Motorway Speed Limits Out Of Date?

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tomstickland wrote: »

I can confirm that travelling at 80mph takes about 3/4 of the time compared with 60mph. That would save an hour on a 240mile joruney.

So what is gained is a reduction in the time spent sitting in the car.


I saw a sign the other day that said "tiredness kills". Er, no it doesn't. I've been tired many times and I've not seen anyone die as a result of it yet. What they mean is "not paying attention because you are tired is dangerous".
Rather similar to "speed kills".

That would of course only happen in a perfect world scenario, with no other traffic to endanger, you are quite happy to openly boast that you drive at 80 mph and that " tiredness " doesn't kill, well I'm afraid that just gives me a very clear picture of your driving skills, or lack of same.:rolleyes:

tomstickland

Your post gives me a very clear picture of your assumption skills.
How you can draw any conclusions about such skills from two written statements is beyond me.

My point about the tiredness quote was mainly centered around the poor use of the language, a point that's probably too subtle for someone who boasts about their interpretive skills. Vis-a-vis that "tiredness" doesn't literally kill, but loss of concentration due to tiredness kills. An analagy can be drawn with the glib statement "speed kills".

Regarding your assumption that I was "boasting", bare in mind that the limit in France (where I was travelling last month) is 130km/h (81mph). So, are the French promoting a culture of "endangering" all Autoroute users? I have also legally travelled at higher speeds on the Autobahn.

Here's quotes from the Roadpeace website concerning the UK:

Speeding

On motorways and dual carriageways, more than half of all drivers exceed the speed limit.

The crash risk varies according to many factors: the road environment, weather, driver and vehicle and road users. For instance, the crash risk in a built-up area cannot be applied to a motorway where there are no vulnerable road users, traffic flows are separated and access is restricted.

Considering that motorways are the "safest" roads and more than 50% of the traffic exceeds the 70mph limit I think that puts into perspective your claims of "endangering" other people. Bearing in mind that speed is only factor out of many that relate to safety. eg: I could travel at 70.000mph whilst not really paying attention versus at 80 indicated and pay a lot of attention.

So I'd say that I think you have a disproportionately elevated opinion of your powers of judgment regarding other people's abilities. Maybe your user name is referring to the cranial cavity?

tomstickland

Conor wrote: »

I have. I've also seen drivers so tired they've been incapable of staying in one lane. So yes, tiredness kills.

You have done what? Also seen such a sign or have killed as a result of being tired?

bert&ernie

"tiredness kills" and "speed kills" are both meaningless soundbites. The fact is that you need to be awake to start your car and be traveling at some kind of speed to actually have an accident. Both factors have a relative impact on the cause and effect of an accident.

banger9365

the thing we have to change before the speed limits can ever go up is the change the way most of us drive ,there is no respect or consideration for the road users and the rules of the road any more ,yes some poeple do put most are not and you can see it every day on the roads ,conors pic is one example and if you think about it you can show more with out me saying what they are because we are all experienced drivers

tomstickland

Conor's picture is an example of a rather more complicated situation than mere "bad driving". As I explained in an earlier post.

bert&ernie

Agreed, outside lane hogging isn't a simple case of bad driving.

I would hazard that has something to do with the level of traffic carried by our roads and our cultural attitude to queuing. Nobody wants to pull in because they know they will have problems pulling out to overtake then next slow moving vehicle - so they sit in the queue in the outside lane.

As it stands, its classic example of the prisoners dilemma - if you stay in the queue, you cant loose. However, if you pull in then we could all win, but you could loose. Unfortunately, human nature is overwhelmingly biased toward the former option.

nickj_2

the main problem with speed is that people think that if the limit is 70 , that is the speed they must travel at whether the conditions are suitable or not . i would have thought in peak rush hour the speed should be reduced to keep traffic flowing smoothly and other times variable speeds should be used according to amount of traffic and weather conditions .

moonrakerz

What is needed is some "intelligent" speed limits, not just blanket limits. The variable ones on the M25 seem to work quite well, though when I use it the limit always seems to be at least 15 mph faster than it is actually possible to go !

Not far from where I live is a primary school located about a mile out of town on a rural road. There are about 5 houses by the school, so 98% of the kids are driven to the school.
They have put, 40mph, limits in place, 30 mph, flashing warning lights, flashing speed limit lights, speed humps, dozens of road signs, coloured tarmac, etc, etc, etc. In fact, by now, they must have spent more on "anti-speed devices" than it would have cost to re-build the school elsewhere.

What I find really dis-spiriting about the whole thing is that no one seems to have looked at the problem in the whole. It appears every time a new person takes over in the local traffic office yet another new traffic calming scheme is introduced - and I am paying for this madness! :mad:

a. As far as I am aware there has never been an accident at this school.
b. This may be a justification for all the measures above - but it is more likely to be that at the time of day when the kids are coming and going the traffic is only moving at walking pace due to the congestion.
c. Finally, why is it necessary to have bright orange 30mph lights flashing at motorists when they pass the school at 2 o'clock on a Sunday morning doing 32mph when the kids are all on holiday ?

Conor_3

tomstickland wrote: »

You have done what? Also seen such a sign or have killed as a result of being tired?

Seen people who have caused a fatal accident because they were dog tired. In my early days as a HGV driver on agencies flipping from days to nights in the same week, I have been at the point where I have been driving down the road perfectly alert and just dropped off without warning, only being woken by the rumble strips. Thankfully it was on a deserted dual carriageway at 4am. Had it been in rush hour and me approaching the back of a stationary queue...

I guess you've never had that happen to you. But that's what's meant by "tiredness kills". I see people fighting sleep all the time on the motorway.