80 mph on motorways good idea or not

[Jim Graham]

Had a sense of humour bypass? Or just didn't read the joke properly?

 

Don't give up your day jobs.

[Cyclone]

There's a surprise, a BMW driver acting irresponsibly. You don't see that more than every 30 seconds do you? I rest my case.

 

What would happen to you if you sat in my car, would you start driving around like a tool, or would your head explode?

[meshuga]

It'll be interesting to note how many advocates of a higher speed limit are also horrified at the price of fuel. Driving more slowly is more fuel efficient. I'm surprised people can afford to drive much above 60mph these days! Perhaps the penny hasn't dropped yet?

 

I see no point in making reaching our carbon reduction targets even harder by allowing higher speeds on the motorway.

[Shogun]

I saw a car that had run into the back of a truck on the m42 the top half of him was in the top part of the car and the bottom of the car was under the truck with his giblets behind him he had fell asleep and run under the truck that was behind my truck in the layby, apparently he was a rep on his way home one Friday night, he was seen passing cars at high speed by motorists further down the motorway there was a 50mph speed limit on the road at the time as they were doing road repairs, not a very nice sight something that you never forget.

[Jim Graham]

What would happen to you if you sat in my car, would you start driving around like a tool, or would your head explode?

 

Does the Z4M come with or without indicators? They seem to be an option not many go for. And does it have one of those BMW sat navs? You know the ones; you fly down the outside lane at 80mph, car on cruise control, brain in neutral and then when you get 100 yards from the exit sat nav yells at you to pull off so you have to slam on the brakes and cross three lanes of traffic without indicating. I see it every day ...................... not always Z4Ms though.

[Phanerothyme]

Agree to no upper limit. The 70mph speed limit came in when cars were slow and rubbish. Cars can travel safely at much higher speeds now.

 

Can you see the problem with your logic here?

[Phanerothyme]

There is a bit more to it than that you could not possibly have all the trucks running along in convoy at the speed of the slowest one in front, just think about it that could be as slow as 15mph on some hills with a fully loaded truck, 80mph speed limit on motorways is nothing to do with trucks they can only go up 60mph by law and they can not enter the outside lane anyway.

 

The overall road haulage fuel bill would sky rocket if the wagons had to conga down one lane only. Everything would increase in price.

 

Get car drivers off the road and leave it to the wagons. Then modify the wagons to take passengers and sell the capacity online.

 

Problem solved.

[DT Ralge]

Speed limits were set when stopping distances were much higher & cars were complete death traps. Brakes have improved a lot, stopping distances have improved a lot, most modern cars can be driven at 80mph+ without struggling, cars are much safer if they do crash than they used to be.

 

The roads are much safer.

 

That's all true for the cars except drivers haven't improved in driving ability or knowledge.

For instance:

Tell me what the latest research revealed about driver reaction speeds and how much worse it is compared to the figure used in the HC's table.

Tell me when you last checked your tyre pressures.

Tell me what tyre tread you have on all four corners and what its function is.

Tell me at what ambient temperature does the performance in tyres start to drop off.

Tell me how the tread's performance changes between new, 3mm and 1.6mm

Tell me about the Laws of Physics and the differences between no impact and impact that just 10mph extra speed can have between 70, 80, 90mph.

Tell me just how much worse this will be in poor weather.

Tell me how you can keep safe on m/w's by retention of space ahead and behind and escape routes to the sides.

Tell me how much more knowledgeable about driving the average German driver is.

When you've done that have a guess how many drivers around you come up with a full set of correct answers.

[Balpin]

Every car these days can stop in much less than the silly distances still quoted in the Highway Code

Most motorways any way these days are a disgrace.

The M62 is limited for over 30 miles to 50 mph, with cameras at all points.

And the M1 into Leeds is a complete waste of time.

We pay heavy and punitive taxes to use these roads, why dont, or wont, they let us?

[DT Ralge]

Every car these days can stop in much less than the silly distances still quoted in the Highway Code

Most motorways any way these days are a disgrace.

The M62 is limited for over 30 miles to 50 mph, with cameras at all points.

And the M1 into Leeds is a complete waste of time.

We pay heavy and punitive taxes to use these roads, why dont, or wont, they let us?

 

HC figures silly? What are they and how on earth do you use them?

M/w into Leeds a waste of time? Is that the m/w with lower limits where you have limited views ahead, lots of lane changing and hidden exits/entrances i.e. higher hazard levels than a normal straight-ish m/w?

Sounds like the gripe of a driver who does not see hazards where they are.