increased speed limit to 80mph, is it enough.
- Thread starter Tom Allen
- Start date
agree with the first part that a huge holdup is people 'overtaking' so slowly that they are barely even passing the drivers on the inside, hugely frustrating when you're stuck behind them as they do this across all lanes, which naturally causes a backlog of drivers behind them who could have passed by much quicker.
however as much as it is illegal and therefore considered dangerous to drive 110+, when people are sensible and the conditions allow it then i don't see anything wrong with it, since it makes more room on the road behind them for slower vehicles. however by conditions i should stress that this involves the traffic around them since if they are travelling considerably faster than those in the next lane, people can misjudge the speed and pull out infront of them too late to allow them to safely slow down behind them.
If people can't work out that on the A303 whilst on dual carriageway stretches the national speed limit is 70 and joining the A303 at 30 or 40 mph via a slip road is dangerous then increasing the limit is a bad idea
The presence of a speed camera does not mean you have to drive at a snails pace. And it is not the responsibility of those on the road to move out of your way / slow and let you on
I will get out of the way I see you coming because I know the odds are you are incapable of driving. But as I'm about to pull off at the next junction I don't want to pull out in front of others unnecessarily, or have to accelerate past you swerve in and brake to exit just because you decide to pull on at 30/40, pass the speed camera then accelerate and try to race ahead
The presence of a speed camera does not mean you have to drive at a snails pace. And it is not the responsibility of those on the road to move out of your way / slow and let you on
I will get out of the way I see you coming because I know the odds are you are incapable of driving. But as I'm about to pull off at the next junction I don't want to pull out in front of others unnecessarily, or have to accelerate past you swerve in and brake to exit just because you decide to pull on at 30/40, pass the speed camera then accelerate and try to race ahead
Disagree. In my opinion what tends to happen on more occasions than not, is that either
- The slower car pulls out on the quicker car which is travelling at such a speed that is soon is on the bumper of the car infront and is forced to slow down causing the ghosting effect.
- The slower car sees the enormously fast car and decides not to move over into the fast lane causing itself to slow down causing the ghosting effect
There is however the argument that actually travelling at a lower speed causes less 'stop and start' conditions and therefore would actually improve journey times!
your first point is a better way of describing what i was trying to say
and thats why i'm saying only when the traffic conditions are suitable because this is what will happen.
In agreement with both your points Mag. Do a lot of motorway driving.
On slip lane, generally, I would try to be courteous and vacate the inside lane. More often than not, either coming off or stepping down with the accel will create enough of a gap. If not, I won't just swerve out. Even when I'm in the middle lane, I'm watching for cars coming down the slip as soon as I could have visibility of it. I pretty much try to predict the drivers' movements around me and can guess when someone's likely to pull out on me, often indicating for them to go ahead before they've done anything - often, you just know when they're glancing in their mirror to move across as you see a car roll down the slip lane next to them.
And also, far too many middle-lane hogs on the road. It's amazing that with 4 lanes on the M1 now, I still have to weave through 3 lanes doing almost the same speed around 60-70 where it seems you have small stretches open in the first lane to get up to 70 for a short time before you have to do it again. People just like having a huge gap in front :\
I actually got pulled over by police for undertaking a couple of days ago. Moved from the third lane into the first lane, then a few MINUTES later I went to over-take in the first lane again and they flashed up behind me instantly. I never got to come back in. They had been sitting behind me just waiting for me to come back across. Obviously a quiet night for the lads.
Someone mentioned it was just fizzling down with rain when they were driving to work and thinking it's ok to still be quick. Probably the most dangerous condition of rain IMO. Not enough to wash the dirt and grit away. You end up with more of a greasy film of moisture that clings your tyres, especially if it's been dry for a while previously.
rant over
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Hmmm. Interesting read. I've temporarily quit driving recently because I was fed up of the high price of fuel and the nutters who I was sharing the road with. My Road Tax and MOT were also due when I quit so I figured I wouldn't spend the money on that right then, quit driving for a while, walk to work, get my fitness levels back up, etc., etc., etc., but I digress...
I think increasing the limit to 80mph is a bad idea unless they get rid of the 10%/10%+2 rule. I used to drive a lot on the motorway when visiting my brother and I almost always stuck between 55-65 for fuel economy. Not to mention that I used to drive a pick-up truck so aerodynamics is a little poor. I can, however, make it up to 90 without much issue but people would still try to bomb past me. It's like they see a pick-up so it must be driving slow. I've had little Ford Kas, Peugeot 106s and Nissan Micras almost fall apart as they rattled past me at that speed. It's actually scary when it happens because you can visibly see that they have almost no control or grip at that speed.
Maybe if people can learn better on-road manners (e.g. staying in the slow lane unless overtaking) and judgement skills (like not trying to go faster than they can think, let alone faster than their car can reasonably handle) then we could abolish the speed limit but, for now, I think increasing it would be just plain stupid.
I think increasing the limit to 80mph is a bad idea unless they get rid of the 10%/10%+2 rule. I used to drive a lot on the motorway when visiting my brother and I almost always stuck between 55-65 for fuel economy. Not to mention that I used to drive a pick-up truck so aerodynamics is a little poor. I can, however, make it up to 90 without much issue but people would still try to bomb past me. It's like they see a pick-up so it must be driving slow. I've had little Ford Kas, Peugeot 106s and Nissan Micras almost fall apart as they rattled past me at that speed.
It's actually scary when it happens because you can visibly see that they have almost no control or grip at that speed.Maybe if people can learn better on-road manners (e.g. staying in the slow lane unless overtaking) and judgement skills (like not trying to go faster than they can think, let alone faster than their car can reasonably handle) then we could abolish the speed limit but, for now, I think increasing it would be just plain stupid.
I think 80mph for cars would be good...
Not vans though because (as a van man every day) you just cant stop when some dipsh1t pulls out in front of you because the assume van = slow & have no concept of stopping distance for anything heavier than their saxo!
It would need to be like Germany though & have a weather dependant speed system though as some people still don't appreciate low tire tread is for their safety in the wet not because the ministry of transport want them to buy new tires...
Point of interest though In Germany the legal wear limit in 3mm+ compared to our 1.6mm & the police actively enforce this as well as the speed & load rating on your tires. They will not let you move your car if you are stopped with sub standard tires, it would be recovered to a garage... Something similar would need to be in force here I feel
Not vans though because (as a van man every day) you just cant stop when some dipsh1t pulls out in front of you because the assume van = slow & have no concept of stopping distance for anything heavier than their saxo!
It would need to be like Germany though & have a weather dependant speed system though as some people still don't appreciate low tire tread is for their safety in the wet not because the ministry of transport want them to buy new tires...
Point of interest though In Germany the legal wear limit in 3mm+ compared to our 1.6mm & the police actively enforce this as well as the speed & load rating on your tires. They will not let you move your car if you are stopped with sub standard tires, it would be recovered to a garage... Something similar would need to be in force here I feel
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