motorway speed limit up to 80

[DrFilth]

the only time people stick to 70 is when a police car is around or there are cameras about.
will people stick to 80 ?

http://news.sky.com/h...news/article/16079703

[bibblebub]

it's not definite - the DOT is only having a consultation about it http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15116064

[flip_flop]

It is a move in the right direction.

In the right conditions I rarely stray below 90, so I'd like to see it increased further.

Equally, when the conditions are not right, I'd be happy if a strict 50 limit were enforced.

70 mph is an anachronism

[DrFilth]

>> Cars are much safer, they have more sophisticated equipment now than they did 40 or so years ago. They are capable of driving safely at higher speeds. <<

there are more and more cars on the road, lots of inexperienced drivers who think they know it all

[chrissa1]

I can find myself at 80 with no trouble at all especially when overtaking. I wouldn't go over 80 at any other time.

[jake-the-peg]

Thing is flip_flop who's the judge of "when conditions are right"?

There are enough people who speed through 50 mph limits where there are roadworks to suggest that that won't work.

I suspect that people would stick to 80 more in the short term and then ratchet up behavior as they did before.

Petrol companys would be happy though - I'm sure it'd push up their sales a couple of percent

[DrFilth]

you can still find the odd stretch of motorway that is quiet where it is safe to open up :)

[youngmafbog]

I drive 100 miles a day on motorways and I think 80 should not be a problem, stats suggest more than 50% do that anyway and plod do turn a blind eye. The problem is when plod are driving down the motorway people brake to 70, in heavy conditions this actually causes traffic to come to a grinding halt - very quickly. Allowing 80 then maybe this will be eased.

Jake has a point, at 50-60 I can get 28 mpg (diesel) at 70-80 it is around 23 mpg and if faster can drop to as low as 17mpg.

[Haggisdj]

>> Cars are much safer, they have more sophisticated equipment now than they did 40 or so years ago. They are capable of driving safely at higher speeds. <<

That may be all well and good but in my opinion the mentality of a vast percentage of the drivers has also changed in that time. There are a lot more idiots on the road now who do not know that they are idiots...

[ummmm]

How can braking to 70 bring traffic to a grinding halt?

[DrFilth]

ummmmm you see that a lot on motorways, when the police move off the motorway the traffic speeds up and the cars space out move

[Ankou]

i do lot of motorway driving, i don't think we would really see any change from what happens now.

[ummmm]

That's not a grinding halt though.

[DrFilth]

i have been on the m6 going down to birmingham and it has been like one big traffic jam you were lucky to get sections doiing 50 mph

[ludwig]

Everyone ignores the 70mph limit anyway. You can overtake a police car at 80 and they don't care. I do alot of motorway miles and I see this every day.

[jake-the-peg]

What happens nudgescuffler is that if traffic is at a high enough density and someone slows unexpectedly the people behind brake quicker and so on which eventually causes a traffic jam.

Now you might say people shouldn't be that close but as the number of cars goes up that becomes difficult to avoid.

Of course if the average speed goes up you can actually get more cars on the road.


However I don't think this is the biggest issue. In my experience lorries overtaking each other when the motorways are busy is the biggest cause.

Perhaps restricting them to the inside lane only during peak hours might help significantly

[ummmm]

It's very strange how traffic jams work...

[Ankou]

i always saw the m25 as a giant concertina drive 5 miles, squish up, drive 5 miles squish up (and repeat) - all for no apparent reason other than perhaps a lorry moving into the midle lane.

still, i don't think this would change.

[DrFilth]

this is one thing that bugs me that holds up traffic
>
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9cHcE1zPb0

[Ankou]

tailgating ?

[jno]

about 20% of motorway drivers (almost invariably in German cars) exceed the speed limits and follow too close. They will continue to do so. They're just people who KNOW they are the best drivers and that laws were not intended to apply to talented and highly skilled people like them.