UK road speeds

[Greybeard]

In the car I tend to look at my GPS for my speed: it's supposed to be very accurate, (at least on flat ground) and if accurate it means my car speedo shows about 10% lower speed than the GPS; so when GPS shows 70mph; car speedo shows 77mph. Vehicles sticking to the UK maximums are often traveling frustratingly slowly as far as I'm concerned!

The law on our motorways states that the middle lane is for vehicles to use when passing slow moving vehicles in the 'slow' lane but only up to a maximum speed of 70mph, (112kmh). The outer lane is/was intended for overtaking only, (max 70mph). If a law-abiding driver wants to pass a line of slow moving traffic and has a normal inaccurate speedo he may be hogging the middle lane for miles and really only doing 65mph!!! Really, the rules on UK road speeds need to be reviewed. I don't think any government would want to be accused of making the roads more dangerous though so I can't see it happening.

[muskrat]

What I can't understand is that modern cars/bikes/trucks are a lot safer and brake better than 20 years ago. The roads are in better nick and they're taking all my favorite bends out, adding more armco and concrete barriers. And yet every time a drugged out 18 yo has a prang they drop the speed limit .
Cheers

[bsa-bill]

I don't think any government would want to be accused of making the roads more dangerous

If I recall correctly the present limits were to preserve fuel in one of those fuel shortage periods

[Greybeard]

If I recall correctly the present limits were to preserve fuel in one of those fuel shortage periods

Legend has it that the 70mph limit on motorways was introduced in the 60's after an AC Cobra drove up the M1 at something like 150mph; but this article doesn't mention that incident:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_speed_limits_in_the_United_Kingdom

[bsa-bill]

I thought the first motorway/dual carriage limit was 80 mph and later reduced to 70, can't find anything to back that up tho, of course prior to 70 mph then there was no limit apart from most family cars would struggle to get near 80  way back then

[Greybeard]

It's all there in that Wikipedia article BSA-Bill

[Klaus]

Be happy, they scrap the "red flag act"

[beezermacc]

In my opinion the problem is congestion rather than speed. Logically, the slower everybody goes the less accidents there will be and the less likely people will get hurt or killed. However, most accidents involve more than one vehicle, often because we are all competing for the same piece of tarmac. With so many cars and bikes in our vicinity there is often too much moving traffic for our senses to cope with - i.e. visual information overload and our brains find it difficult to process and prioritise all this stuff going on in a moving picture. On the motorways we are forced to drive much too close to other vehicles so that we don't have enough reaction time when unexpected things happen. Accidents involving only one vehicle are rare and are usually confined to careless parking, lack of concentration etc. OK there are some lunies and alcies driving into lampposts but no amount of speed limits are going to deter them.

[muskrat]

"OK there are some lunies and alcies driving into lampposts but no amount of speed limits are going to deter them." That's exactly what I mean beezermac, but our gumbient's knee jerk reaction is to keep lowering the speed limit or paint double lines everywhere.
I look at all other vehicles and think "how are you going to stuff my day".
Cheers   

[Butch (cb)]

I’m presuming it is all about overall accident, death and injury stats. (What follows is a diatribe based upon pure ignorance of the matter). Most governments have a policy of looking for continuous reduction on these. Now if you look at general standards of driving it is pretty abysmal. So you might suppose that overall, better training and a tougher test might do the job. Even better, supply a decent level of public transport and leave the roads for the enthusiasts. However, the simplest (cheapest) course has been taken whereby cars are being built tougher and tougher and speed limits generally are reducing. Hence you have you accident at lower speed and the strength of the car allows you to walk away from it. As most people are traveling by car any raised stats amongst other road users are negated. Hooray – problem solved.

Going back to the original premise of this thread though – yes it sucks all of the pleasure out of the driving/riding experience. Where you used to be doing a ‘good’ 60 in a 60 limit you are now stuck behind some numpty doing 45 in a 50. Tragic really. I know there will be a day of reckoning but I’ve got to the point where I pretty much ignore all limits and ride as I see fit.

[bsa-bill]

last decade has seen road deaths reduce by around a third I believe, you can't get around the fact we on motorcycles are  more vulnerable than in a car and the figures unfortunately back this up.
You can grump all you wasn't regarding powers to be and revenue, fact is if we did not need Police , Ambulance and fire service and Hospital services to deal with traffic  the government would rolling in it, deficit reduced ( I doubt the last bit, regardless of what DC and GO tell you the deficit is going up not down)

[Topdad]

The problems been there along time re speed limits , those who have seen any road safety films from Horsmans and other companies, dating back to the 50's -60's , someone mentioned them a few months ago ,see many clips that irk and we can still relate to now ,how often do you have some idiot who goes past you on a bend at 60-70 when you know it's a dodgy road anyway  only to catch up to the same idiot on a stretch of perfectly good safe 40mph and  he's doing 30. No sense nor reason ,tend to do what cb does  and ride at my interpretation of a safe speed ,unless mr plod is about ! My personal hate is kids sitting on my cars rear bumber when they haven't a chance to get past safely , can't help smiling at the reaction when I tap the brake pedal gently . Bob

[muskrat]

can't help smiling at the reaction when I tap the brake pedal gently . Bob

i do that too, but as I boot'er back a gear and giver the berries.
I believe everyone should be tested every 5 years. I'd be at the head of the line.
Cheers

[bsa-bill]

can't help smiling at the reaction when I tap the brake pedal gently . Bob

Thanks guys I was thinking it was just me did that, it is one of my hates and sadly some HGV guys do it too

I believe everyone should be tested every 5 years.

You have to apply every five years (or is it ten) for your licence once over 70 in UK  but it doesn't involve a test which I agree would be sensible but cost I suppose come into it these days

[Greybeard]

I believe everyone should be tested every 5 years. I'd be at the head of the line.

I totally agree with you. I passed my car test when I was 17, I'm now 65. It's ridiculous that I'm allowed to drive/ride without any assessment of my abilities or knowledge of the latest rules, (sometimes on a sixty year old motorcycle that doesn't have to have a road-worthiness inspection; madness!). Actually, I appear to be more aware of/likely to obey the rules than most younger drivers; for instance I still actually use my indicators in the car and hand signals when on two wheels.

I don't remember if I've said this here before, but why is it that the more expensive the car the less chance it will have indicators fitted? I believe that BMW's don't have them as standard; they must be very expensive cos most Beemer drivers don't bother with them.