Government plans 'happy hour' for hoons

OK, so we had a few of you ... but it wasn't such a bad idea was it?

Radical plans to remove all speed restrictions from rural National Speed Limit roads for one hour per weekend day have been leaked by a junior government minister.

The unnamed official let slip proposals to address growing concerns about dangerous speed differentials between drivers of high performance cars and motorcycles and slower rural traffic, such as farm vehicles, horses and cyclists.

The editor gets some practise in...

"We've seen a growing culture, promoted by certain sections of the motoring media, for early morning high speed drives organised on the internet," the minister was reported as saying. "This is clearly incompatible with other users of rural roads and presents a great danger, especially given the speeds these people seem to enjoy around corners."

Predictably the answer would appear to be an absolute zero-tolerance imposition of the National Speed Limit on rural roads with one penalty point for each mph over the 60 limit. Just 72mph would equal an instant ban, with no clemency shown. This would be policed rigorously with a huge increase in investment for hidden speed traps in disguised and/or unmarked vehicles.

But, unusually, there is a carrot as well as this somewhat hefty stick. Because for one hour between 5am and 6am on Saturday and Sunday mornings - plus Bank Holidays - the National Speed Limit would be lifted entirely and drivers and riders will be allowed to go as fast as they like. 30mph and other limits around villages and towns would still apply, the limit-free sections applying only to NSL pieces of road. It's a similar idea in principle to the way limits are enforced year-round on the Isle of Man.

Happy hour not just restricted to MX-5 drivers

"The idea is simple," the minister says. "If horse riders, cyclists and other vulnerable road users know that, between 5am and 6am, the roads will be filled with fast-moving traffic they can simply avoid these times and permit - within reason - these enthusiasts to get their high speed driving out of their system before most people have even woken." Come 6am the speed limits would be back in place and anyone still speeding dealt with to the full extent of the law.

Normal road insurance would apply, addressing a problem encountered by many enthusiasts when they take their cars on track or even to 'closed roads' like the Nurburgring Nordschleife. "The tourist revenue potential for B&Bs, hotels, rural petrol stations and more besides will more than compensate local residents for the small inconvenience," promised the minister, "and we see this proposal as the perfect way to celebrate continued British success in the automotive industry while bringing much-needed cash to hard-pressed rural areas."

So, what do you think? And, given one hour, no holds barred, what road would you pick?

OP Posts Only

Prev 2 3...7 8 Next

OP Posts Only

Author

Discussion

marshalla

Original Poster

15,902 posts

222 months