To think cars should legally have speed limited to 70mph?

[clairemcnam]

The upper speed limit in the UK is 70mph. So why does the Government not just pass a law saying that all cars should have a speed limited so that is the fastest it can go? Sure I know some people would disable it, but in general it would stop most people going faster than 70mph.

Fortunately we are not governed by a nanny state. If you want to stick to 70 then do so, others will go faster if the condition of the road/traffic are safe.

I would be interested to know for how long the OP has been driving? I drove for over 50 years, never had a speeding ticket or accident or points on my licence but managed to exceed the limit quite often when conditions allowed.

Years ago when I lived in Germany I had an American boyfriend who had a whizzo car and we drove down the autobahn at 160 miles per hour. That was a thrill but perhaps not best to be duplicated on our roads

No of course not in the middle lane unless I am over taking. I am not an idiot.
But whether the speed limit should be higher is a separate discussion. I am arguing for speed limiters on cars to the maximum speed limit, whatever that is.

Nope. Stupid idea whatever the limit.

So, not Marples, but Barbara Castle.

uk.news.yahoo.com/on-this-day--70mph-speed-limit-imposed-on-motorways-164136359.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAI3Awiv1_Lqa5u7vMSgVBTja8_BoAWBzD4TRUflyAeC1otaykW2JfYE_efXKOGHTsnqbk-nDjtQo9CLuzjzh9bRLc-fnJJGCa0-n27oyq2s_EX6Qg6jjoQJvM_uC9_shZwkVmlQk1TNiMxTiLrB6WqCafcARWhtKZ7RNTzo44ffW

I have heard people who take illegal drugs, who cheat on benefits, who cheat on tax returns, all say this

Yes. Because all this are comparable to doing 80mph on an empty motorway

So limiting the speed limit did cut accidents and save lives.

It's a stupid idea OP

Well, you’re definitely in the minority. Long as you aren’t hogging the middle lane or otherwise getting in the way I don’t care what you’re doing to be honest.

I doubt you are getting in the way of anybody in the middle lane of the motorway at 2am. In my experience they are either empty or busy with lorries who are in the inside or middle lane and you can have the outer lane to yourself.

Maybe a 100mph limit instead? Even then it'd be a pain in Germany.

It did save lives but there was NO limit on motorways before so it’s not really a relevant comparison.

No need for a limiter, I'd like to ban dash cams though!

You can drive at a speed limit of 70mph and still be a Pratt.

Speed is more likely to kill at the lower speed limits ie doing 40 in a 30.

When there is the technology to limit the Pratt levels in people that's when road safety will kick in

No need for a limiter, I'd like to ban dash cams though!

Why?

Lorries are commercial vehicles and designed exclusively for national/international haulage on public road networks. They are very large and potentially dangerous vehicles, hence the law requires their speed to be limited. Some business owners also decide to have their own fleet of smaller vehicles limited too - at least partially because they have no direct control over how their employees drive their vans on their behalf.

Cars are, in the main, private vehicles - the vast majority being driven by the people who own them and who will be responsible by default for paying any fines and taking any points on their own driving licences. Those owned by UK citizens are mostly used on the UK public road network, but by no means exclusively. You may have a vast amount of your own private property - maybe a racetrack (or one which you've paid to use) on which you wish to (legally) drive at 130mph. You may want to take it abroad to drive on roads in other countries with higher or no speed limits.

Taking away people's right to drive legally at more than 70mph would be like forcing trained, professional chefs (or indeed any adult) to carve everything with a near-blunt dinner knife or expecting a tree surgeon to cut down trees with a hand-axe 'because it's much safer'.

The law should be respected and obeyed, but taking away the ability of individuals to break laws, whilst sounding great in theory, is a very slippery slope towards a nanny state which rapidly becomes a police state. Minority Report, anybody?

So, not Marples, but Barbara Castle.

Mea Culpa, mea maxima culpa.

I knew there was a Socialist element of the Politics of Envy in its introduction at such a low level and couldn't reconcile that with Marples. Thought I was having an extended senior moment.

I also feel first responders would disagree - paramedics/police who would break that limit to reach someone with a critical time restraint.

So come on, tell us OP, how long have you been driving?

Passing such a law would make sense, but the motoring lobby would campaign such that no party would do it for fear of losing votes.

Barbara Castle introduced the breathalyser and subsequent governments compelled the use of seat belts and motorcycle helmets, both of which have saved thousands of lives, but even with these, 1,770 people died on the roads in the year to June 2018. Almost as many as the IRA killed in over 30 years of the Troubles.

I am in my late 50s, have been driving for a very long time, never had a speeding ticket or traffic offence, and hate how many people don't seem to understand how to use lanes on motorways.

There's evidence that lowering speed limits on otherwise safe roads doesn't necessarily cut accidents. It can actually increase them. Because speed on motorways isn't the dangerous thing. Stopping on the hard shoulder is the most dangerous thing you can do on a motorway and you're stationary at that point! Relative speed is dangerous so two drivers doing 80 and 90 are safer than one doing 70 and one doing 100.

And, finally, the speed limit is 70. But because of speedos you're doing lower than that. The police normally allow about ten percent just because. So that means limit at 84 if you really must. And review speed limits, because they're based on very old stopping distances that new cars exceed dramatically.

I understand about speedos.
But if you increased the speed limit to 80 or 90 on motorways, you would still get some people doing 50, and that would be dangerous.

The issue I'd have with raising speed limits is that a lot of people (often evidenced on MN) is that a lot of people get really angry about others driving under the limit. However high it's set there will be drivers who insist on treating it as a target.

But they shouldn't be. Doing 50 on a motorway is dangerous. Relative speed again.

Sorry, that last post is gibberish!

Pratchett I would not drive at 50 on the motorway. But people do and it is not illegal. So unless you make it illegal, you have to look at how some people actually drive. No point just saying they shouldn't.

Honestly, it's yet another 'we don't need experts' problem.

There is excellent science. People, engineers, who study traffic. And they set the speed. 5mph below and people tend to comply more. 10-20mph below and people cease to comply.

We know about roads, surety and human behaviour but people insist that 'common sense' like 'if speed limits are lower it'll be safer' is better than actual facts. Drives me at 90mph bonkers.