There are always those perfectly straight stretches of super wide motorway that feel slow at 70mph.

Once one has passed their test I think it should be up'd to 90mph.

This poll could do with an "ambivalent" option. I'm happy enough with it being 70, but without too much attention being paid to going a little over this. An increase to 80 would be nice, but I wouldn't go out of my way to campaign for it.

Also, what's with the "I feel safe at 70" option? I feel safe there (assuming conditions permit), doesn't mean that I wouldn't want it increased too.

An increase to 75mph is too little to make much difference, and I wouldn't trust too many people trying to do 90. Also, raising it too much compared to lorry speeds could be dangerous.

I can't imagine any circumstances in which the government will raise the speed limit.

There is the environmental argument that going at 80 or 90 uses more fuel per mile (and hence more pollution) than 70, which ought to be a factor.

75mph is approx 120km/h, as the Republic of Ireland has recently adopted. We'd only get a 75 limit if we went metric, as people would begrudge the 2mph reduction to create a 110km/h limit.

Putting my sensible cap on, I'd be happy with a small increase to 80mph. It seems to be the speed that most traffic on more open stretches stick to.

I would then be tempted to raise the limits on HGV's to 65mph.

One exception would be the M6 toll, where I'd put it up to 90mph. After all if we lived in a fair country, something has to make up for it's toll. If this proves to be successful without major incidents, I would then consider removing the speed limit from it altogether.

However, like JMB says though, I can't see this or indeed any government willing to raise the motorway speed limit, not with new proposals for ATM/VSL knocking around. I'll eat my own shoes if any serious and likely proposals are put forward.

I say raise it to 90. So many people do 90, especially on quiet stretches, that raising the limit doesn't automatically means everyone will do 100+. This also removes the environmental argument as traffic speeds won't rise dramatically as it will mean those doing between 70 and 90 will be able to do so legally without slamming on the brakes whenever there's a white van parked on a bridge.

Of course, UK governments treat motoring with so much contempt that there's no way the current limit will be raised. Contrast this with countries like Poland that are raising it to 140kmh which is around 90mph.

By the way, whenever I click on an option to vote it says invalid

See this post for more info.

I voted for 80 for the simple reason that a large proportion of car drivers do between 70 and 80 anyway, mostly with the tacit approval of the police. This implies that having a significant number of people doing 80 rather than 70 doesn't have much if any effect on the overall risk to life and property from accidents -- if it did, the police would prioritise enforcement of the 70 limit in the same way as they do the 30 limit in towns.

90 is IMO too high. IME a small proportion of drivers go this fast; on the rare occasions I have done, I've overtaken far more cars than I've been overtaken by.

I also feel that 80 represents a reasonable compromise for overtaking speed-limited vehicles: it's not so fast that drivers are particularly likely to rear-end an HGV because they weren't aware of the speed differential, but it does allow vehicles to pass HGVs promptly. It can take longer than I'd ideally like to pass a truck doing 56 if I stick rigidly to an indicated 70 (which, regardless of the accuracy of your speedo, you have to do, more or less, during any test), and this is even more pronounced when overtaking coaches.

It would therefore seem reasonable to allow motorists to overtake in as safe a way as possible without breaking the law.

I went for the "German" option - but only after a driver has undergone further training to teach them how about the longer stopping distances etc. German drivers receive far more training on driving at speed so are better prepared for high-speed driving.

I'd also like the speed limit to be variable, so that the limit can be reduced to 70 or lower in snow/rain/fog or if an incident has occurred.

Stating the obvious, but some stretches would have to have compulsory limits set at (70 or lower) at all times, apart from the obvious inner-city motorways I'd expect this to be seen on the M6 through Birmingham, M4 around Newport etc.

Motorway speed limits are already variable. Especially in 'maintenances'. While through interchanges they are often dropped to 50mph, although that is permanent. I see what you're talking about, but I have a selection on this poll (right at the bottom), for variable speed limits.

I think if a motorway is quiet enough, there is enough distance between junctions and has at least 3 lanes, then the limit should increased. The only current roads which I think would fit into this criteria would be the A74(M), parts of the M6, mostly North of Preston and parts of the A1(M), Alconbury and Wetherby spring to mind. Maybe the M4, M5 and M11, I'm not sure how busy these roads are.

Switch to metric and get 120 km/h (~75 mph)!

When I was last in Germany, there seemed to be plenty of 120 km/h sections on autobahn despite the "unlimited" sections, the former were anywhere in hearing distance of a town/settlement, or older two lane sections, or busy sections. 130 km/h is advised on the other "unlimited" sections anyway and if you are doing more, that is fine but you will be automatically the one "at fault" in the event of an accident.

Perhaps this speed, 80 mph (or for Ireland, 130 km/h), would be reasonable on less busy motorway sections? (So for example in Ireland, the M7 beyond Kildare, M1 from Meath to Louth, M8 north of Fermoy, etc.) I would say 120 km/h is reasonable for other motorways (can't see the UK bothering to go from 70 to 75 mph just randomly though).

I don't think it's rational to wish for higher limits than that though.

No.

Sometimes satire is close to home....

80mph on D3M+ and 70-75mph on D2M. I wouldn't rule out more on the M6T but otherwise I have safety concerns about >80mph on public roads.

Yes.

I noticed that when you approached a "Kreuz" (where two motorways intersect as opposed to a junction where one joins a lesser road) that the speed limit was reduced to typically 100 km/h. In addition, there were speed limits during "wet weather" (whatever they meant by that).

I alos noticed the widespread use of 30 km/h signs in residential zones (and also the absence of priority signs in these areas as well).

[quote="haymansafc"]One exception would be the M6 toll, where I'd put it up to 90mph. After all if we lived in a fair country, something has to make up for it's toll. If this proves to be successful without major incidents, I would then consider removing the speed limit from it altogether. quote]

That'd make a number of insurance policies invalid on that road, AIUI. Mine explicitly names that unrestricted toll road on the continent as a banned road.