To think 100mph isn't routine

[CaptainWarbeck]

I'm travelling with my younger sister & her bf. They're driving up the country and are routinely doing 100mph on the motorways etc which feels overly fast to me. Context: I'm from an overseas country where speed cameras and checks are routine and most people just stick to the speed limit.

Is this the norm in the UK? If not, would you breach the peace and say anything? It doesn't help that they're continually play fighting while driving too which doesn't add to the feeling of safety...

Just come back from a holiday down south with lots of motorway driving involved- sat at 70-75 80 tops, but not consistently and wouldn't go past that.
Spent quite alot of time in the middle and fast lanes, and certainly wasn't being sped past by lots of motorists, so I can assume our speed was normal.
100 mph is definitely not.

I had a ride with a friend once and she was being an idiot trying to race someone on the back from a car show...swerving about and speeding....I had to tell her to slow down, which i did because I didn't want us to crash and die! I knew my limits but she didn't.

Tell them to slow down....what's worth more, your street cred or your life?? (Or the lives of an innocent family like mine travelling alongside you)

@Tessisme the poster @Mischance was saying there was no excuse for speeding in any circumstances. So I gave one where it was.

@ItsCalledAConversation
there are other motorways where you could easily do 100mph and they were often empty at night...well until they put cameras up.

@OldBeller I speak as someone who drove at those speeds myself as a new driver when I was in my teens.
Looking back it was definitely driving with a death wish whether I realised it or not. I had no thought for anyone else around me whether passengers or other road users.
I am able to admit that fault and thank my lucky stars that I survived. It was a low speed accident that finally drilled it into me how utterly thick I was being. The realisation of how much worse it would have been had I been doing my usual stupid speeds did not bear thinking about.
So as unpleasant as it might be to hear, it is death wish driving whichever way we put it. We either learn from it and make changes or we continue to risk lives at our own hands.

Ah, fair play @Reugny😊

Driving too fast doesn't mean you're guaranteed to die, as the PP said. Otherwise, you wouldn't be having this conversation with me. Neither of us would because I've certainly gone over the speed limit as well.

I'm glad that you're ok and feel like you're a better driver. Having a crash is a horrible experience. But saying it's dangerous and saying it's literally going to kill you isn't the same thing.

It's like these anti-drug adverts that say you'll end up on crack in the gutter if you ever take a drag on a joint. People quickly realise that isn't true and are no better educated on drugs than they should be because of needless exaggeration.

People very much judge because of the law, rather than any fundamental safety or ethical concerns.

Autobahns, for instance, are not intrinsically safer than our motorways. When I read about them and first drove on them, I assumed they would be dead straight with huge lanes. They aren’t. They curve just as much as our motorways and the lanes actually seemed narrower. But no judgement if motorists are doing well over 100mph on them.

The same for the police as they can legally speed (in certain circumstances). So a police car chasing young drunk kids at 120mph plus is considered acceptable. It isn’t, it just isn’t illegal.

Some roads in the uk seem a lot faster than others, Most do stay under 100mph, due to the risk of being banned, but on the M20 near Dover, I was often driving a steady 90mph and overtaken a lot, some going well over 100mph,

We all understand that there are rare moments when we need to escape from a dangerous situation ... that is not what is being discussed here. We are talking about people who routinely regard it as fine to break the law.

Yes very routine in the UK but becoming less easy these days due to the volume of speed cameras and traffic. 100mph is pretty slow for derestricted German autobahns. As with most things speed related it’s all about appropriate use. I’m rarely into three figures these days, maybe a couple of times a week, never on motorways. Going back 20 years I’d hit 140mph multiple times a day, I have a friend who still does regularly.

@Shade17 Hopefully your friend is stopped from doing so before they hurt someone else.

It's funny I am on the UK motorways a lot and I actually don't see many people speeding to the extents seen here. If anything I'd say the average speed has been slower on the motorways the last couple years, perhaps due to the higher fuel costs.

I drive the M20 and M1 a lot and I find it very stressful as most drivers are doing way over the limit, yes 100mph is pretty standard on many roads near me, and if you drive at the limit you get tailgated and constantly overtaken etc. Being in the slow land doesn’t help much as lorries are constantly coming on and off sliproads, which brings its own nasty surprises.

Anyway I’m sure everyone on mumsnet will claim to stick to the limit but the truth is 100mph is not at all unusual on many UK motorways.

Like you I much prefer driving abroad where limits seem to be more strictly enforced.

Definitely not the normal, although there are plenty of doing those speeds in the right hand lane of the motorway. Me and most people I know wouldn't go over 75, 80 max on a sunny day with good visibility. 90mph with distractions sounds super risky.

Maybe mentioning recent high speed crashes at a convenient moment could be a way into the conversation?