To wonder who all these people are, speeding?

[justonanote]

Or more to the point, how they think they can get away with it, or clearly do all the time?

I do a lot of motorway driving and I see so many cars doing over 80!

See also dual carriageways near me. People do 80+!

I'll be in a lane sometimes doing 70 and I have cars behind flashing at me to speed up

My question is do people not get done very much for speeding? I wouldn't really think to speed anyway but surely the strong possibility of a fine or more is a deterrent? Do people just not care?

It is a wonder, I think it does need more research in that area.

Police are conspicuous by their absence and speeders probably think the chances of being spotted are very slim.

The motorway closest to us attracts boy racers who think nothing of undercutting drivers by going on the hard shoulder. The police are more than aware but they never seem to patrol on the off chance of catching them and so it goes on.

I think 80 is kind of expected. I think it would make sense to put the limit up to 80, but then to actually enforce it - ie set the cameras to clock anyone doing 81 or more.

Fuckwits. Entitled, and foolish fuckwits.

@NiceTwin

Police are conspicuous by their absence and speeders probably think the chances of being spotted are very slim.

The motorway closest to us attracts boy racers who think nothing of undercutting drivers by going on the hard shoulder. The police are more than aware but they never seem to patrol on the off chance of catching them and so it goes on.

This is shocking

There’s at least 3 traffic cars on my motorway commute and I do often see cars being pulled over.
Once to my satisfaction a knob doing well over 90 and driving aggressively being caught

@PurpleCarpets

I think 80 is kind of expected. I think it would make sense to put the limit up to 80, but then to actually enforce it - ie set the cameras to clock anyone doing 81 or more.

Agree. I'll admit to thinking nothing of 80 myself and given how many other drivers also do, I'm always suprised by the MN threads where no one ever goes a mile over the speed limit.

@ISpyCobraKai I've gone to 71/72 as a fluctuating speed but why do you think 80 is a normal speed?

What's so expected about 80?

I'm genuinely curious here

Despite the high speeds, motorways are the safest roads we travel on.
It’s those who hurtle along, within the speed limit at 60, on country roads that bother me.

justonanote
If you regularly drive on Motorways surely you notice that 80 is a normal speed?
Driving at 80 is often just keeping up with the traffic, unless you want to sit behind a stream of lorries.

I would have thought 80 was a normal motorway speed in reality?

We live in the SE and most of the time I use M25 would say the average speed is around 63mph,
I put it down to people trying to stretch their petrol out a few more miles, or the roads are busy and you can only do 63mph or the fact that the speed limits change at every gantry for no apparent reason,

Last week it went down to 30mph then up to 40mph then 50mph then down to 40mph then clear, back to 70mph.
I couldn’t actually see a reason as you could see some of the changes ahead and there weren’t any holdups etc.

80 is my normal motorway speed if the traffic flows and it's relatively clear. If I'm travelling and it's very empty I'll do 85 - it's people who speed in residential areas that I don't understand.

Tbf a lot of people see 80 as the minimum. She. I first began driving I'd drive at 75 and people would HOUND behind you.

Are you being flashed because you’re driving 70 in the overtaking lanes?

Why are you driving in the outside lane? Sounds like your driving is the problem.

I don't think 80 on a motorway in clear conditions is at all problematic. The police round here focus their energies on speeding in residential rat runs and known black spots which I think is fair enough.

A major A road near me has a 50mph limit for large sections. It’s an anti pollution measure. But many don’t stick to it.

@sst1234

Why are you driving in the outside lane? Sounds like your driving is the problem.

This.

People who drive below 70 on the motorway are far more of a hazard than anyone going at 80. See cars going so slow that lorries need to move over to overtake them. Get back on the bus if you're scared...

If you’re being flashed chances are you’re in the wrong lane and have space to move over.
I used to commute on the motorway for 60 miles one way each day, I’d think nothing of going 90 when it was clear. Now I realise how utterly lucky I was because that sort of speed is insane.
I tend to stick to 70 on the motorway now (maybe speeding up to 75 to overtake) but the difference is, I don’t ever get flashed because I keep left as much as possible.

And if they crash whilst speeding, it’ll be called an accident & tragic loss of life if they kill someone in the process. No punishment & then they can repeat

The way I feel is people are slowing down (got no evidence to prove this).

In the 80s/90s it was fairly normal to drive at 90mph on the motorway.

I think thinks have changed due to better speed enforcement and the price of petrol.

Also I think penalties have increased, I am pretty sure you didn't used to get your license taken away for driving in the high 80s or 90s.

Btw I have only ever had 3 points on my license and zero crashes, despite having jobs involving a 60-90 mile return journey. For one of the jobs commute I would regularly drive s +90mph.

I no longer live in the UK, and now catch the bus to work!!

I'll be in a lane sometimes doing 70 and I have cars behind flashing at me to speed up

Which lane?

It depends where you are as well, M25 would agree is a “slower” motorway, M4 at the start has lots of boy racers / undertakers and it’s only as you get further away from London that behaviour seems to stop and then yes would agree 80 is pretty normal

What I find causes a lot of stacking up and lane crossing are people sitting in middle lanes who seem to mis-read the general speed of the motorway at hand - eg if you’re driving 60-70 on the motorway in a middle lane with the left lane empty move over…

What baffles me is seeing so many cars driven by blokes revving up as they pass me on my bike, itching to get ahead - all that fuel they're burning up driving so erratically!

I see very few people modifying their driving style to save all that £1.65-£1.85/litre fuel in their tank. They couldn't care less.