The UK Government are holding a consultation to canvas views on whether the speed limit on UK motorways should be increased from 70mph to 80mph. It seems to me that many people currently drive at about 75mph when the motorway is clear. They see 75mph as enough over the speed limit not to get prosecuted. If the limit is raised to 80mph then 85mph will become the new norm. I can’t see the point in this. In my experience all this will mean is that you will get to the next part of your journey with congestion more quickly. It won’t make much difference to overall journey times. I’ve tried driving long distances going faster than the speed limit when I can, and then the same journey sticking to the speed limits. Over a 2 week period the times the journeys took each day were with 10 minutes of each other. Some of the fastest journeys were the days I stuck to the speed limits. So I can’t see this increase to 80mph making journeys quicker. It’ll also burn more fuel for no gain.
If they want to decrease journey times it’d be better to make it an offence to sit in the overtaking lanes on the motorway when there is space on the inner lanes. 3 points for everyone hogging the overtaking lane would do more to increase traffic flow on the motorway than increasing the speed limit!
I’ve thought about this one a bit Ian. I think it’s a good idea.
The longer the distance, the greater the difference in journey time with a 10mph average increase in speed throughout. In NI, we just don’t have any motorways long enough for this to be significant!
Congestion at each end (non-motorway) also becomes less significant for longer journeys.
As for the eejit in the overtaking lane doing 60mph for five miles with a queue behind them, I’m with you all the way. Authorities focus on speed (perhaps it’s easy to measure objectively) when there are many accidents caused by tailgating, poor lane discipline and other less straightforward issues. Speed’s important, but nothing else gets the same attention.
I suspect the difference in accident effects between 70mph and 80mph (or realistically 75mph and 85mph) are smaller than between say 30mph and 40mph. Whether you hit something at 70 or 80 probably doesn’t make a whole lot of difference.
Aaron
When the road is free, faster driving makes it less boring. A few months ago, I drove on the freeway in South-Holland towards Amsterdam. Five lanes. One car about one kilometer in front of. Another one about one kilometer behind me. No other cars in sight. A speed limit of 100 km/h (~62 or 63 mph). In such a situation, it’s almost impossible to keep full concentration on driving. Just staying within the right lane becomes a challenge, because the mind wanders elsewhere.
When the freeway is packed with cars, no problem, enough challenge even at speeds below 100 km/h. Heck, even a traffic jam is more exciting that driving along a completely free freeway at 100 km/h.
A variable speed limit might be a solution. In Germany, a few freeway scection have computer controlled traffic signs, which adapt to the traffic density. Some other sections are cheaper, they sport signs which tell you that the limit is 100 km/h from 6 o’clock till 10 (the rush hour). This seems to help with the traffic, and, most important, car drivers don’t get the feeling that speed limits are pure bulllshit 90% of the time.