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Speed limit could reach 80mph

The UK Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond, has proposed to increase the speed limit on UK motorways from 70- to 80mph.

The idea behind the change is to reduce journey times, as the Government believes that the economy could be improved if motorists spend less time behind the wheel.

Mr. Hammond said that safety might not be the only factor to consider when it comes to judging how fast cars travel on the roads.

Speaking to the 'Daily Telegraph', he said: "We need to do this on a pretty rigorous cost-benefit basis. At the moment there are a clear set of criteria for making these decisions. Perhaps we ought to ask if we are using the right set of criteria."

Motorway speed limits in the UK are significantly lower than those in other European countries. The maximum speed on similar roads in France and Italy is 81mph. In Spain, Portugal and Ireland it is 75mph.

The UK's 70mph motorway speed limit was introduced in 1965, following a series of reports of manufacturers and car owners testing high performance cars to their limits.

There were 132 deaths on UK motorways in 2009, which is the last year for which figures are available. However, motorists are more likely to experience an accident on town and country roads with lower speed limits, poorer visibility, less space and no division between oncoming traffic.

gets my vote

I'm not sure about this.


Keep death off the roads........................... Drive on the pavements.

i think some do any way

An 80 mph limit on Motorways could be a sensible option in my opinion.
In Germany we have a recommended speed of 130 km/h (~80 mph) on the Autobahn, as long as no lower speed limit is assigned.

I think the current 78MPH is OK but at 80MPH people will just program cruise for around 88MPH.
70MPH is to slow though.

130 mph can be a legal cruising speed on certain parts at certain times over here ...
But there are many parts of the Autobahn system, where more than 65 mph are irresponsible.

Sounds an interesting idea.

It would bring the majority back inside the law, and so long as they then stuck to the new limit, we wouldn't see any significant change in accidents or severity, as there wouldn't be much of a change in speeds.

However, I suspect many would still choose to exceed the new limit, by a similar proportion to that they do now. This may not be such a good thing.

JohnDotCom wrote:I think the current 78MPH is OK but at 80MPH people will just program cruise for around 88MPH.
70MPH is to slow though.

For cruise control read "Right foot through the floor"

I do half my driving mileage in France. Most of the Autoroutes are 130kmph but there are a number of sections where it is 110 kmph. In wet weather the speed limits are reduced to 110kmph and 100kmph. The places where there are 110kmph limits are normally where traffic is dense or where the road has a tight bend (and they do seem to love tight bends).

The majority of the autoroutes are two lane.

The French seem to keep to the limits and it is normally those from other countries, especially the Netherlands, who speed.

In the main traffic is a lot lighter but on the two lane roads there can be a lot of HGVs but discipline seems far better than here where whilst we may have three lane roads most people seem to only want to drive in the middle or outside lanes effectively giving a two lane road.

The M25 has variable speed limits. Perhaps this could be extended across the motorway network enabling higher speeds when conditions are right.

Paul

PaulT wrote:The French seem to keep to the limits and it is normally those from other countries, especially the Netherlands, who speed.

Funny, but at home they seem to drive below the limit, but in the outside lane so you can't get past. At least that was my experience.

In the main traffic is a lot lighter but on the two lane roads there can be a lot of HGVs but discipline seems far better than here where whilst we may have three lane roads most people seem to only want to drive in the middle or outside lanes effectively giving a two lane road.

Yes, a right pain on both counts. In Germany, there are several sections of 2 lane M way where larger vehicles are not allowed into lane two for certain stretches, either at all, or at peak times. This stops the snail racing we suffer from here.

The M25 has variable speed limits. Perhaps this could be extended across the motorway network enabling higher speeds when conditions are right.

Paul

Again quite widely used in Germany. I know a large section of the A2 between Hannover and Wolfsburg is like this. Other bits are a fixed max of 120, a small amount is open.

I came up (traveled North) on the M5 - M6 last Sunday between 11am and 01pm .. the traffic was heavy enough to prevent me from keeping a consistently to the proposed 80 mph.. In places it was possible to reach substantial speeds but only untill I ran into the next group of slower moving vehicles..

And that is what our Mways seem to be, various sized groups of vehicles covering all three lanes and forcing those in the outside lane to crawl through each group one by one, then rushing after the next group till you get to your turn off. Overall it makes a mockery of your ave speed. A speed graph taken on a long mway run would look like a mountain range innit...

This isn't a new phenomenon, it has been like that since our Mways opened, but at first the groups were many many miles apart, now they are, at best, a couple of hundred yards apart, and sometimes a several miles long!..

It would help if lorries were banned from the 2nd lane when all 3 lanes are full..... (?)
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