To think 70mph is an acceptable speed in any motorway lane?

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

Disclaimer: I have only recently started driving on the motorway regularly

Surely whatever lane you're in, 70mph is an acceptable speed to be doing? I keep finding that when I'm in the fast lane (eg when overtaking cars in the middle lane) at 70mph, I find I have someone driving 2 metres behind me in a way that suggests they enjoy causing a pile up. Once I'm able to get back into the middle lane they will rush past at well over 70mph.

Did I miss the memo where the fast lane became part of the German Autobahn?

plenty of people on this thread saying - both directly and indirectly - that it's right to speed. If the OP has pulled out, not hit another car and is overtaking at 70 then there shouldnt be a car behind getting het up about how long it takes to pull back into the middle lane. Because if they are, you know, actually keeping to the speed limit they are only doing 70 too. So they dont have a problem passing the car the OP is overtaking and then pulling in behind her. It's usually the speeders who stay in the overtaking lane when they should be pulling over.

The only grounds anyone would have for all these complaints was if they felt entitled to speed. Clearly many do. Of course a sensible driver assumes there will be idiots in the overtaking lane and tries to avoid them.

No points on my license yet. I trust my driving skills over a car that cant recognise when something is stationary and is being set to drive over the limit.

already
Yes there have been people openly saying they speed, but quite a lot of us have been saying that it's is pointless being 'right' if you've had an accident.
Like it or not people do speed on the motorways and some stupidly so.

There are many potential consequences of pulling out into a lane where the majority of cars are speeding, which could lend themselves to aggressive driving or accidents.

I could pull out into a gap judging that the car that's clearly speeding can slow down because 'I'm doing 70 and want to get past someone doing 67 so those idiots who are speeding can just slow down', or I can let the plonker past & do my overtake without them throwing their brakes on, without them on my tail, without them getting increasingly irate and putting me at risk of an accident either from initially pulling out or as a consequence of their road rage.

Part of driving is reading the road around you. Better the idiot in front of me than behind me.

It's not called the fast line, it's overtaking. But yes they are dicks. You'll get used to these twats

Extremely well put, MaisyPops.

Was thinking about this thread on the way down the A1 at 6 this morning.

At 80 in the inside lane, with people going past much faster in the outside lane.

Lorry ahead, check mirrors - no-one coming up at stupid speeds, indicate, pull out, pass, pull in.

Or - check mirrors - someone coming up, slow down, wait for them to pass, indicate, pull out, accelerate past lorry, pull in.

No dramas, no stress & no fights....

70 is the national speed limit. You will be booked if you get caught.

I've been commuting down that route for the past 20 years. I know where the cameras are & a mobile speed trap would involve Plod actually turning up - which doesn't happen anymore.

I also refer you to previous posts pointing out that Exceeding the Speed Limit is not the root of all evil, despite what gullible people believe.

As soon as I got into London the street were full of people weaving around, trying to queue jump etc etc - all at 10-20mph.

I know where I felt more at risk on my motorbike & it wasn't on the motorway sections....

It's interesting to read the statistics on speeding. Travelling at 80mph+ is really not all that common, but speeding a little bit is:

• 46% of car drivers go above 70mph
• 25% of car drivers go above 75mph
• 11% of car drivers go above 80mph

Also interesting to note how much speeding (or at least speeding by more than 10mph) has reduced significantly in the last 10 or so years.

I can't help but feel that the following statements are just excuses people use to justify their illegal driving:

• "I tend to go 80-90 on average on motorway like most drivers on motorway any way",
• "most of the time the middle lane is going at 80",
• "Only on MN do people peoclaim to drive at 70",
• "I'd say 80 is a comfortable speed on a well flowing motorway."
• "I can't imagine why you would need to be in the 'fast lane' over taking at 70. Middle lane yes, but not fast lane. I don't drive below 80 in the fast lane."
• "actually 70 can also be a dangerous speed if the rest of the motorway is driving at 80-90"
• "I personally think 70 isn’t fast enough...almost everyone does 80 most of the time."

I drive at 70mph (on cruise control mainly, calibrated with GPS, so my speedo shows 73mph). I'm often in the 3rd lane because there are lorries overtaking each other in the first 2 lanes. If I'm overtaking I'm not going to speed up for some twat who comes racing up behind me and flashes their lights (and no, I don't pull out in front of people speeding either).

If I'm overtaking I'm not going to speed up for some twat who comes racing up behind me and flashes their lights (and no, I don't pull out in front of people speeding either).

I think we can all agree on both those points. However I suspect the OP (and quite a lot of other people on here) do pull out in front of people speeding.

You shouldn't impede the flow of traffic, and you should always be in the leftmost lane that you can safely be in.
If you stick to those two rules, you're mostly covered on the motorway.

Staying in the rightmost lane doing 70 impedes the flow of traffic from the many drivers who want to go faster and may lead them to drive unsafely to try and get past you. Whether or not they should be going that fast is their lookout, the important thing is not to knowingly impede traffic.

Weaving in and out of lanes isn't safe, so if the leftmost lane has traffic in it going 55 or 60 and you want to do 70 then stay in the middle lane until you're past them, and then move in when you're clear.

Its not complicated.

On what basis do you suspect that? As far as I can see, no one has said that they pull out just in front of people. Yet there are plenty of people who seem very proud of their speeding. It's most odd really.

I often drive a work car that is limited to 70mph and occasionally have to overtake in lane 3 (when a lorry is overtaking a lorry for example). Usually do get a queue of cars behind me, most of the time no one seems to mind but sometimes people drive rather close and flash at me (even though there is a 'this vehicle is limited to 70' sticker on the back).

Weaving in and out of lanes isn't safe, so if the leftmost lane has traffic in it going 55 or 60 and you want to do 70 then stay in the middle lane until you're past them, and then move in when you're clear

If you do that you'll be accused of middle lane sitting. Apparently you are meant to speed up to the car in front, pull out at the last minute and then cut them up as you go back in even if there is another car to overtake very soon.

I agree with you by the way. Weaving is dangerous, looking ahead and making your lane changes in plenty of time is much safer.

And doing over 70mph is a criminal offence. Dress it up how you like everybody, you can't justify it.

It's interesting to read the statistics on speeding. Travelling at 80mph+ is really not all that common, but speeding a little bit is:
- 46% of car drivers go above 70mph
- 25% of car drivers go above 75mph
- 11% of car drivers go above 80mph

Also interesting to note how much speeding (or at least speeding by more than 10mph) has reduced significantly in the last 10 or so years.

Don't their statistics say not that 46% of drivers go above 70mph - which makes it sound like 54% of people never do - but that 46% of the cars they monitored were going above 70mph at the point at which they were measured, i.e. that almost half the drivers on the motorway were speeding at any one time, and 11% going at 80mph+? That suggests that a lot more than 46%/11% of people do it ever, or indeed even across a single journey. They say that their collection points 'exclude locations where external factors might restrict driver behaviour (e.g. junctions, hills, sharp bends and speed enforcement cameras).', but they don't include weight of traffic in that list, so I suspect that that's why it's decreased since 2011 - roads are more congested, so the opportunities to go above 70mph are fewer.

I think speeding has been reduced due to a simple weight of numbers.

Try and speed on a managed motorway set at 50 in rush hour. You might do it, but don't be surprised when a friendly police officer pulls you over for a chat and mentions how hard it was to ignore you on the CCTV.

Then around town ... especially on the average camera main roads we're seeing (Almost all routes into Birmingham, for example). You might get be able to get past one car doing 30 in a 30. But you'll only find the car in front ... doing 30.

(Mind you, off the main roads, it's mostly 20 now, anyway).

I would be very surprised if a friendly police officer pulls you over - I haven’t seen or experienced that in 10 years of daily motorway driving! As previously mentioned it’s not something the police make much effort to enforce.

MN really makes me with its legal/ illegal hysteria. Like the only measure people have for behaviour, and breaking the law- no matter how minor it technically- is always VERY WRONG. In face simply replying “that’s illegal” is the worst condemnation possible.

I always think what if you moved to another country and something you do freely every day here was illegal? Sure you might follow it to avoid being caught, if that’s likely, but you wouldn’t be likely to take it all that seriously as poor behaviour.

MC, if you want to be very precise about it, 46% of people on a typical free flowing stretch of motorway will be speeding. It isn't really possible to correlate that directly to proportion of people who speed. But it doesn't really matter, the vast majority of people will have gone above the limit at some point or other, but that doesn't say anything about your typical driving speeds, which is what this discussion has been about and what the statistics are measuring.

And no, weight of traffic doesn't come into it, as it is only measured in free flowing traffic.

And no, weight of traffic doesn't come into it, as it is only measured in free flowing traffic.

But my point is that their definition of 'free flowing' seems to mean the place they position the monitor, not the traffic conditions at the time of date collection (or, indeed, other things like the weather). Which makes sense, as they're using fixed points and it would be very hard to adjust for that unless someone was actually watching the footage to see whether or not it was a bit congested.

The speed you are travelling is largely irrelevant when it comes to lane discipline - keep to the left lane unless actively overtaking. And a lorry in the lane to your left half a mile ahead is not a reason to stay in the middle lane!

Of course you shouldn't be weaving in and out of lanes unnecessarily, but give me strength when I'm having to move from the inside lane to the outside lane to pass a car that hasn't seemed to notice the empty lane to their left... I bet if you were to stop them they'd proclaim "oh I hadn't moved over as there's a lorry in the inside lane all the way up there so no point moving over and then back out again in a few minutes" Um yes that's what you're SUPPOSED to do!!!

And I can't help but get frustrated at people that are moving marginally quicker than the vehicle they are trying to overtake; IIRC you need to be travelling approximately 10-15mph faster than the other vehicle to overtake effectively, so pulling out when you're doing maybe 2mph more is potentially dangerous. Just ease off the accelerator and stay behind them until they move over, or accelerate slightly to get past them efficiently!

I now have visions of hundreds of MNers driving staring at their speedos rather than the road, because GOD FORBID they go over 70mph!!!

I would be very surprised if a friendly police officer pulls you over - I haven’t seen or experienced that in 10 years of daily motorway driving!

Well I have seen a few police cars plus stopped car on the hard shoulder, so someones being stopped for something ... and the police occasionally post videos of extreme fuckwittery; although I suspect some motorists see them more as a challenge than a warning.

As previously mentioned it’s not something the police make much effort to enforce.

Not the speeding per se, but the additional twattery of weaving in and out.

My ex was caught doing over 100mph and didn't get banned.
Just thought I'd add that to the conversation!

but give me strength when I'm having to move from the inside lane to the outside lane to pass a car that hasn't seemed to notice the empty lane to their left..

Well, with texts, tweets, facebook, and email, it's hard to spot sometimes.

The more annoying thing is people who can't maintain the same speed. I use cruise control and set it to about 73, which is 69/70 mph actual, and so many times people overtake me, then slow down once they get in front so I have to overtake them, then they speed up again, on and on, sometimes while I'm actually in the process of overtaking. One trip on the motorway I overtook the same car about six or seven times because they were variously driving between 75 mph and 65 the entire way.

If you only use other lanes for overtaking you shouldn’t have too much of a problem.
70 is the limit and you’re right but you’re wrong to sit in any lane that you don’t need to be on the outside lane unless you’re overtaking.

MC, they do account for congestion. It would be a bit stupid if they didn't. They also give the average speed for the points they have measured. The average speed observed at these site hasn't reduced all that much (and indeed you'd expect it to come down a bit if not as many people are speeding). Statistics are never going to be perfect, but they are the best we have, and certainly better than what the speeding apologists on this thread have come up with.