take much notice. If you steam up behind a lane 2 hogger, swerve to Lane 1, accelerate, go past leaning out the window remonstrating at driver in Lane 2 and then pull pack out into lane 2 cutting up the car, then plod will take a very dim view of this.

There have also been rare incidences of a lane 2 hogger reporting being overtaken on the nearside to the police and then finding themselves in court for driving without due care and attention/obstruction

[Flakes]

god i hate this, i drive up and down the 70MPH coast road on the way to and from work, just the other day i was traveling at 70MPH in the RH lane, only to break half way up because of a polo doing 60MPH, big clear gap on the lh lane, after waiting a minut for them to move out of the RH lane, i promptly undertook them, only for them to wave there hands at me in an angry manner :rollseyes: after a little while i looked back and they were still doing 60MPH in the RH lane, i was now ovtaking slower cars in the LH lane.

[Andrew_C]

To go back to the topic (and avoid getting steamed up over CLODs, Centre Lane Occupancy Drivers) I'd favour an increase to 80+ but only when tied to active traffic management. Thus, in good conditions and light traffic, 80+ is allowed. In poor conditions, the limit is reduced and enforced! Carrot and stick.

[36Degrees]

I react to that by sitting in the faster lane and slowing down to 60mph just to wind them up.

 

Rule 167: DO NOT overtake where you might come into conflict with other road users. For example when you would cause another road user to swerve or slow down.

 

so some idiot in an luxo barge can go speeding around at 90mph

 

This seems to imply that you would not do the same for someone in a Mondeo, Vectra, or any other family saloon.

[Rydra]

Dual carriageways, motorways etc it should make very little difference what the 'speed limit' is, as long as people are taught to drive at it in a sensible manner.

 

If every car on the motorway drove at 70mph, no more no less then the only reason for accidents or problems is people who drive without due care and attention, or mechanical failure.

This would stand true if it was 100mph.

Speed is not the killer here; it's variable speeds and/or errors that cause the problem.

[sonofsanta]

Well said, that person!!!

 

It really does my head in that people seem to think that they can sit in the middle lane, for mile after mile, and not pull in. These people should be taken off the road until they can drive properly. Although there's nothing like the smug feeling of pulling past them, and then immediately pulling into the inside lane, with the thought....

 

"HA! See? That's how you drive!"

 

Going through your head!

 

*When I say immediately.....I don't mean cutting them up....I mean pulling in, at a proper distance, and then pulling over to the inside lane! Thought that was worth pointing out!!*

 

If the motorway is really empty, and I mean at levels of just you & them, it can be even more entertaining to overtake them in lane 3, then drop back into lane 1 and let them go past you again, then back out to lane 3 again... and just keep circling them through legal overtaking manouevres until they take the hint.

 

Sod the speed increase to 80 though; restricting lorries to lane 1 only would do more for motorway congestion and traffic flow. It's illegal for lorries to go on the motorway altogether in Switzerland; they have to get ferried across the country on a train instead. As a result all motorways are 2 lanes and flow much more smoothly than here.

 

EDIT: That, and actually training people on how to drive on motorways - it's still ridiculous to me that you cannot drive on a motorway until you're already legally qualified to do so.

Edited March 1, 2011 by sonofsanta

[Jamman960]

I somehow doubt they'll ever increase the limit, they seem more intent on reducing the limits... I'm hoping budget cuts will stop the new Active Traffic Management setups on the M1 and M25 from going live as no doubt they'll simply reduce the limit to 50mph throughout the day as they do elsewhere.

 

Going around at 50mph may be ok for casual drivers but when your actually trying to get somewhere it gets tiring after a while.