Trains...why?

[661-Pete]

I think 70mph is plenty,?

I think 70mph should be the minimum.I think all things considered 120mph should be the limit.My car is an "average" family estate and is capable of 140mph so 100-120mph is sensible.My brother has(amongst others) a "family" estate(Audi RS6) that is capable of 180mph+.We have Super cars capable of 200mph+ so 70mph is really,really stupid.Really stupid
70mph is outdated and ridiculous in the modern era.In fact it was outdated and ridiculous 40 years ago

Bully for you - and your Big Bro (or maybe it's "Little Bro").

I understand that my car - a make suited to us lesser mortals! - will do over 80mph, perhaps touching 100. Leastways, on French autoroutes (where the limit is 130 Km/h = 81mph), I have hit 80mph - but it's not a speed I care to drive at for long stretches.

Yes I know the speedo dial in my car indicates up to 150 - but that's a wild exaggeration as everyone knows! My engine (if I were to contrive to disable the governor) would fly apart long before I got anywhere near that! It used not to be so. I distinctly remember as a small child, my father driving his old Austin Ten: he once nudged me and pointed out that the speedo's needle was pressed against its upper end-stop at the 75mph marker. I think he was going downhill at the time. That was of course long before the days of the NSL.

Perhaps the "pistonheads" forum might be more suited to your line of reasoning?

Or is your post a deliberate wind-up aimed at provoking the sort of response I have just made? I don't care if it is...

[PH]

it was outdated and ridiculous 40 years ago

Just like cycling.

[reohn2]

I think 70mph is plenty,?

I think 70mph should be the minimum.I think all things considered 120mph should be the limit.My car is an "average" family estate and is capable of 140mph so 100-120mph is sensible.My brother has(amongst others) a "family" estate(Audi RS6) that is capable of 180mph+.We have Super cars capable of 200mph+ so 70mph is really,really stupid.Really stupid
70mph is outdated and ridiculous in the modern era.In fact it was outdated and ridiculous 40 years ago

Two words,speed differential.
Some more words,UK traffic,phone use,tiredness,driving outside of one's capabilities,mixed ability drivers,etc,etc.The list is endless.

All relevant words against driving at high speed .

IMO motorway speeds in the UK should be a rigidly enforced 70,I sometimes exceed this but not by much

[kwackers]

Double the speed, quadruple the energy. Quadruple the energy and more than quadruple the braking distance.

Living in Warrington, barely a day goes by when the M6, M62 or M56 is blocked because the average driver can't even manage the 50 to 60mph average these motorways move at. The idea that we should allow them to travel at twice the speed limit is frankly laughable.
Doesn't matter how capable the cars are (and a 200+ mph supercar is incredibly capable), the monkey in control is the same monkey designed for a top speed of not much more than 10mph and with a brain to match.

Higher speeds simply means more time stuck in stationary traffic whilst they clear the remains off the motorway.
Perhaps when humans are removed from the equation there'll be some benefit to higher speeds but until then.

[Mick F]

Drove up to Bristol Airport and back yesterday.
Steady 65 or 70 all the way there.

No point going any faster, as you wouldn't have been able to keep it up due to the three lanes of M5 traffic all doing 65 - 70 mph.
If you tried to go faster, you'd be braking and speeding up all the time. I makes it hard work, so it's best to relax and go with the flow.

[PH]

I think we should dig up all that useless train track and have special roads where if you don't have a car capable of at least 150 mph and the ability to use it while texting and high on your own ego you're not allowed on. Speed limits are just a part of the nanny state, get rid of them all.

[661-Pete]

Double the speed, quadruple the energy. Quadruple the energy and more than quadruple the braking distance.

Yes indeed. v² = u² + 2gs . Newton's Laws of motion: O-level physics....

[mjr]

Drove up to Bristol Airport and back yesterday.
Steady 65 or 70 all the way there..

Speed limit is lower than that for the last few miles there! Exactly what limit depends on route.

[100%JR]

Or is your post a deliberate wind-up aimed at provoking the sort of response I have just made? I don't care if it is...

Not at all.I think the speed limit is too low simple as that.70mph on a three-five lane motorway yet 70mph on dual carriage ways?Where's the sense in that?
Dual carriageways 80mph(50mph where they go through built up areas)
Motorways 100mph
The fact you can legally do 60mph(if signed National speed limit) on Country lanes but only 10mph more on M/ways is absolutely ridiculous!
A HGV is capable of doing 80mph+ but restricted to 56mph then people wonder why there's congestion.Get on a hill on the M1 and two lanes are full of HGVs trying to overtake forcing everyone into lane three

[reohn2]

....I think the speed limit is too low simple as that.70mph on a three-five lane motorway yet 70mph on dual carriage ways?Where's the sense in that?
Dual carriageways 80mph(50mph where they go through built up areas)
Motorways 100mph
The fact you can legally do 60mph(if signed National speed limit) on Country lanes but only 10mph more on M/ways is absolutely ridiculous!

Your thinking for motorway speed limits is flawed for the many reasons given up thread.
Any two lane single carriageway roads should be restricted to a maximum of 50mph with many restricted to much less.

A HGV is capable of doing 80mph+ but restricted to 56mph then people wonder why there's congestion.Get on a hill on the M1 and two lanes are full of HGVs trying to overtake forcing everyone into lane three

HGV's are restricted to 56mph because of the their weight and kinetic energy and all that entails and,due to their size,don't have the manoeuvreabilty of other vehicles.
IMO certain congested sections of motorways HGV's should be restricted to lane one.

EDIT:-in answer to you question of congestion,the reasons are many but mainly it's due to an overloaded road system,that's the reason for 'smart' motorways where the hard shoulder forms an extra lane at peak times,these times have grown to such an extent that they cover almost all daylight hours and in winter well into the dark hours too,though it's only a stop gap at the rate traffic is continuing to grow
Then there's filtering onto and off M/ways,RTC's,roadworks,and verge maintenance causing lane closures.
There a good series on TV ATM about motorway management in the very congested Birmingham area,which as well as everything else hilights just how stupid and selfish drivers are,trusting them to drive at 70 is bad enough,but I'm convinced there'd be carnage with 100mph limit.

[100%JR]

Your thinking for motorway speed limits is flawed for the many reasons given up thread.
Any two lane single carriageway roads should be restricted to a maximum of 50mph with many restricted to much less.

I disagree.
The A57 Snake Pass has been "restricted" to 50mph and that is a joke.Apart from the Snake Pass Inn there are no dwellings close to the road.Setting the limit at 50mph is stupid.Roads like that should be left at 60mph.Hardly anyone drives along there at 50mph
There is a quite famous(locally) dual carriage way that passes through Hillsborough.Very little in the way of residential properties limit?30mph When the dual carriageway goes through a residential area further along at Wadsley Bridge...limit?40mph Stupid.
The entire system needs updating and modernising.

[reohn2]

Your thinking for motorway speed limits is flawed for the many reasons given up thread.
Any two lane single carriageway roads should be restricted to a maximum of 50mph with many restricted to much less.

I disagree.
The A57 Snake Pass has been "restricted" to 50mph and that is a joke.Apart from the Snake Pass Inn there are no dwellings close to the road.Setting the limit at 50mph is stupid.Roads like that should be left at 60mph.Hardly anyone drives along there at 50mph
There is a quite famous(locally) dual carriage way that passes through Hillsborough.Very little in the way of residential properties limit?30mph When the dual carriageway goes through a residential area further along at Wadsley Bridge...limit?40mph Stupid.
The entire system needs updating and modernising.

I don't know those roads either at all or it's so long since used them I can't have an opinion on them,so we'll have to agree to differ.
I can point to many single carriageway roads at NSL that aren't safe at anything over 40mph many winding country lanes are classic example.

[amaferanga]

Your thinking for motorway speed limits is flawed for the many reasons given up thread.
Any two lane single carriageway roads should be restricted to a maximum of 50mph with many restricted to much less.

I disagree.
The A57 Snake Pass has been "restricted" to 50mph and that is a joke.Apart from the Snake Pass Inn there are no dwellings close to the road.Setting the limit at 50mph is stupid.Roads like that should be left at 60mph.Hardly anyone drives along there at 50mph
There is a quite famous(locally) dual carriage way that passes through Hillsborough.Very little in the way of residential properties limit?30mph When the dual carriageway goes through a residential area further along at Wadsley Bridge...limit?40mph Stupid.
The entire system needs updating and modernising.

What about cyclists on Snake Pass?

And for that matter, cyclists on the A61? I used to use that road to escape Sheffield for the Peaks and was quite glad it was 'only' a 30mph limit.

You're right though that speed limits need reviewed and updated - they should all be reduced to make active travel (walking or cycling) safer and more appealing to get people out of cars and to encourage healthy lifestyles.

Fortunately there's little chance of speed limits being increased.

[100%JR]

What about cyclists on Snake Pass?
And for that matter, cyclists on the A61? I used to use that road to escape Sheffield for the Peaks and was quite glad it was 'only' a 30mph limit.

I would rather cycle the Snake Pass with motorbikes whizzing by at 100mph than the Woodhead Pass with convoys of HGVs clogging it up at 30mph!
Glad the A61 is only 30mph?I also occasionally use it on the bike and would have no problem with it being 60 or 70mph(which as a dual carriageway it should be).There's a very good reason no one sticks to 30mph on A61

[amaferanga]

What about cyclists on Snake Pass?
And for that matter, cyclists on the A61? I used to use that road to escape Sheffield for the Peaks and was quite glad it was 'only' a 30mph limit.

I would rather cycle the Snake Pass with motorbikes whizzing by at 100mph than the Woodhead Pass with convoys of HGVs clogging it up at 30mph!
Glad the A61 is only 30mph?I also occasionally use it on the bike and would have no problem with it being 60 or 70mph(which as a dual carriageway it should be).There's a very good reason no one sticks to 30mph on A61

That good reason being they think they're too important to obey speed limits and they know there's little chance they'll encounter any traffic police these days.

You think an inner city road with pedestrians, cyclists, children, etc. should be 60 or 70 mph limit? Why do you want roads to be so hostile to people? You'd just spend even longer sitting at traffic lights anyway.

Our cities are unpleasant as it is (noisy, dirty, dangerous) so it'd be madness to make them noisier, dirtier and even more dangerous just so folk like you can live the dream sold to them by car manufacturers.