Is the Motorway 70mph limit to slow?

[Qmark78]

i personally find this a snails pace when the traffic is flowing and the road is wide open

Should the uk go down the Autobahn route and have speed limits removed on certain stretches of motorway?

or up the limit to 80/90mph?

[Gef]

So Ward, you are doing 100mph in the fast lane and someone doing 70 mph in the middle lane pulls out in front of you. What happens then?

[rugeleyboy]

can i make a point................

when driving on the autobahns and major roads in germany,france,italy blah blah blah.... if your in the overtaking lane and not going fast enough, the cars behind you will try to overtake you,flash there lights and basicly force you back to the nearside lane...... at first i thought it was dangerous....... but you never see an accident or congestion, it was thebest experience i have had since passing my test in 80's!!

the only downside is, when you get back to england it is full of centre lane drivers holding everyone up!!

so in my opinion,you should get 3 points for centre lane driving when not necersary and raise the speed limit to 100mph!!

[PhilLew]

Yes 70mph is to slow for todays cars,

I drive a 1957 Ford Pop which is fine for the 70mph speed limit set in 1965, but I also have a 55 plate Peugeot which could easily cope with a much higher speed.

I would suggest a limit of 90mph enforced with avarage speed cameras which would free up the police to deal with the more serious matters such as dangerous driving or drink driving.

[pagey]

Totally agree. On an empty road 70 is a snail's pace. A more rigourously enforced 100 limit would do fine. And I wish they would stop bringing in 20mph limits in impractical places. In the olden days it was 60 outside of a built up area and 30 inside. Simple as that. Now we constantly have to be remebering the limit, quickly looking for a repeater when we are approaching speed cameras and watching every layby, bridge and black volvo we can see, inevetably means we are spending les and less time actually paying attention to the road in front of us.

As previously stated, I think we should make the driving test much tougher. Professional footballers aren't made to play with the soccer-inept. Why should professional (and at least good) drivers be made to share the road with dangerous, unskilled drivers with poor senses of judgment?

[Gef]

Difficult one to answer this.

Having spent many hours driving in France I've never had a problem with the speed limit of 82mph. Generally French motorways are quiteter and the standard of driving is much better than here - especially lane discipline and use of indicators.

I know cars are much safer now - better brakes etc - but I'm not convinced that the standard of driving is.

Just my opinion but I think 100mph is too high but I would back trying 80mph on suitable strtetches.

[pagey]

PS Gef, the guy doing 70 should not pull out in front of the person doing 100. Often on today's roads we see cars (especially trucks) overtaking for the sake of one or two mph, causing traffic to back up and lose 30+ mph. Why can't that driver just slow down by a couple of mph until the outside lane is quiter? Why also do drivers insist on pulling out to overtake without accelerating AT ALL. In a line in the outside lane of a dual carriageway, with a queue waiting to overtake a slow vehicle, a driver pulling out that has been waiting behind the slow car/truck slows the entire outside lane down with him if he does not accelerate promptly. Then no-one is overtaking.

My theory is that you should treat overtaking lanes as such - treat them the same as you would on a single carriageway (2-way traffic). When safe to overtake, signal, get out and get in. The world could be a better place!.

[Gef]

Sorry pagey but I must have been answering when you posted.

I totally disagree with your view of 20mph zones. They are near schools and other areas where children are about.

If you can't remember the limit on whichever road you are on then you shouldn't be driving.

Your analogy with professional footballers is wrong and quite arrogant.

[Gef]

Sorry again pagey, typing while you were posting.

My point about pulling out at 70mph is that someone approaching at 100mph might not be visible when you do so.

However, I do agree with your general points about overtaking at least when it is a 3 lane motorway.

[Qmark78]

i think Motorway Cunstables should spend more time in urban areas catching Dazza in his corsa doing 50mph near a school

opposed to Mr nobody with carpet samples in the back seat at 2am driving at 85mph

[madman06]

i think there should be a time and a place to do over 70mph EG after 10 at night till what 6 in morning,

[Toureman]

To simply answer your question NO!

Theres so many prats on them now and not many of them would ever get used to Ward's inane suggestions in his second post.

[Grunty]

Qmark78 - Mr Nobody driving at 85 mph with carpet samples in the back looks a bit like a burglar until the police stop him and find out. Now what is it that the police are always being told by uninformed motorists?

[jake-the-peg]

We currently have one of the lowest road fatalities rates in the world.

Raising the speed limit would doutlessly increase this, whoever caused it and why is not the issue, more people would die. (This is because even if accident rates stayed the same and they would probably go up the average impact speed would increase).

If you want to raise the speed limit therefore you'd need a damn good reason to justify these extra casulties.

Personal frustration with going to slow doesn't sound much of a reason to me!

[Electrochem]

As usual a very appropriate answer from Toureman. I drive on the M6 every day to get to work and back and it never ceases to amaze me how many people drive like suicide pilots. I can see the reasoning for raising the limit to 80 perhaps, but over that and there would be big problems. What is the point of sitting in the outside lane, which is NOT the fast lane as some suggest and doing 90mph to save perhaps 10 minutes on your journey.

The main problem today is that many people think they are the only person on the road and everyone has to get out of their way. Let's have a bit more consideration for other road users.

Speak to a Traffic Officer who has had to break the news to someone's family that their relative is dead and you would perhaps see it from a different perpective.

Speed alone, does not cause accidents but, the average motorist does not have the ability to think so far ahead.

I do not sit in the middle lane doing 70mph. I try to stay in the inside lane, unless there are a load of trucks or slow moving vehicles, in which case I will overtake at about 75 - 80. Tailgating is bad enough at the moment but, for some people 100mph would not be fast enough. Watch the carnage then!

Remember: "It is better to be 5 minutes late in this world, than 50 years early in the next"

[ianess]

Modern vehicles are easily capable of exceeding the 70mph motorway limit but the nut holding the steering wheel isn't capable of controlling the thing at that sort of speed.
Why on earth do we have this pre-occupation with speed? Everyone should allow themselves a few minutes extra time and slow down a bit.
A reasonable average speed of 50mph can be attained by almost anybody, so as an example a 15 mile commute would take 18 minutes......is it so important that you have to do it in 15 minutes or less?
In any case most accidents take place away from motorways and at much lower speeds, so is there not an arguement for reducing the limit rather than increasing it?
Leave the 70 limit alone but if the decision is taken to increase it then steps should also be taken to enforce it.

[Paul22118]

Lots of views here and what post wouldn't be irritating without Ward Minters addition of a pooh stirring catalyst.

My views are:

Speed limit for motorways in UK should be max 80mph

Drivers would not then do 90 mph as 80mph is a speed that has a vehicle and driver comfort zone.

Many drivers could truly not handle a higher limit safely.

Keep all lanes the same speed - as always have been

Allow maximum speed to be applicable 24/7. The current enforcement by traffic volume and weather is adequate.

Make it 80 and by all means have average speed cameras strung out like Blackpool illuminations should the DoT feel it necessary.

Thats what I think.