80 Miles Per Hour on British motorways?

[hamster]

True, especially about braking distances. However, thinking distances and reaction times remain the same between the 1960's and today.
One could possibly argue that 1960's cars had far fewer distractions in them...no satnav, phone and often no radio.

 

[grahame]

In the dry, my 1973 Citroen DS has more stopping power than my BMW 5 series Touring. In the wet, ABS makes some difference until you learn to "pump" the brakes.

 

[jamabikes]

True, especially about braking distances. However, thinking distances and reaction times remain the same between the 1960's and today.
One could possibly argue that 1960's cars had far fewer distractions in them...no satnav, phone and often no radio.

fair points. plus more traffic and the like. i drive like a grandad so my driving instructor wife tells me.

 

[petitpal]

An interesting point raised by a Civil Engineer in a letter to The Times today - the motorway network was designed around a maximum speed of 70mph. So corner radii, cambers, sightlines, entry and exit gradients, etc will not be suitable for 80mph plus speeds.

I'm sure this is true, but as has already been pointed out: i) 80 would be the maximum, not the minimum and ii) the majority of traffic already seems to be travelling at 80 already.

spun a Beetle at eighty after the top came off a bottle of mineral water.

If that was in a classic beetle then :shock: My '66 Bug used to top out in the mid 60s, although that could have be the result of a 1300 gearbox and a 1600 engine , and even then it was very twitchy (especially with a roof rack). As for stopping distances of a 60's car - it had four drum brakes so I think 60mph to 0mph was about 3 and a half miles when fully loaded.

 

[highlandsflyer]

An interesting point raised by a Civil Engineer in a letter to The Times today - the motorway network was designed around a maximum speed of 70mph. So corner radii, cambers, sightlines, entry and exit gradients, etc will not be suitable for 80mph plus speeds.

I'm sure this is true, but as has already been pointed out: i) 80 would be the maximum, not the minimum and ii) the majority of traffic already seems to be travelling at 80 already.

spun a Beetle at eighty after the top came off a bottle of mineral water.

If that was in a classic beetle then :shock: My '66 Bug used to top out in the mid 60s, although that could have be the result of a 1300 gearbox and a 1600 engine , and even then it was very twitchy (especially with a roof rack). As for stopping distances of a 60's car - it had four drum brakes so I think 60mph to 0mph was about 3 and a half miles when fully loaded.

You just can't change the limit like that and leave it to the motorist to decide when it is safe to proceed at the limit and where it is not. It would be an enormous undertaking to sign all the sections that would be unsafe at 80.

The beetle I spun was a mere 1200L 1973.

The secret to the few extra mph is simple, though the actual top speed as standard for that particular model was around 76mph if I recall correctly, Al?

 

[Neil]

You just can't change the limit like that and leave it to the motorist to decide when it is safe to proceed at the limit and where it is not.

Eh?

Have you really thought that through?

Motorists already have to decide a safe speed on many roads - and / or conditions (eg fog, snow, ice, heavy rain). There's plenty of single carriageway roads where national speed limit applies, and 60 mph would be completely suicidal.

Yes, drivers don't always get that right - but all the same, there's plenty of situations when drivers simply HAVE to use their judgement and proceed at a speed that may well be considerably below the speed limit.

Motrorways may have matrix signs and advisory warnings in poor conditions - but many single carriagway, NSL roads can only work, en masse, because drivers will simply HAVE to proceed at a speed that is safe (and in many circumstances, significantly below the speed limit).

As to the point raised by the engineer - was that qualified comment - because I've read similar comments before, and the consensus was that it was a crock - that the road network, and motorways had considerably more leeway in design characteristics than a 70 mph ceiling. After all, the police would proceed at much higher speeds at times (yes, I know, they have additional training, supporting services, and facilities) and they don't suddenly fall out of love with gravity.

 

[highlandsflyer]

You just can't change the limit like that and leave it to the motorist to decide when it is safe to proceed at the limit and where it is not.

Eh?

Have you really thought that through?

Motorists already have to decide a safe speed on many roads - and / or conditions (eg fog, snow, ice, heavy rain). There's plenty of single carriageway roads where national speed limit applies, and 60 mph would be completely suicidal.

Yes, drivers don't always get that right - but all the same, there's plenty of situations when drivers simply HAVE to use their judgement and proceed at a speed that may well be considerably below the speed limit.

Motrorways may have matrix signs and advisory warnings in poor conditions - but many single carriagway, NSL roads can only work, en masse, because drivers will simply HAVE to proceed at a speed that is safe (and in many circumstances, significantly below the speed limit).

As to the point raised by the engineer - was that qualified comment - because I've read similar comments before, and the consensus was that it was a crock - that the road network, and motorways had considerably more leeway in design characteristics than a 70 mph ceiling. After all, the police would proceed at much higher speeds at times (yes, I know, they have additional training, supporting services, and facilities) and they don't suddenly fall out of love with gravity.

We are talking about motorways.

My remark refers to motorways.

If 80 is not safe on some of the sections, and it is not, then there would need to be signing on all of these sections to indicate that.

Motorways operate in a very different manner to other roads in respect of speed limits.

 

[Drencrom]

One aspect of all this that seems to have been ignored so far is that the posted speed limit of any given stretch of road is the maximum speed limit, not the minimum!

True that.

The amount of times I come up against motorists hammering around blind bends on country lanes at 30mph astounds me. Are they really deluding themselves into thinking that in a court of law (if it came to that) it's a justified defense to say they were driving at the speed limit? Apply that to night-time in mid-winter on a barely gritted motorway at 70mph, let alone 80.

 

[Neil]

You just can't change the limit like that and leave it to the motorist to decide when it is safe to proceed at the limit and where it is not.

Eh?

Have you really thought that through?

Motorists already have to decide a safe speed on many roads - and / or conditions (eg fog, snow, ice, heavy rain). There's plenty of single carriageway roads where national speed limit applies, and 60 mph would be completely suicidal.

Yes, drivers don't always get that right - but all the same, there's plenty of situations when drivers simply HAVE to use their judgement and proceed at a speed that may well be considerably below the speed limit.

Motrorways may have matrix signs and advisory warnings in poor conditions - but many single carriagway, NSL roads can only work, en masse, because drivers will simply HAVE to proceed at a speed that is safe (and in many circumstances, significantly below the speed limit).

As to the point raised by the engineer - was that qualified comment - because I've read similar comments before, and the consensus was that it was a crock - that the road network, and motorways had considerably more leeway in design characteristics than a 70 mph ceiling. After all, the police would proceed at much higher speeds at times (yes, I know, they have additional training, supporting services, and facilities) and they don't suddenly fall out of love with gravity.

We are talking about motorways.

My remark refers to motorways.

If people HAVE to be able to drive (in general) at a safe speed on other roads, why should that decision making process be magically absent on motorways?

If 80 is not safe on some of the sections, and it is not, then there would need to be signing on all of these sections to indicate that.

Why so, there isn't on single carriageways.

Motorways operate in a very different manner to other roads in respect of speed limits.

Why so different?

Are you suggesting that all rationale on safety and self-preservation goes out of the window, as soon as a driver progresses from a single carriageway to a motorway?

 

[highlandsflyer]

There is a reason why bends have chevrons and some have signed limits.

80 miles per hour as an expectation of a safe speed, on sections where this would result in some vehicles skipping sideways into other traffic, etc., is not something I feel I should have to contend with when there are so many other dangers inherent in driving.