Re: Motorway speed limits to be raised to 80mph

In theory I’m all for this, but when it actually happens I think it could well prove to be a mistake.

They’re always on about the congestion on the roads but if you spend a day looking deeper into how congestion builds up on your travels you’ll see that 9 times out of 10 it’s the poor driving of the cars and vans that causes it.

I’m not talking about driving 2mm off the rear bumper of the car in front in the outside lane in this instance (although that’s a big contributory factor), I’m talking about the cars in the inside lane.

Dual-carriageways are an excellent example. Disregarding those wagon drivers who don’t ease off slightly when been overtaken and cause humungous queues behind them, how many times do you see wagons trying to overtake cars and vans that are dawdling along :question: The same applies to motorways when there’s a bit of traffic about. The car drivers sit in the inside lane dawdling along at 53mph so naturally the wagons pull out to overtake and thus putting out of action two lanes on the motorway, forcing the I’m-not-going-to-sit-behind-a-wagon brigade to all jam their way into the outside lane and thus end up going no faster than they were sitting behind the wagon.

More often than not it’s the I-don’t-care-what’s-going-on-around-me car drivers in the inside lane that are unknowingly causing the dual-carriageway or motorway overall speed to be reduced to nothing-mph. There should be a minimum speed limit for all classes of vehicle on motorways and dual-carriageways in my opinion in order to try to prevent these snarl ups. Not sure how it would work in heavy traffic but under normal conditions there should be a minimum of 50mph for 7.5t+, 70mph for cars and vans. If that can’t be enforced as such, then there should be heavy penalties for cars and vans sitting in the inside lane getting under our feet for “not making progress” (as per driving tests) and certainly “driving without due care and attention”.

My dictionary says a motorway is “a main road for fast-moving traffic” - so what the hell are cars and vans doing on it at 50mph :question: :question: :question: :angry: :angry: :angry:

They have a minimum speed on interstates over here, mostly 40 mph but some States have it at 45 mph, the minimum speed limit is clearly signposted just as the the maximum is. I think it is a good idea to have it in the UK as well, there are’nt many things in the USA that I think are good ideas, especially when it comes to road traffic laws, but the minimum speed is one of them, another one I think helps ease the congestion is the the rule thats allows traffic to turn right on a red traffic light if the coast is clear, of course in the UK it would be traffic turning left!, that rules needs to be introduced in the UK too.

Cliff, … I know we have minimum limits but it doesn’t stop idiots doing 35 in the centre lane on the interstate, then swerving across to exit at the last second because they failed to see the two miles of warning signs that the exit they require is comming up, thus causing total chaos to the truck which is about to pass then in the granny lane :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

35 mph In the centre lane?..you’re lucky, down here they do that in the fast lane :open_mouth:

This could open a whole can of worms. I currently am driving a 7.5 tonner and could in theory drive at 70 mph and use the third lane of the motorway. Not that I do a lot. being used to being limited to either 56 on the HGV’s or 60 with the 7.5 t Ryder leased trucks my old firm used. I believe that 7.5 tonners should be limited as well as HGV’s (in the old sense) I had no problems with the Ryder trucks we had that were limited to 60 and having that extra 5-6 mph more than HGV’s I was always able to pass even with a full load. 7.5 tonners now have more power per tonne than most HGV’s (my Atego is 180 BHP! compered with the 45 BHP my first D series had) . I regually use the A29 and have to go over Bury hill on the South Downs and still manage 40 MPH loaded. When I first started driving it I was doing a steady 80 up the A3 without realising it! :unamused:

The whole speed limit set up need looking at not only cars but for Goods vehiciles as well

Dave

shogun:
The whole speed limit set up need looking at not only cars but for Goods vehiciles as well

This is true, but I’m not sure about raising the limit for HGVs on single-carriageway roads. Those of you who know the roads up throught the Scottish Borders may agree that any wagons doing over 40mph pose a hazard to other road users.

The A701and A702 from the M74 towards Edinburgh are bad for speeding wagons. If you pass a speeding wagon going the other way in a van or 7.5tonner you almost get blown off the road by the slipstream of any HGV doing over 40mph. Twice I’ve been forced into the verge by speeding HGVs going the opposite direction. :imp: It’s scary when it happens.

Speed limits do need looking at for all viehicles

trucks should be able to do 60 on the motorway, cars should be forced to do at least 60 on the motorway (afterall thats what the motorway is there for to get somewhere quicker, if they dont want to do that speed they shouldnt be on there.) There should be a speed capability at a certian gradient so they dont grind to a near halt at the slightest sign of a hill.

Most A roads are well maintained and should be capable of supporting trucks doing 50 on them. This is more on the driver being able to judge on the road than being told its ok to do this speed. I go on the fact that there is a white line on the edge of the highway - so giving some leway if there was a sudden problem & there is no footpaths.

The 40 limit is a problem with other cars as they dont understand why we travel that slow, and obviously take stupid risks to get by. If we are traveling at 50 they are less liekly to risk it thingking they are making ok progress & can get by where it is safer.

All the driving I have done in my car Ive only met 1 truck doing 40 & that was a petrol tanker. Prohapse this argument is taking place after the horse has bolted. Drivers should be prosecuted if speeding in a dangerous way & risking the safety of other road users, not for just making progress.

Yeah they should bump the retarder on the trucks up to 60mph. It seems to me that htere are a large amount of big companies and O/D’s who are always exeeding the speed limit on Motorways.( doing over 56mph or 85 kph)

shogun:
This could open a whole can of worms. I currently am driving a 7.5 tonner and could in theory drive at 70 mph and use the third lane of the motorway. Not that I do a lot. being used to being limited to either 56 on the HGV’s or 60 with the 7.5 t Ryder leased trucks my old firm used. I believe that 7.5 tonners should be limited as well as HGV’s (in the old sense) I had no problems with the Ryder trucks we had that were limited to 60 and having that extra 5-6 mph more than HGV’s I was always able to pass even with a full load. 7.5 tonners now have more power per tonne than most HGV’s (my Atego is 180 BHP! compered with the 45 BHP my first D series had) . I regually use the A29 and have to go over Bury hill on the South Downs and still manage 40 MPH loaded. When I first started driving it I was doing a steady 80 up the A3 without realising it! :unamused:

The whole speed limit set up need looking at not only cars but for Goods vehiciles as well

Dave

From next year any new goods vehicle more than 3.5 tons GVW will need to have a limiter set at 90 km/h and older ones will have to be retrofitted with them by 2007(?). But since 7.5 tonners usually only have 5 gears I think they will suffer when fully loaded uphills compared to the more powerful (420 hp+) heavy HGVs because they lack torque. I think its important that heavier HGVs stick to 40 mph on single carriageway roads so cars can overtake more quickly and safely. Increasing to 50 mph is only going to force cars into driving more dangerously purely because they don’t want to be stuck behind an HGV.

In my experience very few of our (ie not foreign) exceed 56 mph except downhills. Truely professional drivers don’t exceed the 60 mph limit downhill.

I am quite happy to drive at or below the limits, to me its a more pleasent drive
I will admit to driving above the 40 limit on some single roads mainly because its harder work keeping the tractor below 40. I would never dream of driving faster than 30 in 30 limits…
…for me a 30 limit is for cars and maybe us class one jockeys should be driving at 25 because if someone runs in front of you while you have 44T you will have a better chance of steping in rocking horse ■■■ ■■■ than stopping… also it slows the rest of the road down to a more reasonalbe speed where if some one does make a misstake and run out they may have a better chance of surviving!

Cars are loaded guns = Trucks are loaded Atomic bombs

daveb0789:
From next year any new goods vehicle more than 3.5 tons GVW will need to have a limiter set at 90 km/h and older ones will have to be retrofitted with them by 2007(?). But since 7.5 tonners usually only have 5 gears I think they will suffer when fully loaded uphills compared to the more powerful (420 hp+) heavy HGVs because they lack torque. I think its important that heavier HGVs stick to 40 mph on single carriageway roads so cars can overtake more quickly and safely. Increasing to 50 mph is only going to force cars into driving more dangerously purely because they don’t want to be stuck behind an HGV.

In my experience very few of our (ie not foreign) exceed 56 mph except downhills. Truely professional drivers don’t exceed the 60 mph limit downhill.

My Atego has a 6 speed box and the Renualt 7.5 tonner we have as you rightly pointed out has a 5 speed box. Both trucks are around the 180 BHP mark and hills cause us no problems as in my first post on this topic,. I followed our Man 18 tonner the other day we both were fully loaded and when we came to go over Bury hill on the A29 I left him standing. (The MAN is a 230 BHP) On the way back to the yard empty there wasn’t a lot between us until the MAN’s limiter came in at 56 MPH.

DAve

shogun:
My Atego has a 6 speed box and the Renualt 7.5 tonner we have as you rightly pointed out has a 5 speed box. Both trucks are around the 180 BHP mark and hills cause us no problems as in my first post on this topic,. I followed our Man 18 tonner the other day we both were fully loaded and when we came to go over Bury hill on the A29 I left him standing. (The MAN is a 230 BHP) On the way back to the yard empty there wasn’t a lot between us until the MAN’s limiter came in at 56 MPH.

DAve

230 hp for 18 tons is not going to be a match for 180 hp at 7.5 tons. But I wonder how 500 hp at 40 tons would compare?

180 BHP @ 7.5 Tonnes = 24 BHP per Tonne

500 BHP @ 40 tonnes = 12.5 BHP per Tonne

shogun:
180 BHP @ 7.5 Tonnes = 24 BHP per Tonne

500 BHP @ 40 tonnes = 12.5 BHP per Tonne

Its not just about power … its about torque too.

Going off the thread I think.
If speed limit goes to 80mph the police won’t prosecute until 90mph (10%+2 ).

Therefore differential between HGV’s and cars = 34mph.,
It will become even harder to o/take.

In France they have130kms (80mph) but their autoroutes are empty.
In Germany where they have autobahns, motorways/dual carriageways similar to ours with similar traffic intencities, they have banned HGVs from o/taking during certain time periods, sometimes 0700-1900 hours.

This is what could happen here, no govenment is going to allow wagons to go faster.
Mr BMW driver will then feel he was right along to hog lane 3 when hes a hurry, and lane 3 when hes tired or on the phone.

Merlin

Take your time

Just lately I’ve found that c/c on 85kph makes life a lot less stressfull. I do regular runs and find that journey times are only increased by 5 to 10 minutes!!.