80mph motorways?

[enfieldwhite]

I'm overdue, fed up and looking for a bit of help in the delivery department... So I'm told get driving on a bumpy road. I set off yesterday down (is it Lostock Lane???) all cobbly and bumpy. Bloomin new car suspension not even a ripple of my flower petals was had... and here I am sat as round as an overripe peach and the likelihood of a christmas day birth draws ever closer.

Good luck Gerts. Don't do the curry thing, old wives' tale so our doctors told us, more likely to make things painful than swift.

Agreed, might also make you poo when you push!

My wife was introduced by the midwife to a technique called a 'Stretch and Sweep' for overdue mothers. It worked, but I don't think the details are suitable for a family forum.

Will you lot stop it? Its been a heavy weekend and youre making me feel ill.

[fatshaft]

The best thing that anyone could do would be to teach some bloomin lane discipline. I can't bear it when nobends come off the motorway slip road and zoom straight to (what my dad calls it), the overtaking lane it's like to even be in the 1st lane means that they are a granny and can't be seen there otherwise their life would be meaningless. Even worse those in the middle lane no matter what come what may that's their natural position and when they want to exit the motorway they'll head for the slip road at the last possible second and becuase everyone else, thanks to technology, has the brakes of a 911 Porsche Turbo so why not let you try them out???

Got to agree 100% with this, #1 worst piece of driving around, and it is constant. I've given up on the M6 during rush hour especially, I just sit in the inside lane, and pop-out to overtake the lorries, usually means I am passing all these nice people (illegally of course ) on the inside, it's the only way to travel.

[chris]

As I say, it might be better to have 80mph strictly enforced to a low tolerance level, using the technology employed between junctions 10-16 on the M25, details of which can be found via Google if you really are interested, than having an unrealistic limit of 70mph that isn't really enforced.

Haven't found anything - how does it work?

I'd be more willing to see an 80 limit IF it is enforced - and see it as impractical if a lot of people break the limit.

You obviously know more about law than me, but it seems to me that it's easy to dodge road offences by claiming you weren't driving, and that needs to be changed to.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Our speed limits over here are 100/110 kph, and the police allow you 19kph over the limit (about 75 mph). This seems quite fast enough - setting my cruise control at 119 I drove from Montreal to Chicago in two days (3000 kms). It seems to me your problem is the quality/quantity of motorways and the congestion more than the speed limit. Do the motorways have changing limits (we have them posted in lights at the side of the road and overhead if conditions require lowering the limit - congestion, accident ahead, freezing rain, or whatever)?

Gertie touched on it but I didn't see it elsewhere. Higher speeds greatly increase petrol consumption - this is not only expensive but has a significant ecological effect. Higher speeds are somewhat irresponsible from a sustainability perspective.

I do recall when motorways had no limit. One person was stopped for speeding on the M1 (only when they exited!) for doing close to 200 mph. It was a professional race driver practicing for Le Mans. Thereafter they put the limit on.

From what I read it would seem irresponsible to raise the limit given the inadequacy of the infrastructure and the volume of traffic. Sorry PB.

[communistworkethic]

As I say, it might be better to have 80mph strictly enforced to a low tolerance level, using the technology employed between junctions 10-16 on the M25, details of which can be found via Google if you really are interested, than having an unrealistic limit of 70mph that isn't really enforced.

Haven't found anything - how does it work?

I'd be more willing to see an 80 limit IF it is enforced - and see it as impractical if a lot of people break the limit.

You obviously know more about law than me, but it seems to me that it's easy to dodge road offences by claiming you weren't driving, and that needs to be changed to.

MWCIEC, much as you may think that it's strictly enforced, it's not. Those average speed cameras are confounded by the elaborate ploy of..... changing lanes.

chris... http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si2001/20013763.htm

[superjohnmcginlay]

As I say, it might be better to have 80mph strictly enforced to a low tolerance level, using the technology employed between junctions 10-16 on the M25, details of which can be found via Google if you really are interested, than having an unrealistic limit of 70mph that isn't really enforced.

Haven't found anything - how does it work?

I'd be more willing to see an 80 limit IF it is enforced - and see it as impractical if a lot of people break the limit.

You obviously know more about law than me, but it seems to me that it's easy to dodge road offences by claiming you weren't driving, and that needs to be changed to.

MWCIEC, much as you may think that it's strictly enforced, it's not. Those average speed cameras are confounded by the elaborate ploy of..... changing lanes.

chris... http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si2001/20013763.htm

Does that really work? Ive heard it mentioned before.

[fatshaft]

MWCIEC

<OT>really really needs to get a shorter name dont you think?</OT>

[communistworkethic]

As I say, it might be better to have 80mph strictly enforced to a low tolerance level, using the technology employed between junctions 10-16 on the M25, details of which can be found via Google if you really are interested, than having an unrealistic limit of 70mph that isn't really enforced.

Haven't found anything - how does it work?

I'd be more willing to see an 80 limit IF it is enforced - and see it as impractical if a lot of people break the limit.

You obviously know more about law than me, but it seems to me that it's easy to dodge road offences by claiming you weren't driving, and that needs to be changed to.

MWCIEC, much as you may think that it's strictly enforced, it's not. Those average speed cameras are confounded by the elaborate ploy of..... changing lanes.

chris... http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si2001/20013763.htm

Does that really work? Ive heard it mentioned before.

oh yes, it'd take a hell of a lot longer to get north from Heathrow otherwise!

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

As I say, it might be better to have 80mph strictly enforced to a low tolerance level, using the technology employed between junctions 10-16 on the M25, details of which can be found via Google if you really are interested, than having an unrealistic limit of 70mph that isn't really enforced.

Haven't found anything - how does it work?

I'd be more willing to see an 80 limit IF it is enforced - and see it as impractical if a lot of people break the limit.

You obviously know more about law than me, but it seems to me that it's easy to dodge road offences by claiming you weren't driving, and that needs to be changed to.

MWCIEC, much as you may think that it's strictly enforced, it's not. Those average speed cameras are confounded by the elaborate ploy of..... changing lanes.

chris... http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si2001/20013763.htm

Does that really work? Ive heard it mentioned before.

oh yes, it'd take a hell of a lot longer to get north from Heathrow otherwise!

I think you're right actually, because I did speed on there several times (admittedly at the crack of dawn on Saturdays and Sundays driving to golf fixtures when there was hardly anyone on the road) before actually looking into what the system was, and I was never contacted.

Still, I'm sure it could be made to work.

Chris, as for dodging road offences by claiming you weren't driving... actually quite difficult because it is a criminal offence for the person who is registered as the vehicle owner not to provide information about who was driving it at a certain time etc. Sometimes people who already have points on their licence do pass them off onto others who have a bit more space on their licence, if they are willing to do so, but even this practice is being reduced by the fact that a lot of speed cameras now photograph from the front (i.e they get the driver's face).

A couple of Brits did recently manage to take a case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, saying that s172 of the Road Traffic Act that required drivers to incriminate themselves (and the forced confession is usually the only evidence of identification in speed camera casses) was a breach of the historical "right to silence" (and therefore a breach of Art.6 of the European Convention on Human Rights). The Court against them, with only 2 out of 17 judges agreeing with them. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6251936.stm

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

From what I read it would seem irresponsible to raise the limit given the inadequacy of the infrastructure and the volume of traffic. Sorry PB.

Even if, when combined with sricter enforcement policy, it didn't actually raise average speeds, but did promote a culture of respect for speed limits that is helpful for roads other than motorways?

[TANGODANCER]

I go home by train and bus. Every night there is a gridlock because idiots ignore a red light and consistenly block a yellow box area by forcing their way into it. The other night the lights changed four times before we were able to move, and we were already at the lights. If people can't observe simple rules in a town centre, what makes you think they'll do it on a motorway? Consideration and common sense go out of the window with a lot of today's drivers.

[BWFC_Insane]

I go home by train and bus. Every night there is a gridlock because idiots ignore a red light and consistenly block a yellow box area by forcing their way into it. The other night the lights changed four times before we were able to move, and we were already at the lights. If people can't observe simple rules in a town centre, what makes you think they'll do it on a motorway? Consideration and common sense go out of the window with a lot of today's drivers.

Aye and bus drivers are the worst for failing to follow traffic rules.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

I go home by train and bus. Every night there is a gridlock because idiots ignore a red light and consistenly block a yellow box area by forcing their way into it. The other night the lights changed four times before we were able to move, and we were already at the lights. If people can't observe simple rules in a town centre, what makes you think they'll do it on a motorway?

Or, to put it in my terms... if people regularly ignore simple rules on the motorway, because they don't think they are coherent, then what makes you think they'll do it in a town centre?!

[Bruce Rioja]

I once got done on Mossley Street for having my back wheels in a box junction. I used to go that way every day and the bastards only painted it in the night before.

[communistworkethic]

From what I read it would seem irresponsible to raise the limit given the inadequacy of the infrastructure and the volume of traffic. Sorry PB.

I'm not sure either is the case. Certainly, volume is surely a limiting factor to speed itself? So, therefore, not a consideration to the allowance of a higher speed, unless you're suggesting that it renders such an increase pointless?

The infrastructure is not indaquate to deal with the speed itself, motorways in the UK are in better condition that many similar roads across Europe.

Certainly, any who has been in cab going to from Playa de las Americas and teh airport on Tenerife will atest to the fact that 60mph is scary as hell on a concrete dual carriageway when the driver insists on getting so close to the car in front you could change gear for its driver.

Extension of variable speed limits could be a very workable solution on major carriageways, where they are set according to the conditions and traffic volume. As previously noted, 80 mph at 3 in the morning with no other traffic is safer than 70mph at rush hour. A constant slower flow of traffic being more efficient than cars going quickly then braking hard.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Do the motorways have changing limits (we have them posted in lights at the side of the road and overhead if conditions require lowering the limit - congestion, accident ahead, freezing rain, or whatever)?

It's not common on British roads, no.

And I agree that it should be. Again the M25 scheme is the best example over here of how that might work.

[Bruce Rioja]

Do the motorways have changing limits (we have them posted in lights at the side of the road and overhead if conditions require lowering the limit - congestion, accident ahead, freezing rain, or whatever)?

It's not common on British roads, no.

And I agree that it should be. Again the M25 scheme is the best example over here of how that might work.

The M42 between the M6 and the M40's possibly a better example of traffic management, PB. Variable speed limits and they also open up the hard shoulder during particularly congested periods.

[communistworkethic]

Do the motorways have changing limits (we have them posted in lights at the side of the road and overhead if conditions require lowering the limit - congestion, accident ahead, freezing rain, or whatever)?

It's not common on British roads, no.

And I agree that it should be. Again the M25 scheme is the best example over here of how that might work.

how the feck are you allowed on roads?????

Yes they do, every motorway has them - they are called Matrix signs.

[chris]

Do the motorways have changing limits (we have them posted in lights at the side of the road and overhead if conditions require lowering the limit - congestion, accident ahead, freezing rain, or whatever)?

It's not common on British roads, no.

And I agree that it should be. Again the M25 scheme is the best example over here of how that might work.

how the feck are you allowed on roads?????

Yes they do, every motorway has them - they are called Matrix signs.

Aren't they advised rather than compulsory?

[bw@bw]

Do the motorways have changing limits (we have them posted in lights at the side of the road and overhead if conditions require lowering the limit - congestion, accident ahead, freezing rain, or whatever)?

It's not common on British roads, no.

And I agree that it should be. Again the M25 scheme is the best example over here of how that might work.

how the feck are you allowed on roads?????

Yes they do, every motorway has them - they are called Matrix signs.

Aren't they advised rather than compulsory?

Not on the M42