More Speed Please

[Wizzo]

The Association of British Drivers (ABD) is calling for the motorway speed limit to be increased.

The group says that the current 70mph limit is "past its sell-by date" and "archaic".

Group members would like to see the British motorway limit increased to 80mph, making it equal to the limit in the majority of European countries.

The calls come on the back of a report published by the Transport Research Laboratory, which looked at the optimum speed at which cars cost the least per kilometre.

The report found that 78mph is the prime speed on a motorway, with short journey times balancing fuel costs.

"With 57 per cent of car drivers routinely breaking this archaic limit, there can be no more excuses for refusing to raise the limit to 80mph immediately, in line with most European countries," said Mark McArthur-Christie from the ABD.

I don't think many people would disagree with this idea.

[davewilson]

It will mean we get to the bottlenecks quicker Wizard:
But 80mph is fine with me,how long will it take for them to calibrate everything cameras signs etc,and how much will it cost the poor old motorist to pay for it all? in the long run.
Remove all the cones then we might have a chance of actually doing 80mph.

The Stig

[Wizzo]

Very true.

Interesting point is the optimum speed for a vehicle on the motorway is 78mph. I have a friend who is a traffic cop and their rule of thumb is not to pull anyone over unless they're over 89mph.

Camera's aren't as sensible!

[Ian]

 Concur 100%, was coming down M20, cop car pulled in front and sign lit up in back of car "85mph please slow down", so I did, good policing though 

[romephius]

You guys are lucky, our speed limit is only 100 kph here i think that's roughly 62.5 mph there are only a copule of areas where it gets upto a rocketing speed of 110 kph and keep in mind the average drive on the highway in Australia is much longer than most places.  For instance yesterday for work I drove around 430 km (268 miles approx) so basically i spent over 4 hours driving.

Just a little perspective for you.

[davewilson]

Romephius:
At least you were moving.I was trapped on the M1 for over 3 hours due to an Accident and build up of traffic ,and did not move an inch.It was so bad the Recovery and Emergency Vehicles could not get through due to all the idiots using the hard shoulder,when it was obvious there was no where to go.

The Stig