Is it any wonder no one knows how to drive on motorways? As a learner you aren't allowed on them – so how can anyone instruct people what is right or wrong?

Imagine if they applied that theory to the whole driving test – you can't use traffic lights or roundabouts yet – you're a learner, have a go at them after you've passed your test, see how you get on!

I still think you should also have to play on a skid pan as a learner so that you get the feel of what a car does when you lose control – cos the first time you lose control (& 17/18 year old boys do quite alot) it's usually on a country lane & they've got no idea how to avoid a car/hedge interface.

British driving standards are piss poor. I remember reading that 95% of british drivers think they're better than average.

Best drivers I've seen are the French, Dutch, Italians, Germans, Swiss, Spanish, Portuguese in that order – british drivers would be way down that list.

Crap attitude and not taking responsibility for their own actions are what make british driving standards so poor. It isn't a competition and you dont own the **** road. Trying to scare people into moving over isn't acceptable either.

Billybob – i would love to teach folk that stuff. problem is folk aren't willing to pay for it.

Is it any wonder no one knows how to drive on motorways? As a learner you aren't allowed on them – so how can anyone instruct people what is right or wrong?

My driving instructor used to take me up the A1 (Near Newark where I lived at the time) and encourage me to do 70mph (Well, it's not hard!). I also used to drive 7 miles each way to town where the test routes were on fast single carrigeway A-roads and he taught me to overtake cars doing 40-50mph. I'll never forget him saying, "OK we'll pass this learner. Drop to 3rd and pull out and pass without slowing too much"

I'd imagine most towns have some dual carrigeway to practice on.

Best drivers I've seen are the French, Dutch, Italians, Germans, Swiss, Spanish, Portuguese in that order – british drivers would be way down that list.

Much as I like to get cross about poor driving in Britain, I'm still happy to admit that we have pretty much the safest roads in the world with only the swedes, dutch and Maltease being safer.

http://www.driveandstayalive.com/info%20section/statistics/stats-multicountry-percapita-2004.htm

I can't believe you put the Italians and Spanish in that list, are you on crack? I have never driven in a crazier place than Italy in my life. The Spanish were marginally better but only because they use their horns less.

Reason for putting the italians and spanish on that list is that they know exactly what is all round them all the time. Briish drivers are completely oblivious to their surroundings.

How many times have you got to your destination and cant remember a thing about the journey?

Never, I'm a safe driver.

Most of the accidents I attend on the motorway are because people are traveling to close to the vehicle infront, remember the "only a fool breaks the 2 second rule" ad? Most drivers think that the motorway signs etc are not directed at them they are for the other drivers. If drivers manage to crash at 70, they will do even worse at higher speeds.

So Spain has 4,751 deaths for a population of 40 million, and we have 1500 less deaths for a population 50% bigger. But apparently they're a lot better drivers?

Brits on holiday init 😉

Yip. Statistics are like miniskirts – they show you a lot, but hide the good bits. I would guess that our emergency services and speed of access to healthcare are better.

Statistics are like miniskirts – they show you a lot, but hide the good bits.

lol, quality.

The worst driving I have ever seen was in Spain – so many idiots. Someone literally tried to kill me on the motorway as well (deliberately swerving towards me, driving in front of me then slamming on the brakes).

My speedo seems to be a bit out – according to the GPS I am doing 70 when the speedo says about 74. I think most of the time there is no real need to drive more than about 65-70, but I do sometimes.

I read a study somewhere that showed that driving quickly actually makes very little difference to your journey time – things like congestion, traffic lights etc make much more difference.

TZF – one question ever seen a car in Italy without a dent, I haven't – you know why, cos they never have a flippin' clue what is around them, that's why they crash into it all the time!

Reason for putting the italians and spanish on that list is that they know exactly what is all round them all the time. Briish drivers are completely oblivious to their surroundings.

Serious LOL on that one. Italians neither know nor care what is behind them.

toby1 – yes many.

bimbler – yes they do.

is there a speed limit on the motorway? don't see much evidence of it on the M5 down in the SW and very little enforcement.

keep your eyes open and you can pretty much go as fast as you like without much fear of being pulled. the A30 is much the same.

read a study somewhere that showed that driving quickly actually makes very little difference to your journey time – things like congestion, traffic lights etc make much more difference.

Ever driven from Preston to Glasgow on the M6/M74 at night?

im torn

people (we/you/they/I/everyone) becomes numb to the speed very very quickly.

we are quite happy and comfortable to trundle along at 80mph in the pissing rain and all is well.

but, my first car had ABS, disk brakes on all corners, and weighed 800kg, my second (current) car doesnt have any assitance like abs or esp, drum brakes on the back and weights 1300kg with a 2L diesel lump at the front.

i found out the hard way how much of a difference this makes when some BERK decided she would STOP on a dual carrigeway to let someone out, in the rain too.

i was shocked how far my car skidded! it went MIIILES.

we rely on out clever cars too much i think, 70mph is PLENTY, and going at 80mph, gains you no more than a few minutes or even seconds over a short ish trip.
over a 100 mile trip it will only gain you 5 or 10 mins!

irritates me when people say "im fine at 100, its everyone else who is rubbish"

ON THE FLIP SIDE.

speed is relative. if eveyrone drove at 100, it would be fine, but not everyone does, not everyone feels comfortable doing so, not everyone wants to.

70mph is the best balance between speed and ineffiency due to wind resistance anyway.
80 mph destroys my economy.

ive totally lost where i was going with this…..

Is it any wonder no one knows how to drive on motorways? As a learner you aren't allowed on them – so how can anyone instruct people what is right or wrong?

I had a motorway lesson a few months after I passed my test. This was 20 years ago, do people not do this any more?

Speed limit should be 80mph to bring us in line with Europe. Everyone drives at 80mph anyway.

Speed limit should be 80mph to bring us in line with Europe.

Hmmm… seems pretty variable across Europe too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_by_country

And if we are worried about European alignment then shouldn't we also move to km/h?

Graham – our limit is ~110kph, usually in Europe it is 120 or 130 (~75 or ~80 in mph).

As to changing to kilometres, different subject but I'd be in favour. Problem is metric is viewed as some EU conspiracy here especially by right wing newspapers owned by Australians (odd then that Australia uses kilometres).

Mr Tweed-Beany actually believes he is driving safely at 65mph in the 'cruising' lane. He wouldn't dream of using the 'slow lane' that's for Granny Miggins in her Micra. She thinks he's a maniac and can't even conceive of going at the insane speeds that Ron Rep does in his Vectra in the 'german cars only' lane.

If every car went the same speed it would actually be safer, it's the different speeds that cause the problems. Every vehicle would slot in to a space the motorway and trundle along to their exit safely. (Boring though.)

Audi drivers with side lights as well as BMW drivers on sidelights.

The thing is, daytime running lights (which I assume are what you mean), are about to become a legal requirement on all new vehicles (2012 IIRC). Audi and Saab already have them as standard on most models (not sure about BMW). Pretty soon all cars will have them.

i found out the hard way how much of a difference this makes when some BERK decided SHE would STOP on a dual carrigeway to let someone out, in the rain too

As if we wouldn't have guessed 😉

Ever driven in Germany? I did some 500+ miles on their motorways several days ago at speeds that could put me in jail in UK. No problems whatsoever.
The Brits should learn from the Germans and stick it to the EU by removing the speed limit on motorways (with the condition being if needed it can be implemented locally and penalties MUST be severe if one breaks it there).
How many more dead would there be on British roads? Natural selection dictates it'd be beneficial to the species in general. The idiots in "souped-up" £100 Fiestas would die quickly and you could go to a chippy without having to see chavs.

Juan and I were arguing about which country had the better motorway drivers – the UK or France. We each thought it was the other lot.

70mph is plenty fast enough. If you increase the limit, you increase fuel consumption & emissions (when we should be conserving it) increase the potential severity of accidents, and reduce the number of vehicles that the road can carry.

Trolling Zoo Fighter: "How many times have you got to your destination and cant remember a thing about the journey?"

Often- but why do you think that's of any relevance? Observing and remembering aren't the same thing at all. In fact, I'd go further, I think I remember more detail the slower I go, I have more brain free to remember details as I'm not spending so much effort on observation and response. When people say they remember a journey, they usually mean they were looking at the trees and mountains and picturesque little villages instead of the road, when I remember nothing it's because I was looking at nothing but the immediate surroundings, which frankly aren't memorable unless something goes wrong.

I don't necessarily think that the issue is what the speed limit is, or even whether or not it should be changed. I think that perhaps the biggest problem we have in this country is that we have created rights and neglected to also create responsibilities.

In relation to the road, I would argue that we could perhaps abolish all speed limits…but make every driver responsible for their speed for every moment of the journey. Therefore in the event of any accident the driver would be liable unless they could prove that they were driving at an appropriate safe speed. I think a similar system operates in Germany on the Autobahns.

I do a weekly 100 mile a day commute on the M1 from Sheffield to Bradford. At rush hour its great the average speed is about 80-90mph and every one is switched on and concentrating… until the numpty driver who normally sits in the middle lane doing 60 blocks everything up.

Driving on the motorway on non rush hour time scares me, you can feel the lack of concentration and the speed is so slow… well ok avg 70mph.

Oh and speed doesnt cost money, Im currently getting 50mpg out of my Mondeo diesel at 85mph !

Oh and speed doesnt cost money, Im currently getting 50mpg out of my Mondeo diesel at 85mph !

But what would you get out of it at 70mph? You have a miracle engine if it is more efficient at 85 than at 70.

Firstly, if you can't concentrate at 70mph then you shouldn't be driving.

Secondly, 70mph is more economical than 80+mph.

Trust me, from someone who lost control of his car & had it hit the barriers before rolling, 70mph is plenty fast enough. 🙁 🙂

So many theories as to what would work on our motorways/roads.
Usual idiots aside, given how crowded our roads can be we are pretty well disciplined drivers.

[me aside]

Has anyone here ever experienced a tire blow at 70mph?

Did you manage to control/keep your vehicle in the lane you were driving?

Just curious, I guess new cars that use run flats might make it a bit safer, but just a thought going out to you 80-90mph drivers here?

btw the only flat I have had to deal with was years ago, in a Morris Minor at maybe 40mph and that left me in a ditch 😉

ski…it looks like that is what caused my crash, although I don't remember hearing/feeling it. Couldn't control the car, the back started snaking then it spun. Happened very very fast.

Anything over 70mph is pure madness…my steering wheel starts to shake making it impossible to read the newspaper I've draped over it.

Has anyone here ever experienced a tire blow at 70mph?

Yeah – years ago I swerved to avoid an animal in the road late at night, doing 70 or 80 on an A road in my Fiesta XR2. It whipped left/right/left/right then eventually hit the roadside embankment and flipped onto its roof. The only injury I got was a little cut as I crawled out of the still upside down car and caught my hand on some broken glass. Every single body panel was damaged. I couldn't believe it when I wasn't even breathalysed. (The police reckoned the tyre came off its rim on the original swerve).

We had a tyre go on the M4, probably at about 85-90? Front nearside on a subaru legacy – made a racket and a bit of a mess but wasn't dangerous. It was more dangerous changing the wheel with my arse hanging out into the lane!

I imagine if we'd been steering hard / needed to brake suddenly things would have been different, but speed didn't make it particularly tricky.

I think that a modern car with wide tyres, decent rubber and brakes would be completely different to a moggy minor

Can somebody please explain to me what is so magical about 70mph?

I say de-restricted the M6 toll road but have Police on patrol for reckless driving.

This is a serious post. There is a distinction between speed and reckless driving. Plus, you wouldnt get the lazy laners on the toll road as they would be scared for their idiot safety.