On the subject of speeding, was driving back from the Lake District at the weekend, cruising at 90 and noticed that this was actually about the average speed of the middle lane, with the outside lane doing considerably more…

This to me, suggests the recovery must be well under way as a few years back there was a marked drop in motorway speeds as people felt a pinch in their finances and tried to conserve fuel.

Anyone else noticed this (or was it a one off knowing all the police for miles about were tied up with the TdF and everyone had carte blanche to set speed records)?

….. Let’s hope molgrips reads this ……. He obviously must be over the recession …. Pmsl

I know, he’s so flush he’s happy to blow £100 on saving 0.1second over 500 yards of road…..

Really? Which bit of the M6? I’ve travelled the bit between Brum and Manc quite a lot recently and seem to spend most of my time in 2nd or 3rd lane travelling at ~70 (sometimes a bit less – I’m still in economy mode), with very few people going much faster. Though admittedly mostly at busy enough times that it’s not possible to go that much faster over a long distance, I think this is still slower than I remember.

I hear the “everyone does 95mph” thing quite often and wonder if my speedo is broken!

I tend to put the cruise control on at between 70 and 75mph (indicated) on the motorway (assuming outside rush hour and no other speed restrictions obviously) and would say that I pass twice as many cars as are passing me. There’s always the sales rep rocket ships but the majority of cars seem to be under 75.

I’m amazerd that you’ve found any motorway where the average speed in any given lane is anything other than 50mph.

Judging from the M25 the entire world is broke.

I’m amazerd that you’ve found any motorway where the average speed in any given lane is anything other than 50mph.

This ^^.

I’m convinced that the M5 / M6 corridor is the only building site in the world with its own national road network…

Having seen a couple boom/busts and seeing the effects on motorway traffic, the true indication will be more congestion. After the last bust traffic really dropped off, so I expect with a more healthy economy that there will be lots more people on the roads.

Carlisle to Lancaster is a very fast bit unless it’s a bank holiday weekend. It’s also got a very small police force but there are a couple of camera vans that get up there.

It was Saturday afternoon. Bar the roadworks near junction 12, it was pretty much 90 from J36 to J1.

90 indicated? my van’s speedo is bang on the money, verified by gps, and i’m sailing past loads of cars doing an indicated and verified 70-75.

he’s so flush he’s happy to blow £100 on saving 0.1second over 500 yards of road

😆

I hear the “everyone does 95mph” thing quite often and wonder if my speedo is broken!

Depends where you are. On the M4 it gets fast, with the outside lane doing 85-90, in the areas with fewer junctions so between say j14 and Swindon then after Swindon before that hill down into Bristol.

There are still plenty of people going slower but it’s picking up again I think. More sales reps on the roads perhaps.

I’m not sure on this as well, I drive the M6 a lot and don’t really see much speeding these days. The outside lane is often running above 70 but the inside and middle rarely get above 60-65 unless it’s a quiet day.

Were you on at a weekend?

The M3 is a fast motorway, I’m a 70-80 mph motorway driver most of the time, but the M3 carries you along at 90-95. Has a lot of crashes, so the average is probably 20-25 over the course of a month!

When I hit the M6 toll, I behave like a multi-billionaire!!!! 😀

The m6 north of Preston is generally very very fast in both directions. Traffic police? Sadly we’ve replaced most of the traffic police that you used to see parked up on bridges with wombles.

Totally agree with russel: as soon as the recession began to bite congestion evaporated, pretty much overnight. That was until quantititative easing kicked in and the highways agency began littering the country with roadworks.

Having seen a couple boom/busts and seeing the effects on motorway traffic, the true indication will be more congestion. After the last bust traffic really dropped off, so I expect with a more healthy economy that there will be lots more people on the roads.

This is what I’m expecting, the traffic on my commute dropped massively as Spain’s economy took a nosedive, I’ll believe the government propaganda about how things are getting better when the traffic gets worse.

Try the M65 between Preston and Colne. After commuting hours it’s almost empty and since it’s very straight and open in places, racing has become a concern.

Nowadays there are so few Police on patrol that the chances of a random catch are almost zero and you can speed with impunity. Drivers with bad observation skills will get caught by the revenue cameras on the bridges though…. but only during working hours before the vans go home.

Try the M65 between Preston and Colne. After commuting hours it’s almost empty and since it’s very straight and open in places, racing has become a concern.

Nowadays there are so few Police on patrol that the chances of a random catch are almost zero and you can speed with impunity.

I disagree strongly. There are so many unmarked Police cars on this stretch of road it’s a local joke. There are BMW, Volvo, Subaru and Audi’s cruising up and down.

If you see a dark coloured saloon behind you and catching, you need to slow down.

Really? Which bit of the M6? I’ve travelled the bit between Brum and Manc quite a lot recently and seem to spend most of my time in 2nd or 3rd lane travelling at ~70 (sometimes a bit less – I’m still in economy mode), with very few people going much faster. Though admittedly mostly at busy enough times that it’s not possible to go that much faster over a long distance, I think this is still slower than I remember.

Yep – I regularly drive between Bristol and Lancashire, with very few people racing past me (at 70mph).

ScottChegg is bang on. I used to do that stretch a lot. And I normally have a fairly liberal attitude to speed limits, especially on clear stretches of motorways.

But I’ve been reliably informed from many people that its a very lucrative hunting ground for unmarked traffic police, and you need to watch yourself

Is that because Lancs police academy sits at one end of it perhaps?

The last time I did work for them they’d recently brought this back into the compound:

On Saturday there were a lot of cars doing well in excess of 100: Overfinch RRs, X5s, BMWs etc… Didn’t see a Police car (marked or otherwise for the whole stretch of the M6).