Its simple.
The 70mph speed limit is a maximum limit, not an instruction to drive at 70mph. So drive at any speed below 70mph at which you are not casuing any blockages - i.e. keep up with the HGVs and you'll be fine... ;0)
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Just as a point of note the above is not my driving style. I tend to tailor my driving to the situation, i.e when its a nice clear road and i am not being a pain in the derrier i tend to sit in the left hand lane at 70mph, but when needs be, i do "join the flow of traffic" e.g. M25 overtaking the HGV on a hilly bit.
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It isn't simple.
The 70mph speed limit is unrealistic.
That's why most car drivers exceed it every day they drive.
We have mass disobedience of an unrealistic law.
So the law needs to be changed.
HJ
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The 70mph speed limit is unrealistic. That's why most car drivers exceed it every day they drive.
FWIW I disagree. I think most drivers exceed it because they can without sanction, and they've got into the habit. I was recently driving in Australia (Queensland) and what a pleasure it was - almost everyone driving at or around the speed limit.
Speeding is just a habit that we've all gotten into. I used to regularly drive at 10-15 mph over the speed limit, just because I knew that the police wouldn't stop me at that level. Now that we have speed cameras (and here in Berkshire we have loads), I have had to reduce to around +5 mph. Recently I decided that was just arbitrary and I might as well drive at or below the speed limit.
If everyone just stuck to the speed limits (or at least close to them), the roads would be a much more pleasant place for all of us. There's no chance of Jo Bloggs realising that without coercion, hence I don't really mind speed cameras. Might do us all a favour in the long run by training us that we don't really *need* to break the speed limits - it's just a bad habit we'd got in to.
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What is it that is sacred about 70mph.
It's an arbitary figure, set when vehicle design was way below today's standards (believe me, I was there).
When the limit was set a typical small family car e.g. Ford 105E Anglia, was advertised with a major selling point of as capable of reaching 70mph. And that was on 4 star petrol, drum brakes and cross ply tyres.
It felt fast when you reached 60, not many owners tried for 70.
Try to market a car with a top speed of 70mph nowdays and you'd be lucky to sell half a dozen.
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It may be unrealistic - and I wholeheartedly agree, as do many police chiefs - but it is still the lawful maximum speed allowed.
Modern car drivers are being asked to observe speed limits which, in most cases, were set many years ago and don't take into account the superior braking and other measures of current vehicles.
That's not to ignore the fact that some drivers just aren't safe to allow out no matter at what speeds they drive.
However, one benefit of low speed limits that many people don't seem to realise is that you can safely allow a greater number of vehicles in a given stretch of road space.
Hence the speed limit variations on the M25 at certain periods of the day.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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> (aside from HGV's which vary between 65-70)
Unless they are loaded, and going up a hill, most trucks will, where traffic allows, be doing 56 mph, plus or minus a small margin - one or two mph typically. They are electronically governed to this speed. Their tachographs are checked and calibrated on rolling road devices every 2 years.
There is much more variation in the naff 'instruments' fitted in motor cars.
number_cruncher
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In my opinion the "superior braking and other measures" are some of the reasons why we should keep the speed limits we have.
With the increase in the ablilty of a car to stop, handle at speeds, and protect its occupants better, i believe that drivers are lulled into a false sense of security about their own abliltys. Rather than the driver being able to exceed the cars abilities, these days the car exceeds the drivers abilities. (I am not talking about really old cars, i only passed 5 years ago but i learnt on the old family sierra, which would oversteer like crazy on the wet if you weren't careful, skate over the road hovercraft if in an emergency stop if you forgot to pump, and start to feel light at the front when you went over 65).
If the speed limit is increased say to 80/90 then with the mentality of british drivers of the +15mph we will be driving around at around 100mph (imagines the "angel eyes" in the rearview mirror at 90mph *shudder*).
The point is that motorway driving is like no other driving on UK roads. You are not going to meet pedestrians, cyclists, school children etc etc, which is why i do overtake a 65mph hgv (OK a calibrated 56 +/- 2 mph (but how can i tell with my "naff" instument ;-)) by joining traffic that is doing a standard 80 and then pulling in when it is safe to do so and get back down to 70.
Yes it is breaking the law, but does that make it more or less unsafe than a) hogging the middle lane at 70 and getting *insert preferred make of car/LGV* trying to take your back bumper off as a souvenier, or b) breaking the speed limit
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There is much more variation in the naff 'instruments' fitted in motor cars.
Very true - I used to work for a car manufacturer and the case then (might be different now) was that EU rules say the speedo has to overread by 4Km/hr (2.5MPH) and can overread by up to 10%.
Hence, if your speedo shows 70MPH, then your actual speed is somewhere between 63.6 and 67.5MPH.
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My question is this, how do the IAM or other such motoring organisations view breaking the 70 mph limit to keep up with traffic.
I have driven with off duty IAM observers come 'L' driving instructors, and I can confirm that 70mph is only an official view!
I tend to keep to 70 where possible, as the car gets pretty noisey, and aerodynamic drag is proportional to speed squared. That might be the reason why I can manage 50mpg from a car with 4 forward gear!
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A certain senior police officer from Derbyshire doesn't seem to mind being driven at well in excess of the motorway speed limit.
I can't believe he didn't know the speed the car was doing.
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A recent event here in New Zealand may be interesting.
I don't believe this newspaper is in competition with the
Daily Telegraph...
www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=new...y**=3609653
So, in a reasonably poorly populated part of our not over-peopled country, there were at least 17 people who saw the PM being zoomed around at a rate of knots and decided to complain to police.
Well done! One thing we *don't* like is our politicians behaving like the generalissimo (ess?) of a banana republic.
Oh, and the reason for the rush? Provincial (county) rugby final match in Wellington. I suppose it's the equivalent for us, of the FA Cup Final. That's all right then.
PM
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You think our speed limit is unrealastic HJ, try Sweden's motorways, such as the E4. Mile after mile of lovely blacktop with a rush hour traffic density equal to my local town at 03:00am on a Sunday!
Heaven... Perhaps, but the speed limit is rigourously enforced, and penalties severe (a ban for relatively few KPH over). The result of this is that most folks set the cruise control to a level just below the ban threshold (about 130KPH, or 80MPH in real money), and simple overtakes can take a very l o o o o n g time as a result.
I recently had to drive from Goteborg to Linkoping up the E4, but was lucky to join the motorway in harmony with a V70 taxi from Jonkoping (half way between the two). Twigging that he was probably a regular, I tucked in behind as we set off up the nigh on empty motorway. Sure enough, we would sit at 150-160KPH (100MPH) for a few miles, and then drop to 120KPH for no apparent reason. A few seconds later, a parked police car would hove in to view. This went on for the entire distance to Jonkoping, whereupon my normal 'cruise control at 130KPH' took over, but I still saved a lot of time. Thanks, matey!
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