For some time now there have been proposals to increase the motorway speed limit in the UK to 80mph (or its kph equivalent when the EU interferes!)
Personally I think this is a good idea with one caveat - it needs to be enforced properly. Given that it appears many drivers already travel at this sort of speed, enforcing it positively will not mean much of an increase overall - though drivers who presently obey the 70 limit may well travel faster.
Opponents claim that speed kills and increasing the limit will increase road deaths. This is somewhat of a fallacy as it is inappropriate speed that kills. There are many instances where 70mph is far too fast on the motorway.
Only recently we had the horrific accident on the M5 near Taunton. I have no intention of second guessing the investigation into the cause but given the reported weather conditions at the time it would strike me that this is one of the cases where 70mph would be far too fast.
I had a very personal experience of this some years ago, travelling north on the M6 near Birmingham. As I was driving the fog became thicker and thicker to the point where I had slowed to about 20mph and was frightened by trucks overtaking with a very high relative speed.
With the conditions worsening I made the decision to leave the motorway at the next service station, contemplating spending the night there. I went for a coffee and a meal and after an hour or so reviewed the weather. There had been a significant improvement so I decided to refuel and continue my journey.
Whilst fuelling I talked to a driver who had just pulled off the motorway who told me of an accident that he had just passed. It would appear that on the southbound carriageway there had been a significant pile up which had then triggered further accidents both in the traffic slowing down behind it and also on the northbound carriageway as people slowed to 'rubber-neck' the southbound carriageway. Apparently drivers were still being caught out and he felt that more collisions could occur.
Drivers must adapt to the weather and road conditions. The speed limit is just that, a limit, not a target to be achieved at all times.
I have however witnessed an amusing incident whereby a driver whilst probably travelling within the legal limit was too fast for the road conditions / his ability. Traffic on the motorway had come to a crawl as a result of an accident and most drivers were filtering into lane one as indicated by the police Range Rover in lane two. One driver was however not paying attention and by the time he braked it was too late and in a cloud of tyre smoke he slid into the back of the police vehicle. Fortunately it seems that no one was injured as he had slowed a lot but I would have loved to have heard his explanation to the officer whose car he had hit. Given that it was fully lit with flashing blues, the red lights they use and a message board he could hardly deny having seen it.
Our sympathies should be with those affected by the horrendous accident on the M5, and others, but it should not be used as a reason not to increase the speed limit.
I agree with most of what you say here except that I disagree with any increase in speed limit. It is well researched that when speed limits are increased, so are accidents. Whilst I agree that this is due to careless driving, and drivers going faster than they should, but the problem is how to educate drivers to match their speed to the road conditions/car/driving ability etc and not to the maximum allowed speed limit? Until a way is found to drum home the right and safe attitude, then increasing the speed limit will only increase the number of accidents as then many drivers will simply think they can and should do 80mph where it says so, not only that, but on single carriage way roads assumptions will be made that the speed limit also increases to 70mph.
ReplyDeleteA by pass here in Wales is a 70mph as it is a dual carriageway, but it is a dreadful road, with twists and bends, bumps and uneven road surface, and narrow for a dual carriage way. In my opinion it is totally unsuitable for 70mph and there have been some dreadful accidents on there due to drivers simply thinking they can do 70mph whenever and wherever possible.
At the moment, dual carriageways and Motorways both showing the national speed limit sign means they both have a 70mph speed limit. If M ways go up to 80mph I dread to think of the consequences for dual carriage ways even if the national speed limit for them remains at 70mph drivers will assume it is 80mph.
personally, my opinion is that only in the 3rd overtaking lane should the speed limit be 70mph on Motorways and the first 2 lanes should be restricted to 60mph.
@Hilary: I think you miss part of my point - many drivers already travel at 80 on motorways so accidents resulting from that will not increase. It will allow others to increase to 80 and as such be less likely to get one of the existing lawbreakers tailgating.
ReplyDeleteLimits however MUST be enforced otherwise there is no point.
Driver education and an advertising campaign can and should be used to remind drivers that the limits remain unchanged off the motorways. Again, enforcement will make the point.
Finally on this point, if lanes one and two are slowed down potentially there will be far more congestion and also accident risks as people have to move from lane two at 60 to lane three at 70 as you propose.
Enforcement is the key - unfortunately there are insufficient police on the roads - witness the vast number of drivers STILL using handheld mobiles despite the accident risk and legal penalties.
The problem is that those who travel at 80mph in a 70mph limit will be prone to do 90mph in an 80mph limit.
ReplyDeleteI take your point about two lanes at different speeds though, although it (60mph) is supposed to be enforced in all 3 lanes for certain vehicles. Congestion would calm down considerably if drivers were to slow down rather than travel at the fastest speed allowed. Traffic calming measures are generally unsuccessful when signs ask people to slow down to 40mph with congestion ahead as the congestion is as yet not visible, it is therefore not believed to be true...until drivers arrive at the massive queue! Had they slowed down to 40mph when asked, there would be no congestion, or much less at any rate.
I agree about enforcement or rather lack of and the use of mobiles...quite astounding to see drivers do this, even at times, as they drive past police cars!!!