Motorway legal speed limit to rise to 80mph apparently

[andrewparker]

Yeah, I'd say I'm confident and aware. I'm certainly not hesitant. I just see a lot of bad driving and lack of attention from other drivers. Added to that I lost my brother in a car crash, and I think that has obviously left me very aware of what can go wrong.

[Hedge]

10% + 3mph on 80mph is 91mph. There's no way that is acceptable.

....Do you mean acceptable to you or to authority?

To me, but that comes down to my lack of trust in other road users.

I think it's best to trust them to do the wrong thing. That way you will be pleasantly surprised when they do the right thing.  

[stealthwolf]

It's been on radio 1 all morning and the minister they interviewed says it to bring people breaking the law back on the right side of the law

That's like saying that although murder is illegal, if everyone's doing it, we should legalise it so it's no longer a crime!!!

[Nodz]

It's been on radio 1 all morning and the minister they interviewed says it to bring people breaking the law back on the right side of the law

That's like saying that although murder is illegal, if everyone's doing it, we should legalise it so it's no longer a crime!!!

Thats exactly what I was thinking and I've since heard it again on the way home and its was Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, and this was the exact comment:

"What we are doing here, is bringing a lot of drivers who currently, routinely break the speed limit, back on the right side of the law - and that has to be a good thing."

Stupid comment, he shouldve just said it would bring us inline with the EU

source

Does the 10% rule still apply incase the speedo isn't reading correctly?? If so, wouldn't you have to be doing 88mph+ to get pulled?? As speed camera's are also 10% + 3mph iirc. Only asking, I'm not trying to find a loophole to break the law

That rules me out then.

At 88mph I start time travelling.

 

 

[Tfsi_Mike]

At 88 I start missfiring 

[RedRobin]

At 88 I start missfiring 

....At 64 I start farting.

[RedRobin]

It's been on radio 1 all morning and the minister they interviewed says it to bring people breaking the law back on the right side of the law

That's like saying that although murder is illegal, if everyone's doing it, we should legalise it so it's no longer a crime!!!

....

You're absolutely right but frankly, I don't care as long as they up the limit.

Aren't those BRAKE weirdo's up in arms shouting against it?

[RedRobin]

Yeah, I'd say I'm confident and aware. I'm certainly not hesitant. I just see a lot of bad driving and lack of attention from other drivers. Added to that I lost my brother in a car crash, and I think that has obviously left me very aware of what can go wrong.

....I fully sympathise about you losing your bro. Really. I know what the death of someone very close is like.

I guess that what I'm trying to say is to lose none of your awareness (which I'm sure you won't) but somehow we have to carry on and can't afford to literally think the very worst too much. It isn't just speed which kills. With both power and speed comes responsibility and it's personally why I stay as focussed/aware as I possibly can - To the extent of no radios/music etc while driving and both hands on the wheel quarter-to-three.

I hope to goodness that my post doesn't sound condescending - Believe me, it's not meant to.

[Poverty]

The motorways are already the safest roads.

Raising the limit to 80 could make them safer also as you wont have some dickhead hogging the fast lane at 70mph for no reason other than the fact that in his mind hes doing the legal limit and therefore no one should be going past him. End results being 10 qeuing cars behind him getting incresingly frustrated up to the point where people start to undertake and sometimes call the lane hogger a wanker!

[sub39h]

i'm all for this increase. i agree as well with some of the other sentiments about Police targeting DANGEROUS drivers, because dangerous driving is not the same as fast driving.

i also think that overnight the speed limits should be removed entirely (much like german autobahns - which btw i remember reading are actually safer than UK motorways because idiocy is punished and drivers are courteous and ruthelessly germanic in their precision)

i rarely brake the speed limit but the highway code and the national speed limit were set in 1964! that was 22 years before i was born! we now have cars that detect slowing traffic and brake themselves, and all the braking distances are woefully out of date. increasing the speed limit is definitely the smart thing to do. F**k the safety lobbyists, only 3000 ppl die on UK roads every year, of which a small proportion is due to speed. more people die of heart attacks every WEEK. if they want to save lives they should stop bothering drivers and hand out fruit instead.

[Scousus maximus]

if they want to save lives they should stop bothering drivers and hand out fruit instead.

I like that, made me chuckle.

Regards,

John

[Poverty]

speed lobbys are the tree huggers off the car world.

Reading the comments that people have left on the guardian website regarding this story shows how clueless and brainwashed alot of people are concering speed!

[Tfsi_Mike]

Going to miss the autobahn. 

Allowed a safe & legal logging session with the Seat mechanic this morning 

[RedRobin]

.
For a start the Germans are far more conscious of proper lane discipline - If only because the 'fast' lane might often have a Porsche or similar bearing down on you at over 160mph!

I've driven 470 miles today, some on M1 and M40 and lots of dual-carriageway A-roads. Nice and fast and without doubts the worst thing to deal with is bad lane discipline. I'm convinced that most of them don't even think that hogging lanes, especially middle, is wrong - They're ignorant.

[Tfsi_Mike]

Very rare to see 'lane hogging' over here, like you say more aware.  If something is infront of you; pull out, overtake, pull back in.  Simple.

You cant assume 'cause your doing 130 you okay to sit in the 'fast lane' as like you say a deisel merc or audi will be bearing down on you at 150+ Then there are the Big Mercs & Porsches etc etc. 

An enjoyable place to drive IMO