maximum speed on motorway?

[Zarco]

Lemming Train said:

I'm genuinely puzzled by all these replies from people who claim to drive at 60-70 mph because "it's relaxing". Where are these mythical "relaxing" motorways located because I've never found any. 60-70mph is the worst speed because you're stuck in the middle of all the lemmings that have no awareness and can't keep a constant speed to save their lives. Person in front starts to slow down so you go for the overtake, then they speed up a bit so you either have to speed up yourself to save yourself from looking like a nob making no progress or ease off and drop back in behind, where 10 seconds later they're easing off again. If you do manage to overtake them and resume the speed you're doing, 30 seconds later they're overtaking you and then pull in front and start slowing down again. How the juddering fk is that nonsense in any way, shape or form "relaxing"?

What is relaxing is to do 90 when able so that none of the above clowns are under your feet and it's rare to have anyone come up behind you wanting to go faster. The only caveat is that in addition to keeping tabs on what everyone else is doing you also need to keep your eyes peeled for plod, marked and unmarked, vans parked on bridges and looking to see which gantries have speed cameras on them. I'm sure some will argue that is the exact opposite of 'relaxing' but it comes as second nature if you like to press on and you don't even have to think about it. Sure, the time differential is negligible and it's going to cost more in fuel but I'm happy to pay that price just to keep well away from all the 60-70mph clusterfk of idiots that can't drive for toffee.

This is the only reply I can relate to. I'd much rather press on than 'relax' at 70. Personally I quite enjoy a bit of concentration on a long motorway journey.

[Jerry Can]

in the mid 90's I met a rally driver who was giving me some help in winning a race driver scholarship. after the day in question I realised that, the first half of the journey, to our respective homes, would be the same, so I asked if I could follow him. He said yes, but that he drove everywhere at 100mph, not some of the way all of the way...

needless to say I didn't keep up with him for long. However I took his mantra as mine, and promptly drove the same way until I got nicked for speeding doing a ton. This took approx four years, from adopting the mantra and getting nicked.

Now I have a diesel Qashqai and on my 160 mile, 3 hour journey home along the M4 today, never did more than 80, most of the time 75, and got 67mpg. Far more relaxing..

the reality is tho, for me, I'll drive a fast car faster, than a slow one.

[castex]

Jerry Can said:

in the mid 90's I met a rally driver ...
the reality is tho, for me, I'll drive a fast car faster, than a slow one.

Cool story, and I concur with your findings. I now run a Leaf and it's all about the slowness. I'm enjoying it!
OTOH, I'm looking forward to having no salt on the road and getting back on two wheels. Looks clear? Go fast. Enjoy the 100+ miles range
I can't wait.

[bigmowley]

Zarco said:

Lemming Train said:

I'm genuinely puzzled by all these replies from people who claim to drive at 60-70 mph because "it's relaxing". Where are these mythical "relaxing" motorways located because I've never found any. 60-70mph is the worst speed because you're stuck in the middle of all the lemmings that have no awareness and can't keep a constant speed to save their lives. Person in front starts to slow down so you go for the overtake, then they speed up a bit so you either have to speed up yourself to save yourself from looking like a nob making no progress or ease off and drop back in behind, where 10 seconds later they're easing off again. If you do manage to overtake them and resume the speed you're doing, 30 seconds later they're overtaking you and then pull in front and start slowing down again. How the juddering fk is that nonsense in any way, shape or form "relaxing"?

What is relaxing is to do 90 when able so that none of the above clowns are under your feet and it's rare to have anyone come up behind you wanting to go faster. The only caveat is that in addition to keeping tabs on what everyone else is doing you also need to keep your eyes peeled for plod, marked and unmarked, vans parked on bridges and looking to see which gantries have speed cameras on them. I'm sure some will argue that is the exact opposite of 'relaxing' but it comes as second nature if you like to press on and you don't even have to think about it. Sure, the time differential is negligible and it's going to cost more in fuel but I'm happy to pay that price just to keep well away from all the 60-70mph clusterfk of idiots that can't drive for toffee.

This is the only reply I can relate to. I'd much rather press on than 'relax' at 70. Personally I quite enjoy a bit of concentration on a long motorway journey.

+1. I enjoy the drive far more at 90+ than I do drifting along with the deadwood.
Average motorway speeds have definatly dropped over the last 10 years. I passed my test in 1970 and have driven everywhere like a bellend ever since, applying the 99mph max on motorway = no ban logic. Used to be a scutch of like minded folk merrily whizzing along. Now there are far fewer. I did Lancaster to Brighouse last week at midnight on a weekday in my Sprinter and never got passed once! Sad times.

[A44RON]

Lemming Train said:

I'm genuinely puzzled by all these replies from people who claim to drive at 60-70 mph because "it's relaxing". Where are these mythical "relaxing" motorways located because I've never found any. 60-70mph is the worst speed because you're stuck in the middle of all the lemmings that have no awareness and can't keep a constant speed to save their lives. Person in front starts to slow down so you go for the overtake, then they speed up a bit so you either have to speed up yourself to save yourself from looking like a nob making no progress or ease off and drop back in behind, where 10 seconds later they're easing off again. If you do manage to overtake them and resume the speed you're doing, 30 seconds later they're overtaking you and then pull in front and start slowing down again. How the juddering fk is that nonsense in any way, shape or form "relaxing"?

What is relaxing is to do 90 when able so that none of the above clowns are under your feet and it's rare to have anyone come up behind you wanting to go faster. The only caveat is that in addition to keeping tabs on what everyone else is doing you also need to keep your eyes peeled for plod, marked and unmarked, vans parked on bridges and looking to see which gantries have speed cameras on them. I'm sure some will argue that is the exact opposite of 'relaxing' but it comes as second nature if you like to press on and you don't even have to think about it. Sure, the time differential is negligible and it's going to cost more in fuel but I'm happy to pay that price just to keep well away from all the 60-70mph clusterfk of idiots that can't drive for toffee.

Agreed and I adopt this philosophy too. 60-70mph on a UK motorway I find far more stressful.

Did several journeys from London to Bath/Bristol and back throughout November during busy times and still managed to cruise mostly at 80-95(ish) with minimal stress (plus arrived 30 mins quicker than the satnav suggested). Even when motorways are busy they still flow nicely most of the time, exception being M25.

As much as we beat up on the UK motorway network and driving standards, it's still much much better than driving in other countries, like Australia and New Zealand for example.

[brickwall]

bigmowley said:

Average motorway speeds have definatly dropped over the last 10 years.

I don't feel this sentiment. I think maybe speeds might have dropped over the past 30 years, in fact over the last 10 my sense is that enforcement is a lot more lax. The police have had big budget cuts since 2010, and I think they've substantially cut back on road patrols etc.

It's now commonplace to be on a motorway where everyone seems to be cruising at 85+, which definitely wasn't the case in '09.

[bigmowley]

brickwall said:

bigmowley said:

Average motorway speeds have definatly dropped over the last 10 years.

I don't feel this sentiment. I think maybe speeds might have dropped over the past 30 years, in fact over the last 10 my sense is that enforcement is a lot more lax. The police have had big budget cuts since 2010, and I think they've substantially cut back on road patrols etc.

It's now commonplace to be on a motorway where everyone seems to be cruising at 85+, which definitely wasn't the case in '09.

Interesting observations. Currently the only motorway that I find is regularly old school 90+ is the M40.
I did the whole length of the M1 just before Christmas and it was very dull, steady 75-80 at best.

[Wills2]

Lemming Train said:

I'm genuinely puzzled by all these replies from people who claim to drive at 60-70 mph because "it's relaxing". Where are these mythical "relaxing" motorways located because I've never found any. 60-70mph is the worst speed because you're stuck in the middle of all the lemmings that have no awareness and can't keep a constant speed to save their lives. Person in front starts to slow down so you go for the overtake, then they speed up a bit so you either have to speed up yourself to save yourself from looking like a nob making no progress or ease off and drop back in behind, where 10 seconds later they're easing off again. If you do manage to overtake them and resume the speed you're doing, 30 seconds later they're overtaking you and then pull in front and start slowing down again. How the juddering fk is that nonsense in any way, shape or form "relaxing"?

What is relaxing is to do 90 when able so that none of the above clowns are under your feet and it's rare to have anyone come up behind you wanting to go faster. The only caveat is that in addition to keeping tabs on what everyone else is doing you also need to keep your eyes peeled for plod, marked and unmarked, vans parked on bridges and looking to see which gantries have speed cameras on them. I'm sure some will argue that is the exact opposite of 'relaxing' but it comes as second nature if you like to press on and you don't even have to think about it. Sure, the time differential is negligible and it's going to cost more in fuel but I'm happy to pay that price just to keep well away from all the 60-70mph clusterfk of idiots that can't drive for toffee.

Agreed depending on the traffic and weather conditions 85-90mph (indicated) is a good speed to travel at to avoid the dithering fools you mention.

The only issue is the miles and miles of smart motorway sections where you have to knock it back to 70-75mph (indicated) and end up dealing with the MLMs etc....

[Haltamer]

I'm in agreement with the sentiment above; I don't find 60 - 70mph sat in a traffic bunch particularly relaxing, given the inability of others to hold a fixed speed / lane (1 preferably ) etc etc.

Similarly, I don't see how moving along at pace is particularly stressful either? Make your observations at a good distance, as you should; Camsam or similar, and a sharp eye for HADECs / Cameras / Calibration lines / Vans / Plod on bridges / Traffic cars (Rare!) and you won't have too much trouble; Just take a relaxed ~3 second following distance on any slower moving traffic and remember that the traffic in front at 70 has every right to be there.
Give them a few minutes to sort their overtakes out, and if they don't pop back in, a quick flash to rouse them when they are passing a large opening, and they'll usually let you be on your way; I even wave thanks when I waft by (Horrifying, I know) - Just like driving on the autobahn, except you brake for speed cameras!
The only extra stress I could see arising from driving at safe higher speeds would be that imposed on yourself by trying to drive others out of the way, or maintaining speed where it becomes inappropriate to do so.

[Leptons]

I used to do between 75-85mph as a comfortable cruising speed until about 3 months ago when some from North Yorkshire’s finest papped me at 79mph on the A1M.

It’s 70mph all the way now

Edited by Leptons on Wednesday 23 January 23:03

[Zarco]

bigmowley said:

brickwall said:

bigmowley said:

Average motorway speeds have definatly dropped over the last 10 years.

I don't feel this sentiment. I think maybe speeds might have dropped over the past 30 years, in fact over the last 10 my sense is that enforcement is a lot more lax. The police have had big budget cuts since 2010, and I think they've substantially cut back on road patrols etc.

It's now commonplace to be on a motorway where everyone seems to be cruising at 85+, which definitely wasn't the case in '09.

Interesting observations. Currently the only motorway that I find is regularly old school 90+ is the M40.
I did the whole length of the M1 just before Christmas and it was very dull, steady 75-80 at best.

I still find the M40 decent. Use the stretch from High Wycombe to M25 every now and again. Although I did see a camera van on a bridge late one afternoon last month!

M5 in Devon is often a pleasure to use too.

[Lemming Train]

Leptons said:

I used to do between 75-85mph as a comfortable cruising speed until about 3 months ago when some from North Yorkshire’s finest papped me at 79mph on the A1M.

It’s 70mph all the way now

Edited by Leptons on Wednesday 23 January 23:03

They must have got bored of permanently camping out on the A64 at Taddy, Malton and Barton Hill then as you never used to see them on the A1.

[donkmeister]

When I try driving at bang-on 70 I always encounter those who cannot maintain speed. It really irritates me, more than it should.
I can only think of three times in my life where I spend *to get somewhere more quickly*. One of those times was for a stupid reason and if I had my time again I wouldn't have done it but I stand by the other two.
Every other time I've sped it's been for one of four reasons:
1) some idiot on the motorway is speeding up every time I move out to overtake so I've had a quick squirt to put distance between us
2) some idiot is playing silly buggers to try and stop me getting past (mlm road captains)
3) the light has turned green so by Sadiq Khan's definition I did inappropriate speed by gently pulling away.
4) because I wanted to.

NB I've never sped... I must have been thinking about someone else...

[S2r]

We recently did some 600 miles from deepest, darkest Cornwall to central Scotland and the cruise control was set at 72 pretty much all of the way there and back and at this speed it was the most relaxing, enjoyable trip up we have done (as relaxing and enjoyable 600 mile road trips up the A30, M5, M6, M73, M74, M876 can be...)

Previously it was 80-85 in the outside lane, jostling for position while trying to keep some sort of gap between the car in front, blood pressure through the roof because someone was tail gating even though there was nowhere to go, and at one point the wife chasing a Maserati in a fiat 500L...

Or maybe I've just got old.

Edited by S2r on Thursday 24th January 00:13

[slipstream 1985]

My dad and I used to travel up and down the country from Scotland to south of England. We noticed the further south you got the faster the traffic flowed (assuming no jams or roadworks) 70mph In Scotland would be 80 by carlisle 90mph by birmingham and anything south of that verging on 95-100 as traffic cruise speed. Not nowadays though average speed cameras have ruined making good progress.

[Chestrockwell]

I rarely use the motorway at peak times but when I do, I accept it’s going to be quite busy so I reset the MPG, try stay in the 2 inside lanes and put cruise on at 65 and within 10 minutes or so, cruise control is off and I’m constantly overtaking, not at speed either because you can’t but there’s so many clowns that hog lane 3 & 4 that you find yourself unintentionally undertaking at times.

The traffic on the M25 just doesn’t flow at a constant speed for you to be able to use cruise control and ‘relax’ as some people say, most of PH are against autonomous cars but I think it’s the way forward for motorway drivers/commuters.

At night, if I use the M25/M23 (airport lifts etc), I just cruise between 80-100. It all depends on the car as well, age, brakes, tyres, condition etc.

[dcb]

Chestrockwell said:

At night, if I use the M25/M23 (airport lifts etc), I just cruise between 80-100. It all depends on the car as well, age, brakes, tyres, condition etc.

Doubtful.

M25 has been speed camera-ed for years and so you won't be going much
over 80mph and the M23 is spending two whole years (FFS!) having speed cameras fitted,
so you won't be doing more than 60 mph there.

Me, 76 mph on the GPS. Slow enough that the always present speed cameras won't fire.

All this speed control has an economic consequence. Journeys take more time, which
mean they cost more. This feeds through into the general economy.

Of course, motorways are the safest type of road by far, so clearly the least useful
place to have a speed camera. But this is result of the UK Department of Transport,
where sadly politics trumps rational action.

[roverspeed]

I rarely drive on the motorways on mainland UK, but I mostly felt 85 was comfortable in light to medium traffic, anything heavier and you really are better just at traffic flow speed + few mph.

However, over in Northern Ireland, we seem to have a much more prevalent unmarked police car population on the motorways but no fixed or average speed cameras, so in general I'm a lot more cautious and rarely go over 80.

Massive difference in the Republic of Ireland in off peak times.

Outside of Dublin the motorways are very quiet off peak and no speed cameras and few police means you really can make good progress and make significant time concessions with not a huge fuel penalty, mostly as you can maintain a very steady rate of progress.

I have to drive Belfast to Cork city and back next week, and would struggle to stick to 120km/h the whole way.

[Speed Badger]

WonkeyDonkey said:

I tend to travel everywhere at 60mph. Find it's the most relaxing way to drive as I rarely have to overtake anyone and I get to listen to my music for longer.

Only time I'll knock it up to 70mph is when I'm forced into the middle lane overtaking a hgv or allowing joining traffic to merge.

There is another! I thought I was all alone in my plodding.

[Speed Badger]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Should have been Slow Badger. Plodding Badger. Is that a native American name - 'Plodding Badger?'

More like 'Talking bks.'

Also, 20 miles round the M25 probably felt like halfway to me!