Janspeed

iTrader: (1)

Hi,

Probably a very used and abused topic, but it would be good to know what you think of speed limits on UK highways and Euro Highways.

There are some countries which are increasing the limits, while other are stale.....

Some of the ones increasing are, if I'm not mistaken:

Austria, Italy, and maybe one or another more.

Janspeed

iTrader: (1)

LOL, know the feeling. Faster cars, lower speed limits, quite pathetic and taking the **** too!

corradoboy

On our motorways I struggle to maintain even just 70mph these days. The general volume of traffic is often the primary cause, but this is aggrivated by several other factors. P!$$ poor driving by the majority with amongst the main problems, lane hogging (centre) - effectively reducing the 3/4 lane carriageway to a dual; lane hogging (outside) - with a line of BMW's all thinking, "If only that guy in front would pull over...."; liberal wet speed pedants - those who've been suckered into believing all the "speed kills" BS and won't do over 60 ; abnormal loads trying to get through bottlenecks in rush-hour along with the Police escort whom should have seen enough sense to make him wait 'til after 9pm; roadworks where within the 7 miles of cones there are 9 speed cameras on a ridiculously low 40mph section and just 2 people supposedly working (a prime example of this is the widening of the M1 near Sheffield which is going to take 11 months when the Germans and Americans can lay a mile of 12 lane highway in an hour)

I'd love to see a 100mph limit on out m-ways, with perhaps a mandatory 3 month ban for anything over 115, allied to an effective traffic Police force whom could not only dish out trivial paltry irrelevent fines (who can't afford £35 ) and irritating points that mean nothing unless you already have 9, but also serve notice to bad drivers that they have to complete an amount of time with a driving instructor (like me ) to try and remedy their bad driving habits. Let's face it, what does a £35-65 fine actually teach you except bitterness We need a more active way of actually improving standards rather than just punishing people and never telling them what they did wrong and how to improve.

The Snug Rhino

70 is perfect - it means you can so 80 anyway.

if you let the people do 80 or 90 they would do 100+ and thats too fast for busy UK roads.

mways are very safe as it is- why change it?

Janspeed

iTrader: (1)

Why not?

Why not make taking a driver's more difficult to reduce the amount of less capable drivers?

Why not make it mandatory to do tests every year or two years to maintain your license like in the aviation industry?

richie001

iTrader: (3)

85 on motorways and duel carriageways with strict policing,20 in build up areas and schools,country roads 60

corradoboy

As a driving instructor I can vouch that the basic driving test already does this. It is however often an unfair assessment of ability as I have had exemplary drivers fail for trivial things and some whom I thought should not be doing a test pass with flying colours. The examiners discretion varies as they are only human. The test scenario varies greatly too, as no-one can control the traffic level, weather or many other factors.
A great idea in theory, but when you consider that there are 30+ million drivers on the roads, if they were to be retested every 10 years that would be 3 million tests per year, on top of the 2.1m they already carry out through the 1889 examiners. That would require a significant increase in personnel and resources. It would also mean that perfectly good drivers would have to face continual assessment, and the expense associated. Much better to simply have the Police identify those with inadequate abilities and enforce compulsory further training on them.

Janspeed

iTrader: (1)

This might sound daft, but I and 100,000s of other people in the aviation industry go through at least 3 tests a year, driving is a "dangerous" affair, a car is a weapon as you know very well.

It might mean more jobs and restraint on the total number of drivers on the road. How many people actually remember all the basic stuff after a few years?

As an instructor you are the best person to voice theses answers, I guess I am going on a rant.....

Fuzz

You'll need a lot tighter grip on the ability of the UK driving population before you convince me speed limits should be increased.
People can't even drive with care and good judgement at 70.

You also seem to forget fuel consumption will go through the roof if we all drive faster..


Andy

Janspeed

iTrader: (1)

Good points, but I am also tlaking about the rest of Europe!

Ze Germans handle it well! Now some other might too!

Fuzz

Most of Europe has decent road manners and actually use the mirrors occasionally.


Andy

powerman1

dont let the highways agency know this it could upset them

Leslie

85 on the Motorways/dual carriagways with swingeing penalties for 3 figure speeds, 30 in built up areas, 60 on single main carriageways.

20 mph is too slow in most circumstances and encourages people to break the law unecessarily.

Les

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

Personnally I think there should be far greater use of variable speed limits with far stricter enforcement of driving standards and limits.

The stupidity of a 70mph limit on a clear motorway and 30mph past a school at 3.30pm seems pretty obvious to me.

B9GLY

the best post so far imo

there should be no limits and you should be allowed to drive to the conditions of that journey/day! most of the time there is too much traffic to speed anyway so the limit doesnt matter and when roads are clear why are we shackled by stupid limits!

This would require more police on the roads and dangerous driving should be punished.