80mph motorways?

[MarkyD]

Back to the OP, bring it on I say and bring A roads up to 70 at the same time.

Because there aren't enough people killed on A-roads as it is, so lets kill a few more?

Normally due to idiots who think they can control their cars / sports bikes at stupid speeds then find out they can't. Or half asleep morons that don't check who's around them. You'll get accidents regardless speed limits. People that want to drive fast, will drive fast. Doesn't stop them does it?

How about demolishing historic towns and cities so traffic can average half a mile an hour faster? I'm sure it'd be worth it.

Just think how pretty Stoke could be! (braces for the worst)

 

[United57]

Certain stretches of motorways have more accidents than others. Is it drivers or the actual road?

 

[Miss Red]

They still can, I failed mine in 2004 for 'not making progress'.


Of course if I had it my way then women, the elderly, people younger than me and people older than me wouldn't be allowed on the roads at all, thus reducing congestion to one singe car, and road safety would be improved dramatically, over night.

Lol As i passed mine first time in 1990 - I guess that single car would have to be me

 

[phildo]

A-roads have disproportionately high numbers of people killed and seriously injured for the amount they are used. The evidence is that reducing (and enforcing) a 50mph default speed limit rather than 60mph would significantly reduce the number of deaths, as the chances of drivers surviving in a collision at 50 are far far higher than at 60.

In that case we'd better increase the limits on all of the motorways and B roads then so that the accident rates on those increase to match the A roads 'disproportionately' high rate as clearly, the A road rate has been deemed acceptable.

Journey times are usually more critical at peak times when traffic is much slower and a higher limit will make the grand total of zero difference. Active traffic management, enforcing lower limits at peak times has actually improved matters. As for poor road layouts - the majority of our towns have road layouts dating back centuries in some cases. How about demolishing historic towns and cities so traffic can average half a mile an hour faster? I'm sure it'd be worth it.

Leave the lovely historic towns alone - build proper bypasses around them so people don't have to drive through the poor road layouts

 

[phildo]

For me speeding is a two sided coin, it needs to be more enforced where it matters (towns, school etc.) and removed where it's purely for revenue (basically any given rural road with a gatso on it).

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a nanny state loving anti speed freak - quite the opposite, I drive, frankly, ******* fast when the conditions suit.

Summed up perfectly.

Driving to Stoke each morning I find that the same drivers that drive at 53mph in the 60 zones and shake their heads etc as I try to overtake are the same ones that then overtake me in the 40 zones as they seem to drive at 53mph irrespectiven of conditions.

 

[phildo]

Limit should be increased to 80 on motorways & dual carriageways and 70 on national speed limit roads where possible, Most blackspots on national limits are now 40 or 50 rather than 60 anyway.
All 40/30/20 stay the same.

Additional measures.
Green cross code mandatory for all school kids
Cycling proficiency mandatory for all cyclists
Increase fines/points for using mobiles/smoking/applying make up etc
National campaign to educate drivers on lane discipline (particular emphasis on motorways (lane hogs) and roundabouts (cutting across))
Driving test to include motorways and be extended to at least an hour so examiner can assess concentration levels over a longer period
Lorries banned from overtaking each other on the motorway unless capable of completing the move in under 2 minutes OR ban lorries from lane 2 between 7am-10am and 4pm-7pm

 

[shoes]

70 on A roads seems fine to me tbh. It's a limit not a minimum requirement anyway, you don't have to drive at 70.

You should drive to the conditions and that includes the vehicle you're in, so if you know you're in an older car that can't steer, grip or brake as well as modern cars then slow down.

A-roads have disproportionately high numbers of people killed and seriously injured for the amount they are used. The evidence is that reducing (and enforcing) a 50mph default speed limit rather than 60mph would significantly reduce the number of deaths, as the chances of drivers surviving in a collision at 50 are far far higher than at 60. The speed camera / revenue argument is to put it succinctly: bollocks.

Fair point, I accept that the lower the limit, and enforced or not it will reduce the risk factor of the road. I also appreciate that as the speed increases the risk factor increases at a disproportionally higher rate.

3 points to most people is a pretty big penalty, usually having financial implications for 4 years following the offence. The government/LA, however, little, if any, of this, so an extra £60+ a time is a nice little earner, and disproportionate to the cost of running the bloody things, in some places by an extreme amount. For me personally, the £60 is chicken feed in comparison to the extra it would cost on my insurance due to the SP30.

 

[shoes]

Limit should be increased to 80 on motorways & dual carriageways and 70 on national speed limit roads where possible, Most blackspots on national limits are now 40 or 50 rather than 60 anyway.
All 40/30/20 stay the same.

Additional measures.
Green cross code mandatory for all school kids
Cycling proficiency mandatory for all cyclists
Increase fines/points for using mobiles/smoking/applying make up etc
National campaign to educate drivers on lane discipline (particular emphasis on motorways (lane hogs) and roundabouts (cutting across))
Driving test to include motorways and be extended to at least an hour so examiner can assess concentration levels over a longer period
Lorries banned from overtaking each other on the motorway unless capable of completing the move in under 2 minutes OR ban lorries from lane 2 between 7am-10am and 4pm-7pm

Never timed such a manoeuvre myself, but I imagine most are carried out in <2 minutes. It just seems like forever.

 

[MarkyD]

Lorries banned from overtaking each other on the motorway unless capable of completing the move in under 2 minutes OR ban lorries from lane 2 between 7am-10am and 4pm-7pm

This should apply to A-Roads as well. I was almost killed on one of the A-Roads going to Peterborough as I was passing a lorry. The driver obviously didn't check properly and decided to over take the lorry in front of him while I was next to him. I had to drive half off the road and half on the gravel inches away from the dividing barrier, he only noticed when I blasted my horn at him! Good job too, or I'd be in a box.

 

[henryscat]

Limit should be increased to 80 on motorways & dual carriageways and 70 on national speed limit roads where possible, Most blackspots on national limits are now 40 or 50 rather than 60 anyway.

Explain how 80mph is safe on dual carriageways, when most of them have side road junctions (e.g. A38) and traffic turning through the central reservation. Why is the A34 60mph?

There are a lot of roads with high accident rates where the limit hasn't been reduced. A518 springs to mind as a local example. Derbyshire on the other hand have reduced limits on quite a lot of their A-road network.

Lorries banned from overtaking each other on the motorway unless capable of completing the move in under 2 minutes OR ban lorries from lane 2 between 7am-10am and 4pm-7pm

Why?

Alternatively, speed limit cars, then people wouldn't be in such a rush...

 

[henryscat]

This should apply to A-Roads as well. I was almost killed on one of the A-Roads going to Peterborough as I was passing a lorry. The driver obviously didn't check properly and decided to over take the lorry in front of him while I was next to him. I had to drive half off the road and half on the gravel inches away from the dividing barrier, he only noticed when I blasted my horn at him! Good job too, or I'd be in a box.

My personal experience driving on the motorway has been....Number of near misses due to an HGV pulling out: once. Number of near misses due to some numpty not looking before changing lanes: I've lost count.

Extending your logic, cars should be banned from overtaking....

 

[mickyboy]

One point that has not been mentioned is who will enfrce the changes if the new speed limits are introduced?

The governmaent want to increase em, but at same time cut the only people who can enforce this, the police.

As for phildos point about increasing speed limit to 70 on national speed limit roads..... look at a lot of the single country roads, they are classed as national speed limit as they are not lit/built up areas.

But i do agree with you phildo on the point about drivers who when you are overtaking within the legal limit for the road they are on then dont take a blind bit of notice of any changes in speed limit further on.

It is a very contensious issue, but ive always had this point of view.

Why allow the car manufactures to produce and sell cars in a country that can double the legal limit.

i will always remember an incident in the late 80's, when a high powered car hurtled past my uncles car on the way to Bolton when i was a passenger and my mum said the imortal word......." He wont get there any quicker".........which he didnt..................as he ended up crashing into the back of a bus a few miles down the road.

 

[MarkyD]

This should apply to A-Roads as well. I was almost killed on one of the A-Roads going to Peterborough as I was passing a lorry. The driver obviously didn't check properly and decided to over take the lorry in front of him while I was next to him. I had to drive half off the road and half on the gravel inches away from the dividing barrier, he only noticed when I blasted my horn at him! Good job too, or I'd be in a box.

My personal experience driving on the motorway has been....Number of near misses due to an HGV pulling out: once. Number of near misses due to some numpty not looking before changing lanes: I've lost count.

That was an A-Road experience and I've made that trip many a time to Peterborough only to come across this a few times, there's a lot of HGV on that rout. Generally HGV drivers are pretty good on motorways and when it comes to town's It's totally understandable if they take up all the road, people forget they need the space.

I just don't get this overtaking game they seem to play on A-Roads takes them about 5 minuets to do it. They never go any quicker once they've done it. I like driving in the 3rd lane I find it's a little safer than being in the 1st or 2nd lane, you don't have to worry about people joining, lorries and vans playing hop scotch, motorcycles passing you from both sides, or some nugget cutting across your lane from the right or weaving in and out. All your worries lay on the left making it a little easier I find.

 

[Withnail]

Why allow the car manufactures to produce and sell cars in a country that can double the legal limit?

Now this i have never understood.

And what's more they make such a big deal about it in the whole marketing ethos surrounding the damn things - it's like effin' Top Trumps

Top Speed...
0 - 60 in...

what's with all of that?

 

[MarkyD]

Why allow the car manufactures to produce and sell cars in a country that can double the legal limit?

Now this i have never understood.

And what's more they make such a big deal about it in the whole marketing ethos surrounding the damn things - it's like effin' Top Trumps

Top Speed...
0 - 60 in...

what's with all of that?

I've never understood this either, the one thing that is understandable though is having good performance, reasonable acceleration, decent handling and good brakes. The only time 100 + Mph cars come in handy is if you would like to drive away from a hurricane, or an angry mob trying to gun you down...

 

[Withnail]

100 + Mph cars come in handy is if you would like to drive away from a hurricane, or an angry mob trying to gun you down...

Forward planning and all that, good point, well made...

 

[henryscat]

Top Speed...
0 - 60 in...

what's with all of that?

To make sure you get to the next red traffic light / back of the next queue of stationary traffic that little bit quicker....

 

[henryscat]

I just don't get this overtaking game they seem to play on A-Roads takes them about 5 minuets to do it. They never go any quicker once they've done it.

They're driving on a limiter, which inevitably won't be set exactly the same as the next lorry's. I would guess that a loaded 44 tonne truck takes a bit more getting back up to speed if you have to ease off the power.

I like driving in the 3rd lane I find it's a little safer than being in the 1st or 2nd lane, you don't have to worry about people joining, lorries and vans playing hop scotch, motorcycles passing you from both sides, or some nugget cutting across your lane from the right or weaving in and out. All your worries lay on the left making it a little easier I find.

You might be surprised that I disagree.... Driving down the motorway at 55 in lane 1 behind all the HGVs is actually quite stress free. I actually find myself a lot more relaxed if I've spent most the journey in lane 1, albeit taking a bit longer (but doing 70mpg) than if I've spent a lot of it having to go down lane 3. The only thing I don't like about sitting in lane 1 is driving past junctions because so many think if they're coming down a slip road its up to you to move out of their way to let them join, when it is up to the joining traffic to choose a safe gap. That said I've learnt to hold my nerve and just let the sods sort themselves out when they realise I ain't moving.

 

[Neon Jay]

Know what you mean there HC - it rattles my cage when people seem to think that the middle lane is exclusively for their use, rather that overtaking as it was designed. Most are just inconvenient, but I've seen drivers doing 65 in the middle lane, which just causes obstruction for anyone actually bothering to obey lane discipline; you've then got to cross two lanes to get past them rather than one.

And agreed about the car speed thing; unless you're a visitor of track days, is there any real need to have a car that's capable of doing 120+ ?

 

[Mr X]

The only thing I don't like about sitting in lane 1 is driving past junctions because so many think if they're coming down a slip road its up to you to move out of their way to let them join, when it is up to the joining traffic to choose a safe gap. That said I've learnt to hold my nerve and just let the sods sort themselves out when they realise I ain't moving.

No, that's called being considerate, and most drivers do move across if there's somewhere to go. The people who choose to stay where they are and be inconsiderate are usually the nervous drivers who are incapable of overtaking properly, change lanes without warning and don't know how to use roundabouts.

Clearly you've never had to join a motorway at a junction such as this, where some ignorant tw*t refuses to move over into a clear lane and you've got nowhere to go.