Speed limit review rules out 80mph
No motorway limit hike in prospect
There's a hint -- just a hint -- that speed limits could be reviewed by the Government, with some roads acquiring 20mph limits, while others, especially those on dual carriageways, rise. If it happens, it'll be part of the review of speed camera policy that PistonHeads has reported in detail over the last few days (see links below).
According to a report in the Telegraph, local authorities are being asked to review speed limits on the A and B roads in their manor. The review's due to be completed by 2011, and the Government's guidance on how to proceed will be published in the next few months.
But in spite of a call from trafpol chief Meredydd Hughes to raise the motorway limit to 80mph -- the current limit is widely viewed as outdated by advances in technologies such as braking systems, tyres and passive safety devices -- the Government is set against the idea. And it appears that it's especially opposed to the concept of setting limits based on how fast most motorists actually drive on a particular stretch of road.
Links
Flat in Fifth said:
Some limits on A and B dual carriageways could rise?
Don't make me laugh. The creeping infestation known as NSLs being reduced to 50 and 40 will just continue. No politician has sufficient spine to increase a limit. Not in Uk anyway.
Have to agree and it's not just cynicism, it would be the biggest U turn of the decade, they have painted themselves into a corner with the 'lie' and fantastic stats
Im just curious to find what number of PHers have been stopped/fined for 80mph on a motorway ?
huge said:
Did I not read somewhere, a few years ago, that the Police admitted to rarely stopping anyone on the M25 doing less than 85mph.Their reasons being that (a)everyone was doing that speed and (b)traffic was flowing fine.....
Im just curious to find what number of PHers have been stopped/fined for 80mph on a motorway ?
I think most ACTUAL police officers won't prosecute for less than 85 in clear conditions.
But then of course you've still got the scammers pinging people for 79 in Wilts and Cumbria
v8nrg said:
Will it change the speed at which you drive down that road ?
Yes
v8nrg said:
Will it change the speed that it is safe to drive at down that road ?
No
That's the problem. I'd like to keep my licence but I'd like to proceed at a reasonable speed. As limits will inevitably be revised downwards in practice, journeys will be become more tedious.
huge said:
Im just curious to find what number of PHers have been stopped/fined for 80mph on a motorway?
Pulled for an 86 mph average (recorded on Vascar) on the A27 dual carriageway near Chichester. Details checked, given a talking to for doing that speed (PC explained he was aware of capabilities of car, lightness of traffic, etc.), told to stay within the limits and let on my way.
If only it was always dealt with that way. I drove off with an increased respect for the police and stuck at 70mph for the remainder of the trip
countryboy said:
huge said:
Did I not read somewhere, a few years ago, that the Police admitted to rarely stopping anyone on the M25 doing less than 85mph.Their reasons being that (a)everyone was doing that speed and (b)traffic was flowing fine.....
Im just curious to find what number of PHers have been stopped/fined for 80mph on a motorway ?
I think most ACTUAL police officers won't prosecute for less than 85 in clear conditions.
But then of course you've still got the scammers pinging people for 79 in Wilts and Cumbria
My fiancee's boss got 3 points off a van over the M6 in Cumbria...for 77!!! How ridiculous?!?
I think this will be more bad news - they're trying to return the roads to the Victorian era - far easier to control the population if their mobility is reduced!!!
Flat in Fifth said:
Some limits on A and B dual carriageways could rise?
Don't make me laugh. The creeping infestation known as NSLs being reduced to 50 and 40 will just continue. No politician has sufficient spine to increase a limit. Not in Uk anyway.
A fine example of this infestation appeared in Reading over the weekend. A section of the A4 on the way out towards Sonning has just been reduced from a 40 limit down to 30. So, going towards Reading, they want you to stick at 30mph on a wide dead straight road with no adjoining houses (which must have been NSL once) for about 3-400 metres before the crappy junction which presumably causes all the accidents.
Number of cars sticking to the new limit ? Yes, you've guessed it. None at all.
This just reduces respect for the 30 limit in other places where it actually matters. Madness.
>> Edited by outnumbered on Tuesday 20th December 13:09
>> Edited by outnumbered on Tuesday 20th December 13:10
havoc said:
countryboy said:
huge said:
Did I not read somewhere, a few years ago, that the Police admitted to rarely stopping anyone on the M25 doing less than 85mph.Their reasons being that (a)everyone was doing that speed and (b)traffic was flowing fine.....
Im just curious to find what number of PHers have been stopped/fined for 80mph on a motorway ?
I think most ACTUAL police officers won't prosecute for less than 85 in clear conditions.
But then of course you've still got the scammers pinging people for 79 in Wilts and Cumbria
My fiancee's boss got 3 points off a van over the M6 in Cumbria...for 77!!! How ridiculous?!?
I think this will be more bad news - they're trying to return the roads to the Victorian era - far easier to control the population if their mobility is reduced!!!
77! So they've now changed the threshold in Cumbria to just 10% over? Thats like North Wales. I'm so lucky I only often have to drive on the M5 - no nasty cameras apart from a couple of talivans in Somerset, who I don't think prosecute for as low as 79 (or 77).
I could never see this government raising the motorway limit. Can you imagine the loss in motorway speeding fines. And then of course there's the enviromentalists who would go mental cos they think that everyone would do at least 90, when as far as I know, most motorists probably won't actually go any faster than they currently do.
outnumbered said:
A fine example of this infestation appeared in Reading over the weekend. A section of the A4 on the way out towards Sonning has just been reduced from a 40 limit down to 30. So, going towards Reading, they want you to stick at 30mph on a wide dead straight road with no adjoining houses (which must have been NSL once) for about 3-400 metres before the crappy junction which presumably causes all the accidents.
Blimey, really? I hadn't noticed that had changed... that was indeed NSL up until a coupla years back, all the way to Maidenhead they've ruined what was a great stretch of hooning road...
apache said:
Have to agree and it's not just cynicism, it would be the biggest
U turn of the decade, they have painted themselves into a corner
with the 'lie' and fantastic stats
Acoridng to the Department of Transport's *own* figures, some
57% of all cars and 59% of all motorcycles on the motorway exceed
the 70 mph limit.
Time for the law to be updated to reflect reality, in my view.
Also, as another poster points out, scientifically, the safest
speed limit to post would be the 85th percentile.
Time for the law to reflect the scientifically safest speed limit,
in my view.
Keeping at 70 mph will just mean folks continue to ignore the law,
and for too many avoidable deaths on UK motorways.
Innapropriate limits just mean that people have less faith in the limit when it is required, like someone has already said.
This will mean that those with a few points, or concious of getting caught, will spend yet MORE time gorping down to check their speed, or looking around as much as possible to try ascertain the current limit, rather than just getting on using the REAL appropriate speed.
I'm pretty sure most drivers *should* be able to drive at a safe speed naturally anyway, so where is the problem? Those that choose to go fast anyway, for whatever reason, will still go too fast, no matter what the signage says, so does it really do anything?
No, it just frustrates safe drivers even more, and distracts them further, and makes them more distrustful of their placement for money making exercises, while the numpties who drive at innapropriate speed continue to do so anyway
Argghhh, policy mad country. Policies do nothing useful unless they are the right ones for the people!
Dave
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff