What's the "real" speed limit on the motorway?

[whoknows212]

I don't drive much on the motorways, but when I do, I set my cruise control to the 70mph limit and it seems that nearly every other driver overtakes me

So what's the "real" speed limit on the motorway? Because it sure as hell isn't the posted 70mph one

Most map apps tell you your speed, IME. It's well known that speedometers tend to be set slightly under the actual speed.

70mph for cars, unless lower due to road layout and/or conditions.

I've had a car in which the speedo read the full 10% allowed under, so I would have had to have it reading 76-77 to really be doing 70.

In addition to many drivers nowadays taking this into account by calibrating vs GPS speed, some will also assume they won't be caught for speeding if they're within 10% of the limit and so travel at 75-77ish - so on my speedo that would have been reading over 80.

I feel I repeat this a lot so forgive me. Your speedo is out by a specific amount depending on the manufacturer. It's not an accident. It's out to adhere to the laws that it must not read under the actual speed you are doing. It's very scientific and means that in x manufacturers car, when the Speedo reads y, you are doing z.

On a free flowing motor way with 4 lanes I would expect

Lane 1 lorries so up to 58mph
Lane 2 up to 65
Lane 3 up to 70
Lane 4 speeding

Unfortunate the stretch of motorway is currently more like crawling - 40 due to "improvements". I would normally be at home in Lane 2 of my example.

I'm an advanced former blue light driver who has been trained to drive at speed on motorways. I'm also a motorcyclist.

Most people can handle a car at 80mph comfortably in terms of manual control. It's their observations that are lacking. Not just their own ability to read the road but their ability to recognise whether other people are noticing them coming up at speed. So many drivers look no further ahead than the car in front of them and take almost no notice of what's going on behind them I'm amazed there aren't more accidents.

Good drivers who occasionally speed within reasonable limits spot the speed cameras/vans/police cars in good time to avoid being caught because they're observant. If you've been caught, you're driving above the level of your competence in most cases and should take it as a clear sign you should slow down.

However, I'm just as amazed by the number of people who choose to drive at 50-60mph on a motorway when there's no reason to. If that's genuinely as fast as you feel safe driving, you should consider staying off motorways, getting some additional lessons to boost confidence and ability or giving up. Same for people who drove at 35-50 on straight open roads in good conditions. It's about reaction times, and if yours are so slow that's the e speed you need to go, quite frankly you are dangerous. But nowhere near as dangerous as those who speed when there reaction times are equally as bad but they don't have the awareness to recognise it (or are too arrogant to).

It all depends on the weather conditions, level of traffic and time of day.

So yes you can legally drive at 70 in torrential rain and in heavy traffic but it's probably not a good idea!

Equally doing 80 on a dry road with little traffic and in good light then you are unlikely to get stopped.

Go over 90 then there is a high chance of being stopped with points go over 100 then regardless of anything you will get stopped and lose your license.

Between 80 and 90 it depends on the conditions, mood of the police officer, your response and attitude etc etc.

As said… the limit is 70, there’s no change to that. I don’t worry about going to about 75, on the basis that I’m doing a bit less than that and won’t get ticketed. Might go to 80 to overtake.

But the main point is that drivers know where the speed cameras are, so a lot will drive however they feel until that point.

Forgive me being blunt but this is a seriously daft question. The speed limit is 70 mph - end of.

I did a speed awareness course and there were people there who were doing 74 so I aim for 70 up to 72. I don't want to get a fine so it seems pointless to chance it just to drive a few miles an hour faster.

I use my cruise control whenever I can.

If the road was completely clear and. If I was guaranteed not to get a ticket I'd love to drive much faster but I really don't want any points

I stick absolutely to all speed limits except on the motorway where I go about 85 where I can.

And I don't hold to the "it's a limit not a target" thing. It's both. If you can't at least try to get up to 60 on a reasonable NSL country road and are pootling along at 40 with a queue behind you aren't driving responsibly either. It is a target in good conditions.

This.

I am comfortable driving at up to 80 because I'm an experienced driver with a lot of motorway/dual carriageway experience, have never had a crash or been caught speeding, and I know that I make good observations, don't allow myself to become distracted, leave a good gap to the car in front etc. Equally, I feel very safe with DP driving me around because he does the same, and a couple of other friends and family members who drive in a similar way and anticipate the road ahead and the behaviour of other drivers.

I'd much rather be in one of our cars than my sister's, who pootles along at 55mph on the motorway chatting away to whoever's in the passenger seat and generally not using her mirrors, ignoring signs and then having to change lanes at the last minute etc.

But she thinks I'm a reckless driver because sometimes I go at what my speedo says is 80mph (probably really 75...)

This is probably a stupid question but it has always confused me - if the limit is 70, and everyone is doing 70 or there abouts, technically we shouldn’t be allowed to overtake anyone as we would have to go over the limit to do so?

People who go at 40mph in the national limit but then don't slow down going into a 30mph limit through a village and just go on at 40mph irrespective of whether the limit is 30 or 60 are the ones that irritate and scare me the most. Clearly paying no attention whatsoever to the road.

I expect vehicles in the fast lane to be doing 85 - 90 at times.

It's rare that everyone is doing 70 or thereabouts though - certainly on the roads near me.

Absolutely. And it's always the same people. You can guarantee that the muppet pootling at 40 in the NSL is 100% going to carry on at 40 in the villages. They just can't be arsed actually adjusting their speed appropriately.

I’ve noticed motorway speeds have slowed down in general over the last 5 years as the cost of fuel has gone up. Vehicles are much more economical between 60-70 than 70+. 66 seems to be the sweet spot in my van.

Not all motorways are 70 all the time. The variable speed limits on the midlands motorways will bring it down to 50/60 in inclement weather. A mate of mine had to do a speed awareness course for doing 70 on an empty road at 7am on a Saturday because it was raining. Tbf the gantry signs were displaying 60 in the pics he got sent 🤣

You wouldn't need to overtake anyone in that scenario, would you?

But there will always be lorries/ coaches/ cars towing caravans etc on motorways which can't do the maximum speed limits, so you can overtake them while still doing 70 MPH on the dot.

Absolutely spot on! They don't even look past their bonnet.

I'm on the road all day, every week day. The amount of times I move over for a blue light n the people behind or around are completely unaware of why I'm moving over n beep or react badly is crazy. The same for the amount I see coming the other way with a blue light behind them in the outside lane when they don't need to be, completely unaware of what's behind them.

Middle lane hogging has come back with a vengeance. It seems to be the cool thing for younger drivers to do. Maybe it's their sense of entitlement but I was on the m1 and then m25 when a driving instructor was in lane 2 for miles. No wonder they aren't learning if their teachers also fall short.

It’s not your speedometer that counts though is it? It’s the one the police use to clock your speed, and if they say you are over the limit then claiming you think your speedometer overestimates is not going to get you off.

A driving instructor on a motorway could be giving motorway instruction to a new driver, so fair enough to take it a bit easy regarding speed, I wouldn’t want a just passed my test seventeen year old being told to drive at the limit in the overtaking lane to get the experience!

I also passed the Advanced test with a police examiner. I'm not perfect, I don't drive over speed limits. Every one thinks they are perfect, perfectly safe at 90mph. People pass their test, imagine they can drive, and are allowed on a motorway. I took the time to complete the High performance course as well,motor way driving. Why, I worked in the ED for 5 years, and got knocked off the road,by a drunk hit and run with no licence,car overturned 3 times.

So many are averaged speed checked now so 70 is usually the max people go to. I will get up to 80 if I need to in lane 3 if the middle lane is being hogged by people just using it to drive (and often, bizarrely at less than 70 in fine clear conditions) but then once past the cars I move back into the correct lane.