ian martin – Member
I really thought the New Zealand way of speed limits on its tight country roads was fantastic. They put speed limits before bends that reflect their difficulty.

Were they speed limits? oops. I saw them as a challenge?

A lot of the roads around where my Dad lives have been blanketed with 50mph

mrmo – Member

And basically there are too many stupid drivers who think that just because the speed limit is 60 you have to drive at that speed

I don’t see any problem with 40mph as most UK roads are rather narrow winding and twisting but I think 50mph is more realistic for most of drivers as they are accustomed to speed.

Also my current driving instructor instructed me to drive as close as possible to the speed limit to avoid slowly down the traffic … 😯
So when I drove to that limit he later told me I was driving too fast … 😆 Well, I remember driving at 50mph entering 30mph zone where he instantly wanted me to drive at 30mph so I applied engine braking … 5th gear to 2nd gear … LOL … the engine almost flew out from the bonnet! I was trying to down shift from 5th to 4th but instead I forced it into 2nd gear … LOL! I blame the car and the driving instructor’s distraction. I remember my “boy racer” days where I needed to apply engine braking because the drum brakes on my VW Beetle was not that good. (my Beetle usually required a long time to build up speed to 70mph …)

I can think of plenty of A and B roads where you can safely do 100mph plus… even with bends.

I can also think of times when its not been safe to do 30mph on a motorway.

Engine braking? Doesn’t your car have a mechanism specifically designed to slow the car down?

druidh – Member

Engine braking? Doesn’t your car have a mechanism specifically designed to slow the car down?

Yes, the brakes but it was just an old habit of mine using engine braking because of driving an old Beetle in the past. Well, now I will just apply brake … 😆

Oh ya … no need engine braking anymore because I now have a car with automatic gear … so it’s brake and hand/parking brake.

Also my current driving instructor instructed me to drive as close as possible to the speed limit to avoid slowly down the traffic …

You can also fail your test for restricting the flow of traffic and not making good progress. As you will have to handle a car at speed once you’ve passed your test, it makes sense to teach you how to do it. Hey, it might even come under “improving driving standards”

. I remember my “boy racer” days where I needed to apply engine braking because the drum brakes on my VW Beetle was not that good. (my Beetle usually required a long time to build up speed to 70mph …)

What were you trying to race? Milk floats?

zokes – Member

You can also fail your test for restricting the flow of traffic and not making good progress. As you will have to handle a car at speed once you’ve passed your test, it makes sense to teach you how to do it. Hey, it might even come under “improving driving standards”

Yes, that’s what I was told. i.e. to avoid slowing down traffic to drive like everyone else at the normal speed.

Driving at a speed like everyone else is not a problem if I am familiar with the area but trying to drive like “normal” at a location that I am not familiar … well, the driving instructor might shite in his pants if I do that.

jam bo – Member

What were you trying to race? Milk floats?

😆 @ milk floats … Well, I was meant to drive faster but if the tyres on my Beetle were slightly wider than those of the motorbike and with drum brakes that needed pumping to brake proper in addition to engine braking… I think it would be safer to drive at Beetle pace.

I can think of plenty of A and B roads where you can safely do 100mph plus… even with bends.

wow, you must be awesome….

Its true AA – look at Matts pic above.

FunkyDunc – Member

I can think of plenty of A and B roads where you can safely do 100mph plus… even with bends.

Crikey … do you actually check your car before driving at that speed? Even my boy racer mates dare not drive at that speed if the car does not belong to them. i.e. because the set up might not be up to scratch for that speed.

I can also think of times when its not been safe to do 30mph on a motorway.

Yes, not at 30mph but say normal cruising at 50mph to 60mph I think is fine on the left lane.

matt_outandabout – Member
So would (for example) Rannoch Moor be classed as a country road?

No. The proposals only apply to England and Wales. Speed limits on Scottish roads are the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament.

I can think of plenty of A and B roads where you can safely do 100mph plus… even with bends.

And it’s bloody great fun.

I don’t see any problem with 40mph as most UK roads are rather narrow winding and twisting but I think 50mph is more realistic for most of drivers as they are accustomed to speed.

Eh – which part of the UK do you live/drive in?

Talk about a measure to extend travel times and create an influx of fines!

The nearest M-Way for me is 50 miles away, and the nearest (70mph) dual-carriageway 40 miles – everything else is a country road, under this blanket proposal. Nanny state pandering to crap-driving noobs.

I would say that my feeling on this is still what it was when I first heard it this morning though the detail is a bit airy-fairy at the moment.

I have to say, as one who frequently travels on “open roads” of all sorts in touring groups, of a size and spacing suitable for the conditions, that this will make life more unpleasant and dangerous for such cyclists.

Overtaking is a manouevre which should be accomplished in the shortest possible time for the conditions. Many motorists seem to find it hard to overtake such cyclists safely as it is with a 40-45 mph speed advantage, they’ll be struggling if that’s cut to 20-25 mph. So…..we end up with them having to force their way in to the left through the cyclists when something approaches or annoyingly following for miles just off the rear mudguard.

Don’t say we could just stop and pull over – when did you last do so in your vehicle just because the following driver was not competent enough to use perfectly safe overtaking opportunities?

And the last thing we want is more paint on the roads.

b r – Member
this blanket proposal.

Have you actually read about what’s being proposed? It seems that most folk on this thread haven’t.

Orange Crush – Member
Many motorists seem to find it hard to overtake such cyclists safely as it is with a 40-45 mph speed advantage, they’ll be struggling if that’s cut to 20-25 mph.

OTOH, it will be less dangerous for a car to come around a blind corner towards a group of cyclists if it is being driven some 20mph slower than at present.

That’s not been something I’ve seen in thirty years of such cycling – problems from overtaking vehicles happen just about every trip.

And 20 mph slower might still be too fast – that’s the issue, being told a limit does not slow a driver down to the actual safe speed if he can’t judge it anyway.

b r – Member

Eh – which part of the UK do you live/drive in?

Geordieland, so Northumberland is not that far away with country roads but then I am surrounded by … Motorway, dual, single carriage ways etc all over … left right and centre …

The nearest M-Way for me is 50 miles away, and the nearest (70mph) dual-carriageway 40 miles – everything else is a country road, under this blanket proposal. Nanny state pandering to crap-driving noobs.

Crikey … it looks like you live an a far far away land with no M-way … do you still know what it looks like?

Our local council have recently declared that most roads are going to be 20 mph roads, even one that has a sign 10 foot from the end of the cul de sac turning space.

The police have said theyre not going to enforce the rules as they dont have enough staff.

Oh and it would be nice if some of the older drivers could actually achieve 40mph on straight roads on a sunday, when the speed limit is 60 or 70mph.

I’ll be supporting the proposal. I live on a road where it changes from 30 to 60 just after the end of my street. No one slows to thirty before getting to the thirty sign, most people are doing 60 before leaving the thirty. We have regular police speed cameras which people can see from miles away and strangely enough they never catch anyone. At the moment the council won’t consider changes to the road (speed calming etc) because there hasn’t been enough accidents….strange world we live in….

Doing 100 mph plus is not safe on public road other than maybe motorways to many unknowns and idiot, even on Rannoch moor. Having said that neither my bike or car would go that fast without a fight.

….making the UK even more uncompetitive

Nanny state pandering ….

Has someone been using the Daily Mail-o-matic ?

anagallis_arvensis – Member

Doing 100 mph plus is not safe on public road other than maybe motorways to many unknowns and idiot, even on Rannoch moor. Having said that neither my bike or car would go that fast without a fight.

Nonsense. It can be quite safe – or at least no more dangerous than riding at the speed limit on some bends. I have done 120 on the Rannoch moor road and lived to tell the tail. You need a reasonably fast vehicle to getup to speed quickly.

Rannoch moor you can see literally for miles

AA why does doing 100 mph on a motorway make it safe?

The point of my post was that speed limits are ridiculous full stop as a lot of people don’t drive appropriately for the conditions.

It can be very safe to do 100 mph on a country B road, yes random things could happen, and they can happen too on any road at any speed.

I used to love driving over the Cat & Fiddle, its an excellent road, and all too easy to see how peoples lack of skill killed them. It could be driven very quickly in relative safety, but now its dull.

IMO make cars less comfortable and cosseted. I used to have a car that was limited to 85mph and that was plenty fast enough as it didn’t have huge grip, and it actually felt fast. The latest MX5 I had would do way over 100mph and still not feel as fast, don’t even go there with a Merc SLK 3.5ltr.

The latest MX5 I had would do way over 100mph and still not feel as fast, don’t even go there with a Merc SLK 3.5ltr.

Most modern small or large car can easily do 100mph no problem but the problem is that most people are not equipped with knowledge to handle emergency at the speed of 100mph. They assume their cars are set up for that speed constantly. The engine might be able to cope with that speed but the rest might not …

I remember my current driving instructor asking me to hit the 70mph immediately so I followed his instruction by accelerating flat on (pedal stick to the floor … I was just trying out his car) … but during that short burst to reach 70mph I thought his car was “floating a bit” but he insisted it was fine. 😯 (My boy racer mates cars would stick to the road like glue with no floating feeling at all.)

project – Member
Oh and it would be nice if some of the older drivers could actually achieve 40mph on straight roads on a sunday, when the speed limit is 60 or 70mph.

Don’t live far from you and the amount of drivers round here that do 20-30 in a 60 zone is shocking!
I was talking to a traffic cop down our road who said about 80% of the speed cameras had been turned off in this area as following tests most were driving way below the speed limits for the road so it was pointless to incur the the cost of running it!

Those left running were mostly in areas where people from outside the area would be going through.

I used to love driving over the Cat & Fiddle, its an excellent road, and all too easy to see how peoples lack of skill killed them. It could be driven very quickly in relative safety, but now its dull.

Its a public road, it exists to get people from A-B, if you want to go racing, go and do a track day.

The point of my post was that speed limits are ridiculous full stop as a lot of people don’t drive appropriately for the conditions.

True, but drive on a motorway look in your rear view, you see a car a long way off, look again and its on your rear bumper, if your not looking for someone approaching at 100mph+ you can get problems.

People do drive with an expectation of what is going to happen, i have known locals crash into fallen trees, because they don’t expect a fallen tree round a blind bend, Deer running out is another common one.

You may not agree with the speed limit, you may think it is too fast or too slow, but it is what it is, accept it and get on with worrying about something that matters like the summer we’re not having!!!!!

Doing 100 mph plus is not safe on public road other than maybe motorways to many unknowns and idiot, even on Rannoch moor. Having said that neither my bike or car would go that fast without a fight.

I think you mean, not safe for YOU. If you’d been on the Rannoch road you’d realise that in the right conditions its perfectly safe for someone in/on a well maintained vehicle (who is actually able to drive) to drive at +100mph – like many other roads in the country.

And it isn’t roads, cars nor speed that kills – its drivers.

Geordieland, so Northumberland is not that far away with country roads but then I am surrounded by … Motorway, dual, single carriage ways etc all over … left right and centre …

So the A68 to me should have a reduced speed limit, due to bends/tractors/many crossings etc?

A forty limit will not stop people doing seventy. Sixty doesn’t.

the problem is that most people are not equipped with knowledge to handle emergency at the speed of 100mph. regard driving on public roads as a recreational activity rather than a convenient form of hydrocarbon assisted personal transport. They assume their cars are set up for that speed constantly choice to break the law and get a “bit of a buzz” is more important than respect for the environment, local residents and other road users.

Anyone who chooses to flout traffic laws then have the audacity to make any statement on “cyclists’ rights”, “codes of conduct”, “civil liberties” etc is a hypocrite and a fool.

Break one law, break them all……

If only everyone was as good a driver as the posters on this forum.

Hilldoidger – have you never broken a law? I simplydo not believe you have never broken a single traffic law

the hypocrisy comes in people bleating about getting caught breaking traffic law or those who bleat about people speeding while breaking the law themselves

I don’t think a law change will help too much. Likely to just get the ‘war on the motorist’ lobby on their self-righteous high horse
Enforcement of current laws
Proper penalities when caught
Re-test every 5 years, practical and theory
Less of a culture of entitlement, greater sense of courtesy and responsibility
And maybe change car design so drivers feel less safe…

TandemJeremy – Member
the hypocrisy comes in people bleating about getting caught other people breaking traffic law or those who bleat about people speeding while breaking the law themselves

FTFY

Druidh – No hypocrisy from me. I fully admit what I do / have done and if / when caught do not bleat and whine about it.

I simply do not believe hilldodger has never broken a law in his life

As usual an STW petrol head thread is a fine fishing ground 🙂

Its a public road, it exists to get people from A-B, if you want to go racing, go and do a track day.

And with better driver training, it wouldn’t have been as dangerous to drive at 60

And no, I’m far from a driving god. But I do at least look well ahead and adapt my driving to the conditions. This seems to be considerably more than most who drive at 40 arbitrarily everywhere. Dropping speed limits doesn’t stop people driving like ****.

I think you mean, not safe for YOU. If you’d been on the Rannoch road you’d realise that in the right conditions its perfectly safe for someone in/on a well maintained vehicle (who is actually able to drive) to drive at +100mph – like many other roads in the country.

Until a deer runs out in front of you your fine. 100+ kilos of prime venison is going to make a mess.

100mph 44m per second. say 2secs to realise that there is a problem, so you’ve travelled 88m and you have only just hit the brakes. Now how good are your brakes? another 50m, or more average 100m? So you could easily have travelled 150-200metres from when you saw the problem to stop.

And if you think that the sight test is reading a number plate 20metres away.

And it isn’t roads, cars nor speed that kills – its drivers.

No drivers don’t physically kill, well i guess some do, but most need a tool to do it, a car for instance, a car being driven a 1mph, unlikely to kill someone if the car runs into them, a car being driven a 100mph, well to be fair, what gets hit is probably dead. Dead before it hits the ground a good few tens of metres away from the impact site…

There is a US survey of drivers that had 93% of drivers convinced they were above average drivers. makes me wonder how bad the other 7% were though!

TandemJeremy – Member
Druidh – No hypocrisy from me. I fully admit what I do / have done and if / when caught do not bleat and whine about it.

But you DO complain about other road users breaking the law.