80mph Motorway Speed limit no longer considered

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:45 pm

The new Transport Secretary has decided that the increase of the speed limit on motorways to 80mph - part of a consultation being run by DfT - is to be dropped as he announced 'speed does kill', and also that poor driving standards make the proposed 80mph limit more dangerous.

But will they improve the driver training - unlikely!! That needs more examiners as the tests would then take longer so they need more resources to get the numbers of candidates through.

Errrr......right.......

shadrack · Post by **shadrack** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 6:11 pm

he means at 80 less speeding tickets will be issued! the speed limit now are totally stupid, theres cars that can do 0-60-0 in less space than the highway codes stopping distance chart! they were made when cars had all round drum brakes and before all the electronic gismos which virtually make the driver a spectator!

sramsay · Post by **sramsay** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 8:10 pm

Not to mention what DSC does! Watched Fifth Gear last week and was amazed just how active the system was. They also showed what can happen if you own a car without it and you happen to swerve to avoid something at motorway speeds.

shadrack · Post by **shadrack** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 9:04 pm

[quote="sramsay"]
Not to mention what DSC does! Watched Fifth Gear last week and was amazed just how active the system was. They also showed what can happen if you own a car without it and you happen to swerve to avoid something at motorway speeds.
[/quote]
i saw that it was amazing what a difference it made

Cannondale · Post by **Cannondale** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 9:27 pm

I drive 30K a year in a company car, a lot of the miles are on motorways, I drive at 85 all the time and never get any problems.

I know its not legal but to be honest the speed limit might as well be 80 at the moment as most do at least that day in day out.

Rich...

shadrack · Post by **shadrack** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 9:46 pm

[quote="Cannondale"]
I drive 30K a year in a company car, a lot of the miles are on motorways, I drive at 85 all the time and never get any problems.

I know its not legal but to be honest the speed limit might as well be 80 at the moment as most do at least that day in day out.

Rich...
[/quote]

well dont we all

just having the limit at 70 gives them easy pickings when its coming up to the end of the month and the rent on the cop shops due or the g4s bills come in

535dboy · Post by **535dboy** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 9:49 pm

So no change in the real world then

You can easily pass pc plod at 80 without them flinching

graemeX5 · Post by **graemeX5** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 10:08 pm

I tried sticking to 70 recently in my other car with roof down, just cruising along and nearly every other car was going past me.

Cars are better and safer than when speed limits introduced, but roads are busier but if we increase limit does that mean 80 limit and people will be driving at 95 instead of 85 (when it was a 70 limit) ?

I know my x5 can go faster but road conditions traffic, weather, etc don't always allow driving faster, but its easy in our refined cars to go fast and not be aware of it.

One concern I would have is that if doing 80 (or faster) and you come upon a car going at 50 that is a big difference in closing speeds and some people just don't realise how fast your going and pull out in front of you.

It's a lot harder to slow down and yes i know they should look in their mirrors, but that doesn't always happen. I for one done want to run into the back of any car that has pulled out on me. It can be a prob as had experience of this in a friends car long time ago when he was going double the speed of the car he was closing on and resulted in a near miss as the car in front pulled out into his lane not realising his real speed.

I know I sound boring but maybe just maybe it's worth considering this before wanting an 80 limit.

Raj · Post by **Raj** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 11:47 pm

I remember a couple of years ago in the M5 I got a little excited on a European drive and was hitting nearly 180 when someone pulled out on me but the modern quite large brakes scrubbed the speed off without any issues at all (more a testament of modern day technology). That was one incident however and the majority of the time it felt very comfortable just cruising along at 80-85ish.

On motorways it feels just right/relaxed cruising at around 80ish. As you get towards 90 say you do become more aware of your speed, so I don't think it would become the norm for people to all drive at 90 if the limit were lifted to 80. As said, most of our motorways and congestion don't allow much more than 80ish anyway.

When driving on stretches of the Autobahns where there are no limits you still find most just cruising at again around the 80ish mark.

ianmaney · Post by **ianmaney** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:48 am

I'm on the motorways every day of the week and 80-85 really is the norm, it just seems to happen naturally.

Raj · Post by **Raj** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 11:07 am

[quote="ianmaney"]
I'm on the motorways every day of the week and 80-85 really is the norm, it just seems to happen naturally.
[/quote]

Exactly and it's down to the build quality of most cars that road noise, comfort, etc all feels right at 80-85ish.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 11:15 am

I wonder what they make of the motorway safety figures in say France for example where 130 kph is the norm in good weather and 110 kph otherwise. I suppose that kind of split wouldn't work in the uk as many drivers don't even know when switch their lights on let alone work out if the weather isn't great.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 11:38 am

Indeed - and that comes down to driver training again.........too many pupils taught to 'pass the test' rather than taught to drive. Sounds just like the GCSE row too...........

shadrack · Post by **shadrack** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 11:59 am

I also find 80 comfortable in the x5 but if you start pushing 90-100 all of a sudden the economy drops massively and it starts to feel like a big 4x4 handling and high revving, so I don't think people would start pushing the boundarys anymore, especially if you kept the 96+ court for speeding and the 100+ instant ban as its at the mo

jaynana · Post by **jaynana** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 7:56 pm

i don't usually care about economy figures when i drive cos i drive very infrequently. my consideration is usually staying on the correct side of getting a fine!

so i'd certainly like the limit increased..

btw its the continental drivers i find most annoying on the moterways, who don't know to drive on the left lane, stay in lane, etc..

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