matt_d

Well unless you've been living in a ditch for the last few years, you'll have noticed that our lovely government and police are rather keen on getting us to stick to the speed limits, even though they were drawn up over 30 years ago and are in many cases hopelessly out of date for modern cars. 5 years ago you could drive down most motorways and dual carriageways at 85mph and you would be unlucky to get pulled over as long as you were driving safely (i.e. keeping your distance and not speeding when it's really wet).

Then gatsos came in and it meant you could easily get an instant 3 points for doing 78mph on a totally empty motorway at night in the dry. If you were going a fair bit faster in the same conditions, god help you. Discretion went out the window. Thankfully, the new legality of radar detectors and illegality of bullying police tactics means they are not much of a problem.

Trouble is, now they are using laser, and will soon be introducing this new camera thing which can log your time & average speed over long distances. If the police laser you at 75-80mph (safely on dual carriage/M-way) then you probably won't get done. There are enough people doing higher speeds that they'll stick them instead, and the police (to be fair) usually exercise common sense if you are not speeding too far above the limit.

But if you regularly speed above that i.e. 90mph plus, then the facts are simple - on main roads you will get caught, again and again, until you slow down or lose your license. The solution seems clear -

i) stick to 80mph max on motorways/dual carriageways. Let's face it, going a steady 90, 100, even 120 mph is pretty damn boring. What's the point risking your license just to cut your journey time by 10%?

ii) of course, people still want to enjoy their cars. So get off the main roads and onto the back roads if you fancy a blast. There you can have a great deal of fun and never exceed the speed limit by more than 10mph. What's more, there is so little traffic on these roads that it will never be cost effective to strictly enforce the limits. Sure, you will get the odd patrol car, but unless you a driving like a true maniac, you are unlikely to get stopped, let alone get points on your license.

So to all those dismayed by the strict speed limit enforcement, my advice is to stick near the limits on the main roads. IMO there is nothing more senseless than getting points for going 85mph on a 3 lane highway. You are costing yourself a packet in insurance purely so you can overtake Vectra man in the middle lane - and what's the point in that? Take the B-road twisties at a good pace and you can have a great time while keeping your license intact.

Kevin2000

Its not as easy as you say it is to stay below 80mph on a motorway mate.

john banks

Agree generally, it is not exciting in particular to drive on motorways, and it is acceleration not speed that I enjoy, hence the Scoob

BUT:

"you can have a great deal of fun and never exceed the speed limit by more than 10mph"

Not wanting to sound like a speed freak, but I know I drive like a granny compared with some of you guys...

In the wife's Fiesta on most B roads you rarely need to slow below 70mph if conditions are good and there is no other traffic. The scoob can take the same roads **MUCHO FASTER** with safety (and I don't mean blind bends etc and even with standard geo and OEM tyres I have never even had anything like a slidy moment - except on low speed roundabouts in the wet). In fact my Roadcraft instructor is trying to get me to corner faster but more smoothly with better observation and road positioning than I have been. My point is if you are not going to go beyond 70 on B roads where safe to do so then why buy a Scoob cos a car a third of the price will drive some of these roads continually at those speeds hence acceleration is no longer important! Agree with you if road is *very* twisty and challenging.

DaveD

iTrader: (2)

John,

don't know where your B-roads are, but have you ever been to SouthWest England or anywhere in Wales??

I think these are the roads that mattt is on about!

I think the twisty stuff if generally more satisfying to drive fast, accellerating and braking between corners etc etc. The big bonus with these roads is that you rarely get anywhere near 100mph, and spend an amount of time actually below the speed limit!

Fast, flowing roads are boring, and can be very dangerous with very big speed differentials between fast & slow cars.

Dave.

AWD

It would be so much more helpful to the masses if they increased the speed limit on motorways (at least on the decent sections) so that people can get to their destinations faster. They could always say that the limit was only applicable if your car was safe at that speed taking into account the road, traffic and weather conditions...

...its not going to happen though.

I don't want to encourage people doing high speeds in cars that aren't safe - i.e. most cars with the driver's foot to the floor, but with modern cars and their safety features like good brakes, body control etc. - 70mph is a joke.

AWD

Speech over ... does anyone else want to borrow my soapbox?

CharliePsycho

Some of us do have to do long distances every week.

I currently do 450 miles per week... Half on Monday and the other half on Friday... I could take the train (five and a half hours - no stations around here)... If I stuck rigidly to all the speed limits I would be looking at 5 hours by car + rest breaks to get over the boredom (otherwise I could have a quick nap a 70mph).

So I drive at 3 in the morning and do it in half that time. It's a *great* drive that keeps you alert, 21 roundabouts 22 gatso's I've been doing that drive for three years now...

The only time I drove it during the day I got nicked big stylie... I'm still waiting for the summons...

So what to do? The new speed cameras are on the way (that's if they don't simply sub-contract to trafficmaster) that get your front numberplate (although I have seen some neat 'sprung' numberplates that flip at 60mph) and radar detectors and laser jammers look as if they are going to be made unlawful...

For me... Long term I may move to Australia, better roads, less people and plenty of scoobs (sod this country! I'll take my intellectual property with me!... I write trading systems.) Short term I'll lose my licence soon and get my wife to drive me to the train station...

AWD

CharliePsycho

If you think the traffic regulations are bad here, you won't like Australia. They are total b@rstards there.

You can get your speed measured by a police car coming towards you as well as behind you. the guy will just do a U turn and then come and get you.

You can get done for doing a couple of km/h over the speed limit - I have heard of at least 4 people who have been ticketed for doing 2kmh over the 60kmph limit. The tickets even said 62kmh in a 60kmh zone.

During periods of festivity and national holiday they have 'double points' so anything that would normally get you 3 points gets you 6, 1 gets you 2, etc.

They have a similar 12 point system to the UK, but the police are b@stards. Trust me - driving in Australia makes you really miss the boys in blue from ole Blighty.

This is based on driving around in Sydney and suburbs from 1989 - 2000, so it is current info.

On the up-side though - Australia is a great country and is full of petrol-heads (rev-heads in the local lingo).

Jerome

I heard that such is the overzealousness of the Oz Traffic Police, they fly over very long straight remote roads, hundreds of miles from anywhere and actually land the aircraft on the road to nick you for speeding. They also have crossroads where you can see to the horizon in all directions, and they hide waiting for someone to ignore the stop sign!

I always fancied spending a couple of years in Oz, but reading about the fascist Traffic Police has made think again. Traffic here are wonderful in comparison.

Jerome.

CharliePsycho

AWD,

You're probably right, but I am a country boy at heart... Living in deepest darkest North Devon gives you an appreciation of muddy twisty roads... I'd settle for dusty twisty roads in the outback!!! ('specially if I owned the road as well )

Knew an ex cop from Oz, he seemed pretty easy-going about speeding out in the country, but you are right, in the city/suburbs they are right on top of you... I don't mind that; it's sensible...

What gets me in this country are speed cameras at the bottom of hills behind road signs... Or the way that all the 30mph zones are appearing in the middle of the countryside.

OK Flame retardant applied... Maybe this isn't a problem elsewhere, but the rules for where 30mph zones have changed, the authority now rests with the local councils, who seem to whack them up with no forethought what so-ever. They now extend beyond all reasonable consideration where a 40mph or 50mph would be far more sensible.

I have a 30mph appeared right outside my house. Nobody takes any notice of it, there are no pavements here, there is no streetlighting, just mini 30mph signs everywhere. People still storm past us down the hill at 60, slide in the wet and whack the chevron signs at the bottom of the hill!!! Or, hammer past us up hill, grabbing 3rd at 50mph, still accelerating towards the end sign... When was the last time you held a constant speed in 2nd (say 30mph?) No?? you use 2nd to accelerate? by which time going up hill you are doing 40/50 in 'normal' driving...

Perhaps a 40mph limit would be more prudent? at least people *could* slow down for it or change into 3rd up hill... Try telling the councils... "But 30mph is the resdential speed limit sir." But I live in the ******* countryside you pencil pushing sign wielding fcukwit...

For some reason that line of reasoning didn't work!

The only real solution is to empower the workers to be able to telework... I've worked in IT for 10 years, but it's never happened, even though this is the best industry to lead the way for truly working from home...
Managers want to see people at desks, and while they do we will still have commuting and all that it brings...

Damn I do go on don't I

AWD

As long as it remains a quick and easy way to get funds the speed cameras will continue to appear everywhere.

camk

Here in Germany where we have some unlimited speeds on motorways they drive extremely fast,I've been flashed to move over whilst doing 250KMPH and once at 180KMPH in the middle lane !!! but in town and on twisty country roads they very very rarely speed or overtake. At first I found it very difficult, I drive too slow on Motorway and to fast on A/B roads but after a while you adjust, even driving at 30KPH feels ok now.
Its like there are 2 sets of drivers out there, law abiding ones stick to country and town driving and the nutters get the A-Bahns. You also only get points for severe speeding ie 20KMPH over the limit, less than that its just a cash transaction with local council. I got done doing 37 in a 30, 30DM fine(10 quid). Its 14 points for a warning to tame your driving and 18 points gets you a ban(couple of months I think, hopefully I'll not find out)

john banks

I'm in Fife, and some of the roads are quite cool (by that I mean twisty), but precious few of them are twisty enough to really slow you down. Or maybe I'm getting bored with so much commuting and should hunt for some better roads! Maybe some Fifers need to educate me I am probably thinking more A roads actually rather than B roads and really twisty roads are a distant memory cos of all the commuting. "Devils staircase" near Callander would not be good for a Fiesta at 70mph (unless you've gone off the edge!)

BarryK

Charliepsycho.

Telecommuting and IT. A marriage made in heaven. (See also direct banking, insurance etc.)

If G. Brown introduced a financial incentive for employers to promote it the choked rush hour roads would be a thing of the past. Instead of which they keep banging on about cycling to work and "public transport" whatever that is.

Not everyone has to do it, but in the main if those who could, did, then the people who MUST travel would be able to a lot more easily.

This really must be seen as a social campaign for the good of the whole country.

H

I think getting 'done' all depends on the particular copper and your attitude to them

I have always had copies of my doco's and always just been pleasent and honest...I have a clean licence.

The reason I metion this, I got pulled on the M56 last night - joined from the Sharston Bypass - the nice Police man pulled me over as I got off at the Hale junction..."you joined the M56 at 87 miles per hour, I was behind you on the M56" - he proceeded to check my doco's, give me some advice and sent me on my merry way....good stuff eh

AWD

You're absolutely right...

I must work from home for the good of the country...

I like that.... must be my patriotic side showing again

CharliePsycho

If the people who did the anti IR35 campaign (was it PCG??) got behind a tax incentive for employer alowing working from home.... Ahh but I dream a lot

hmmmm working from home, that would probably help with IR35 as well