How fast is too fast on the motorway

[karma22]

to be done for speeding?

[Mr Veritas]

Well,as the present maximum speed on a UK motorway is 70mph,I suppose anything above that would count as speeding.
Some Police areas allow(on non motorway roads) a few miles an hour above the limit,but I don't think this applies on Motorways?

[karma22]

I think you must be allowed to go quite a bit faster than 70mph on the motorway. Well everyone seems to anyway.

I think they only don't like it if you are going about 100mph but it might be less than that. Does anyone know?

[wishy123]

General rule of thumb used to be 10% above limit plus 3 mph before you were pulled over - i.e. 36 in a 30 limit, 80 in a 70 mph limit. 100 is generally perceived to be the speed on the motorway at which a magistrate will take away your licence, but there are no hard and fast rules.

[Mr Veritas]

Just because everyone else seems to be doing over 70mph doesn't make it legal.
You have a VERY funny idea of legal limits!

Try doing above 80 (in itself too fast) and see how quickly you get pulled up.

[Panic Button]

I think 80 is the top, but I can't get my truck over 56. Drat.

[flip_flop]

The 70 mph limit is an anachronism. It may have 'right' when it was introduced in the 50s, but in this day and age where the rubber on which our cars run is so much more advanced, anti-lock brakes, disc-brakes and so on, I would argue that 70mph as the legal limit is too low.

Equally, in heavy traffic or bad weather, 70mph could be too high.

So let's introduce a bit of common sense. Where the conditions are busy, say at rush hour, the 70mph limit remains, but where the roads are clear, why not have an 80 or 90 limit ? (personally, having driven in Germany a lot, I wouldn't have a limit at all - but I know and understand we are a nation that likes to be nannied and therefore to soothe those of the '70 is the limit and anything over should result in instant death' brigade, we can still have a limit, but a sensible one).

[factor-fiction]

Is it correct that there is 10% leeway given? I once read on AB that the 10% was built into speedometers so that when your speedo says 30 you could actually be doing anywhere between 27 and 30.

[jake-the-peg]

Having no speed limits on UK motorways would be suicidal.

With the amount of Lorries on our motorway system having cars roaring up the outside lanes when a lorry pulls out to overtake would be a recipe for disaster.

Only this summer 260 vehicles piled up in one of the biggest accidents ever on the autobahns.

As to the question there is a hard and fast law - it is 70. The Police are fully at liberty to prosecute you for 71. Whether they do or not is very much up to them and their local authority.

Practically speaking I'd suggest that you're best off not drawing attention to yourself. Provided there are 2 or 3 people about going faster than you you're not likely to be picked on. So ironically you're probably more likely to be pulled if you're speeding when you have the motorway to yourself.

Remember the Police are there to promote safety but also to enforce the law. 70 is the law and if you break the law whether it's by going faster or by breaking into someones house you do so at your own risk.

[chas2008]

having worked & spoken with traffic police over the years the general opinion is that they would prefer the m/way limit raised to 80..and many of them wouldnt pull a car that was travelling between 70-80 unless it drew attention to itself for another reason..

[jake-the-peg]

However that assumes that people would stick to a raised speed limit.

Raising the speed limit brings with it a risk that everyone would just up their speed.

You also have to ask what the benefit would be of doing so. It seems unlikely that the capacity of motorways would rise significantly. Instead you'd probably see increased acceleration and deceleration and overall journey times would probably remain pretty static.

[logic]

if i go over 80mph, the front window of the cararavan caves in,

[ummmm]

My first car was an A reg. You couldn't speed in them as the car felt like it would blow up if you went over 70. After that I've had various new cars....you could go 100mph and it still feel like you're going 30.

[logic]

I don't mind the cameras , it's those bl00dy speed humps that should be banned,
I wonder how many accidents have been caused by them, simply because suspension or steering has been damaged by the damn things.or even tyres for that matter.

[PeteHull]

I drive a 4.3 ltr 7 series BMW which will do 130+ with no problem. I never intend on speeding and don't in built up areas or a class roads etc, however I find that when on a motorway it is very difficult to travel at 70. If you do (and I set my cruise control you soon catch up to the traffic in front, you then ease out to overtake and you end up being carried along soon 80 or 90, even 100... The strange thing is firstly it doesn't seem as if you are going that fast (I fell you could get out and walk) and secondly, everyone else are going as fast or even faster.... I have been driving now for getting on 40 years and I have NEVER had a speeding ticket, parking ticket or an accident caused by me.... Maybe the roads should be improved using the vast amounts of "road fund licence" money, then it would make sense to riase the limits, but people would have to be made more sensible with an emphasis on SAFE driving and not ATTITUDE driving.

Just my thoughts

Pete

[jake-the-peg]

That's totally misleading Harvman.

Few accidents are "caused" by excessive speed

Excessive speed turns a minor accident into a major pile up

It turns a survivable accident into a fatal one

http://www.thelocal.de/national/20090213-17409.html

[djtdjt]

I got fined for doing 91mph on the M6!