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Motorway speed limit increase?

SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
Up to 80mph? Surely it makes sense.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15116064
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Makes sense to me, variable speed limits still work where the increased speed would cause congestion. But on a lot of the motorways at 11pm at night when it's dead there seems no reason for people to stick to 70mph if they want to drive at 80mph. Personally I try to keep my fuel efficiency up so end up doing 65-70 on the motorway, but I see no reason why people who want to burn through the petrol can't cruise at 80mph.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It makes sense, definitely. They need to do it for drugs laws too.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It makes sense. I just wish they'd be a bit more honest about it. I don't buy any of this bullshit about it being done for economic reasons.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If they were doing it for economic reasons they'd slow it down to 55. At 55mph my car has a tank range of 600 miles. At 70 it goes down to 450.

    Other than that, I'm not bothered either way, someone who crashes at 80 is just as much in the shit as those who crash at 70, my only real concern is that as people tend to do 10-15mph over the limit already we could see a lot more people doing over 90-95mph. As driving standards on the motorway leave a lot to be desired anyway, I'm worried there will be more accidents.

    What we need are more traffic cops in unmarked cars pulling over the tailgaters, under-cutters and people who insist on reading a map e.t.c
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whowhere wrote: »
    What we need are more traffic cops in unmarked cars pulling over the tailgaters, under-cutters and people who insist on reading a map e.t.c

    Not gonna happen. Also, if you're pulling over the undertakers, do you not also need to pull the people who refused to get their fat arse out of the inside lane when they obviously weren't overtaking anything?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If there's room to undercut there's room to pull the hell over. That's the one thing that infuriates me more than anything about driving on UK motorways.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whowhere wrote: »
    Other than that, I'm not bothered either way, someone who crashes at 80 is just as much in the shit as those who crash at 70, my only real concern is that as people tend to do 10-15mph over the limit already we could see a lot more people doing over 90-95mph. As driving standards on the motorway leave a lot to be desired anyway, I'm worried there will be more accidents.

    I think for most people who perhaps drive a car with an average 2l engine or less, 80mph is a comfortable speed and is an easier speed for the engine to maintain. I find it takes more effort to keep the car at 70 than I do at 80 so I certainly won't feel I need to hit speeds of 90+.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't know anyone who strictly observes the 70mph speed limit and the whole argument seems rather moot. If I'm coming home on the M23 on a Sunday and there's nobody about then I'm going to be doing 90mph because it's safe to do so.

    Motorway driving should be a mandatory part of driving lessons if it isn't already. Coming up on some cunt in the outside lane doing the same speed as the guys in the nearside lane is infuriating.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Learner drivers are prohibited from motorways. Motorway and night driving is part of the Pass Plus course, but that's not compulsory.

    Anyone who says it's easier to drive at 80mph rather than 70 is being rather silly. It's not. In most cars you have to keep your foot in to do 80mph, even if it's only a little. The best speed for fuel economy is actually between 50mph and 60mph for most cars, as in top gear the engine will be running at little more than tickover.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    For me it's generally as easy to do 80 as it is to do 70... the main issue I find with sticking religiously to 70 is when you creep up on the guy doing 69.5 and you can't decide whether to go at 69 or overtake him at 0.5mph :p.

    At 80 you just pass most things except the mercedes / bmw doing 95 who dazzle you with their always-on-headlights for overtaking a lorry before them.

    I think the main problem with putting learner drivers on the motorway is the practicality. Not every test centre is within 5 minutes of a motorway, and seeing as how on 40 minute test 5-10 minutes is faffing, 5 minutes is manoeuvring, you really don't have much time to get to a motorway and drive in a straight line.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Maybe post-test motorway experience should be mandatory. My instructor took me out for a couple of hours motorway experience after I passed my test, and I found it invaluable.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not gonna happen. Also, if you're pulling over the undertakers, do you not also need to pull the people who refused to get their fat arse out of the inside lane when they obviously weren't overtaking anything?

    If I'm in the inside lane doing 75 or so, and overtaking someone, the last thing I want is some impatient twat driving up my arse, undertaking then pulling right in front of me. Had some twat who crossed 3 lanes of traffic in order to get 1 car in front.

    I agree with you the people who hog the lane for no reason, but undertaking in that circumstance isn't exactly a safe thing to do.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My driving instructor told me passing someone on the left is perfectly fine if they're driving incorrectly and staying on the right despite not overtaking someone. That's under the highway code as 'making progress'.

    The difficulty is when someone is in front of you and you move over to the left specifically to pass them, then move back into that lane.

    I don't know whether a judge would agree with my driving instructor but it seemed to make sense to me.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    Whowhere wrote: »
    If I'm in the inside lane doing 75 or so, and overtaking someone, the last thing I want is some impatient twat driving up my arse, undertaking then pulling right in front of me. Had some twat who crossed 3 lanes of traffic in order to get 1 car in front.

    I agree with you the people who hog the lane for no reason, but undertaking in that circumstance isn't exactly a safe thing to do.


    I fail to see how somebody can undertake you, or how you can 'overtake' somebody when you are in the inside lane??

    Middle lane morons are some of the worst drivers on the road, and undertaking isn't actually a driving offence - it's all about the context in which it's done.
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you manage to undertake someone whilst you are in the left hand lane and you are doing 60mph, then fair play to you. I personally think that the speed limit should be raised to 80mph, but that the police should take a more hardline approach to people who break it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Skive wrote: »
    I fail to see how somebody can undertake you, or how you can 'overtake' somebody when you are in the inside lane??

    Middle lane morons are some of the worst drivers on the road, and undertaking isn't actually a driving offence - it's all about the context in which it's done.


    Considering the inside lane is the "fast lane" and the one used for overtaking, i'd imagine it's quite easy......
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    Whowhere wrote: »
    Considering the inside lane is the "fast lane" and the one used for overtaking, i'd imagine it's quite easy......

    You have that back to front. The inside lane is the near side lane, the left lane if you like.
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The inside lane or the nearside lane is the one on the left and the outside lane is the one on the right.

    If there's room to get a car into the inside lane and then back out again in front of you, there's room for you to have moved over.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The inside lane or the nearside lane is the one on the left and the outside lane is the one on the right.

    This is how I've always thought about the lanes. I was getting a bit confused with the way people were referring to lanes!
    If there's room to get a car into the inside lane and then back out again in front of you, there's room for you to have moved over.

    This.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    The inside lane or the nearside lane is the one on the left and the outside lane is the one on the right.

    Exactly. Nearside (inside) lane is on the left. Offside (outside) lane is on the right.

    On a standard section of motorway where there is no lane control for junctions, then the two outside lanes are BOTH over taking lanes. Fucks me off how many people are quite content to switch off and sit in the middle lane whilst they're not overtaking anything. Don't care if you're doing the limit - it's moronic driving.
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Skive wrote: »
    You have that back to front. The inside lane is the near side lane, the left lane if you like.

    I thought I did, but someone refered to it as such earlier :S

    Either way, if I'm overtaking already people need to back the fuck off.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Agreed about tailgating but if someone can cut inside you, go past you and cut back out again then you weren't actually overtaking anything.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Agreed about tailgating but if someone can cut inside you, go past you and cut back out again then you weren't actually overtaking anything.

    I was in the fast lane over taking someone. Some moron pulled up right to my arse but couldn't get past. He pulled into the middle lane, into the slow lane, weaving in and out of traffic before pulling back in front of me.
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