This evening's Evening Standard carries a front page story that very serious thought is being given to inclreasing most motorway 70 limits to 80. To stay politically correct, the politicos are talking of rigid enforcement of the new 80 limit and lower 50 limits on congested sections of Motorways such as the northern section of the M25. (So what happened to the idea of variable limits?) But 80 under these rules is probably about the best we can expect.
HJ
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Just wait for the "Outraged" greens to get the guns out on that one. Be interesting to see if the politicos have the courage to carry it through.
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Will this include dual carriage ways (A roads) ?
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Miles or Kilometres? he asks cynically.
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Isn't this already the situation unofficially? Has anyone been prosecuted for doing less than 80 mph in good conditions on a motorway?
I notice that Gatsos have appeared on the M6 near Preston. I went past them yesterday at an indicated 80 mph without getting flashed (though I realise this could really have been 76 mph).
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Sounds dangerous to me,just think of the tears when people get nicked at 80MPH.Its so unfair!
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Ill stick my head out.
THIS IS A STUPID IDEA TO PLEASE US LOT!!!
Dont you see? Foney Blair has realised we are disgruntled, and has seen the easiest, least damaging way of pleasing us. The motorway speed limit may as well be 80, in all but stated. Could this be to chear up the reps with massive tax bills?
80mph set limit is stupid anyway.
Sometimes 70, 60, 50 is too fast [thick fog, snow, rain, high winds] yet is this saying 80 is safe?
Sometimes 90, 100, 110...... is perfectly safe [clear day, no wind, rain, heavy traffic] I have been whisked along at, erm, a good lick and never pasted a car. Is this unsafe?
Raising the limit is not the answer, its an easy, opinion pleasing idea for morons who dont see through it!
A variable speed limit is the answer, which goes up aswell as down!!
Kev
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Hope they get uprated as well!
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Kev, you'd better join the ABD. You're absolutely right, of course. But the way it was described in the Standard tonight is the best we are going to get.
HJ
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You couldn't post a direct link could you please? Cant find it anywhere.
Not sure about the ABD, I may be counter productive, as I cant drive!! :-).
Kev
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abd.org.uk (I think)
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Thanks Andy, I meant a link to the evening standard page HJ was saying. I had a look on the net, and couldn't find it anywhere!
Cheers anyway
Kev
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I don't know the link to The Standard. I just saw it in the newsagents.
HJ
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Denmark has just increased its motorways to 130 km
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In the telegraph motoring section on Saturday they had a big splash covering the Ford Anglia 105E.
Top speed quoted was 74 mph (I'm sure mine went faster, or it just felt like it)
That was when the 70 mph limit was set, so at that time it was almost flat out for a normal small family saloon and you were unlikely to seriously exceed the limit except downhill with a following wind.
Things have moved on since then and modern small family saloon (Ka, Fiesta or whatever) has a top speed of 90 mph +, so 70 mph is well under the top speed.
Consequently we are applying 1960's speed limits to 21st century machinery with much superior steering, suspension, tyres etc. and it is not surprising that they are treated with disrespect by some.
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Problem is 70 MPH in a Ford Anglia would feel fast and noisy , but 90 MPH in a modern car seems slow more like 40 MPH . The result being people take risks - driving to close e.t.c
Variable speed limits are the answer. There would be nothing wrong with 100 MPH on a well lit/dry motorway with little traffic.
My cynical view is that having a fixed limit is easy to enforce with cameras whereas variable limits would require more expensive technology.
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Steve G wrote:
Or even humans, perish the thought !
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I think the Standard is at www.thisislondon.co.uk, or something similar. There should be an archive to search through.
Rebecca
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variable limits are already in place allover the place
biggest problem is the idiots setting them often leave them set way too low long after the reason they were lowered has cleared, leading to general contempt for them, mostly a good driver would make a better choice of the appropriate speed
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these cameras are for impending roadworks which will start for around 6 months in the new year. some have got red and white stripes on them for visiblity, some are placed close to signs and bridges. which is intersting as Lancshire is one of the hypothecation areas, ie no hiding cameras and painted yellow!!!
last time they put cameras on this stretch there were 40,000+ offences recorded, at £40 to £60 a time = PAY DAY.
you have been warned
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