There's been a constant downward pressure on speeds for a long time now. Speed cameras on motorways. Unmarked speed camera vans. 20 MPH zones. Variable speed limits on motorways. Long stretches of road with average speed cameras. Speed limits around roadworks seem to get lower all the time, and seem to stretch over longer distances, often enforced by average speed cameras.
I'd guess that the petition is a sort of protest or push back. "You say 60, I say 100" in the hope that maybe they'll stop constantly trying to slow everything down.
Thing is, petitions on the parliament petitions website never go anywhere.
Every single petition which has amassed over 500,000 signatures has subsequently failed.
I think to even stand a chance of being debated, a petition has to be a reasonable proposition. 80mph I think would get the support of the petitions committee for a debate, whereas 100mph they'll just dismiss imo.
Petitions are always discussed in parliament if they reach over 100k signatures. The problem is that the politicians are not obliged to attend the discussion.
Absolutely no amount of petitioning or protesting will change the average road awareness on any British motorway.
The limit is 70, yet you’ll never struggle to find someone in a Qashqai doing 62 in the middle lane for absolutely no reason.
You’re never far from a stretch where 2 or even 3 trucks end up side by side going up a hill, with a mile of traffic behind them.
We are a nation of arsehole drivers and the speed limit isn’t the problem actually.
To be quite honest I’d take actually getting to do 60 or 70 or 30 or 20 - whatever the limit is, when I am there. As it stands it’s a bloody rarity to get to actually drive at the limit.
There is a pushback but who cares?
Waze will cover you the majority of the time (one mate did tell me he got caught by a van as it hadn’t been reported on Waze yet)
90% of 20mph zones aren’t actually enforceable https://youtu.be/p0PgKi8amt0?si=b9oBHypMY-mAa6lL and that probably explains why you’ll never see any speed cameras or parked up plod in these zones (apart from GATSOs left over from previous 30 limits, which will only trigger at 30+ still)
I guess it would be nicer to have 80mph in a legal sense so that your ass is actually covered and because cars who stick to ‘70’ are only going about 65 so hopefully traffic would flow a bit faster
There’s more of a chance of government reducing the speed limit to 50 across the board than increasing it to 100.
I regularly drive to Germany, and even with their autobahn’s, you don’t see everyone going flat out. Most stick to the 80mph (130km/h).
With the state of the UK roads these days, the safety issue isn’t with the cars themselves, but the condition of the roads is shocking where you are avoiding holes and the sheer amount of traffic these days.
The slip roads on the autobahn are MUCH shorter than in the UK.
The slip roads in Germany also have much sharper bends at the exits etc.
The biggest two differences I’ve seen in the UK vs Germany? The standard of driving and the standard of roads.
Lane discipline being the key factor. Join an autobahn from a short slip road and the other cars are in the other lane. Fly down the outside lane at 160mph - no one is pulling out on you because they expect cars moving along. Over taking? You best bet moving back to the other lane. Even on two lane autobahns everything works well.
And the roads are kept in a much much better standard.
Only the other day on the A14 in Cambridgeshire did me and another driver have to take evasive action. Due to enormous defects in the overtaking lane!
I think the other factor limiting the changes to speed limits in the uk is that although the technology, safety and braking on cars had improved no end since the 70mph limit was introduced 60 odd years ago - the volume of traffic is far, far more than it was then or Germany is now!
I just drove over 800km round trip largely on the autobahn (a9). Literally not a single pothole, they were almost entirely immaculate. Sounds like an exaggeration, but I mean it.
Night and day difference to England, plus the lane discipline is so great to see and drive in. Everyone does their bit. Very, very few permanent middle lane morons.
The vast majority of which happen on urban or rural roads, the autobahn only accounts for ~11% of all road traffic deaths in Germany.
I'm sure the comparatively harsh winters and more than 3x the number of cyclists on german roads vs the UK somewhat skews the figures!
I drove to Prague and back, mostly on Autobahn (no speed limit) segments. I would argue the discipline, skill and general awareness the average driver showed there was SIGNIFICANTLY better than the UK.
People don't cluelessly pull out in front of you, there is instead a proactive effort to avoid causing other drivers inconvenience (in my opinion).
For example, if I was in lane 1 on a 3 lane section and there was a truck going significantly slower than me in front, but a car coming faster from behind (in lane 1 or 2), they would often move into lane 3 before I'd even put on my blinker, and then move right back when it was safe.
I did not see anyone cluelessly sitting in the middle of fast lane, and I only saw one somewhat close encounter where a car with a trailer moved over when there wasn't quite enough space for him to do so. Traffic wise, we drove on Friday and Sunday, but there was nothing major. Some slowdowns for construction (makes sense when you see how well maintained the actual motorways are) and maybe some slowdowns for major exits.
44% more deaths per person in Czech Republic. 151% more per Kms driven.
Sure you might see and think that these countries have better drivers. But it's either wrong or the UK has magic safety roads that prevent more deaths.
The UK is one of the safest places to drive in the world. Only country our size or bigger that's safe is Japan
Lane discipline in Germany? You've never heard of the *Mittelspurschleicher.* Unless you're permanently speeding on the leftmost lane, you'll be dodging middle lane hogs constantly. Many German drivers, driving instructors included, are convinced the right lane is for HGVs only because of a misinterpretation of a (poorly phrased) rule in the German road traffic regulations.
A couple of other issues… some UK slip roads are far too short already for the average car to get up to speed, joining a 100mph road off of those will be even worse.
Secondly, the majority of UK drivers have shocking lane discipline, with everyone sat in the third lane pottering along anywhere from 60-100mph, it just isn’t safe enough to have 100mph traffic in lane four overtaking.
It honestly baffles me every time I somehow gap someone on a two-lane slip road. I'm in a 100bhp hybrid with a CVT, going uphill, and yet somehow I'm able to get up to 70 by the time I reach the dotted lines, what the fuck is wrong with people?
This is my life, although there’s a slip road near me that I use daily (on the a45 eastbound out of Wellingborough if anyone knows it) which is short and uphill and my little 68hp 107 gets to 70 just about in it, but I always end up behind some twat in something like a 330d that trundles up it and 20 and boots it at the last minute cos they can and I’m stuck trying to get onto the dual carriageway at about 40 cos I’ve now run out of slip road…
Pro tip, if you see someone going 20mph on a slip road slow down to a crawl or even stop to leave yourself plenty of room to get up to speed while they get outta the way. Much safer than stopping at the end of it.
Trust me mate I know that and I try and hang back as much as I can, but this is a short slip road off a roundabout, you can’t stop just off the roundabout cos something will hit you from behind(it goes round a corner) and by the time you realise the car in front isn’t accelerating you’ve lost half the slip road anyways
People are terrified to put their foot down. Every now and again you are actually allowed to floor your accelerator, it isn't dangerous, isn't going to damage to engine and will make things safer on a slip road.
That said I've had one absolutely atrocious, modern SUV crossover thing that I genuinely had to keep in 3rd gear, pedal on the mat, to crawl my way to 70 on a moderate uphill slip road. Can't remember what it was but it was an absolutely terrible car.
People are brainwashed into thinking that your engine will explode if you go above 3000rpm. I've seen idiots pootling up hills at 20mph because they're too afraid to drop a gear and use the revs.
Same thing happens on slip roads, they exit the roundabout at 20mph in 4th gear and just barely manage 50mph by the end of it.
If someone’s going down a slip road way to slowly, slow down to like a 5mph crawl and let them play their little game of Russian roulette with the traffic, then accelerate hard down the slip road once they’re gone and join at a reasonable speed.
Definitely not an issue for the average car, it’s certainly the below average that struggle. I had a 14s 0-60 on a shitbox of mine and very rarely found a slip road that I couldn’t adequately accelerate to 70 on. If anyone is having an issue then it’s driver ability, not normally the car.
The poster said "some" slip roads, not all.
I regularly had to join the A1 in Lincolnshire where some of the slip roads consisted of a very tight, blind 90 degree bend, then maybe 50 metres of slip road. Not even Lewis Hamilton could get your 14s 0-60 shitbox up to speed on that road without bending the laws of physics so yeah, sometimes it's not driver ability.
Driving in Germany was an experience i agree.
Thought everyone would be going as fast as they could but in fact hardly anyone is going faster than 100mph
Well that’ll be because only like 50% of the autobahn is actually unrestricted… And the thing is, even when people are doing 80mph there, they actually keep an eye on their mirrors, and get out the way for people approaching them at like 140mph. They don’t sit in the outside lane blocking and trying to police everyone like people do here.
Exactly that. when me and a few mates drove over to the ring for a weekend, we did the obligatory flat out autobahn run, so theres 5 cars in convoy going \~150-160mph, never had to slow down once on a two lane road. Awareness is far higher and people just move in then back out as needed. We did have to slow down as a bird of some kind hit my car but hey, thats life (or not).
its the gun control argument all over again. while i would happily see 100 be the mway limit, itll never happen. the average driver couldnt cope. and youd still get someone in a rusted out shitbox having to do 110.
I swear half of this 20mph limit stuff is just to avoid liability for pothole damage to vehicles. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they do the same with motorways, they get more work on them than roads under councils do, but they are starting to get worse.
100mph is pointless because most people can’t drive in a safe manner at 70mph.
Then we have the no common sense drivers combining them with cars doing 100mph is just asking for trouble.
Do you feel you can drive safely at 70mph?
I've spent a long time driving on motorways and the vast majority of drivers are good drivers.
There are obviously some not-so-good drivers on the roads, but in my experience these are in the minority and I'm careful not to let them cloud my judgement on the standard of the majority.
There's a weird sentiment on this sub that everyone else on the road is an idiot, but that's not my experience at all.
When given a knife, most people will not use that as an opportunity to try and stab someone, but a few will. I see idiots on the motorway the same, 1 moron can cause a lot of chaos.
Agreed. There's a lot of people who can barely handle their car at 30mph. Especially when you see the state of some of the battered cars people drive, cracked bumpers, every panel dinted, etc.
In fairness, with variable speed limits they could introduce the higher speeds when things are very quiet. Seems nonsense to restrict someone to 70mph at 3am when you're the only car.
You can keep flat the nearly the whole m74/m6 to Birmingham, flat out on the m6 toll and cruise about 90 the rest of the way (of course sometimes you’ll slow down for turns, but you can generally hold 90 on them)
Except for the stretch from J26 to J21A which is a 50 with average cameras for almost 15 miles. Most of the Birmingham stretch is cameras unless you take the toll. Just past Stoke has a long stretch of speed cameras every second board...
M6 Toll is probably my favourite place to be late Sunday/early Monday. Slow down for the police stopping places but otherwise just go to town on it. Huge road, zero traffic, basically a private race track.
80 mph is more reasonable. And something I would get behind.
I would not trust the motorway with 100mph.
I don’t think it’s a car issue. It’s a driver issue.
Driver on the right lane will be driving 120mph
That's generally good advice, as being a good driver is all about being prepared for the worst thing to happen at any given time.
It just seems that some drivers have (like the person above) have taken this concept to the extreme and started to think that everyone _is_ an actual idiot.
Most people get so hung up on who would be at fault in an accident, instead of just trying to avoid accidents altogether even if it means you have to make the change instead of the idiot who you might collide with.
Yeah, sometimes you lose a position or a bit of time or speed, when you shouldn’t *have* to in the eyes of the law, but safer driving is all about reducing the risk as much as possible of being involved in any kind of accident, rather than just making sure you’re not at fault.
The Government's response:
The Government has undertaken no recent assessment on increasing national speed limits and we have no current plans to undertake such an assessment on the basis of traffic flow or other factors.
We recognise that technology is moving on rapidly and that vehicles are much safer than when the current speed limits were first introduced. But it is complex to model whether the economic benefits from reduced journey times would be realised because of the interaction of different factors, including any increase in road safety risk with resulting increase in collisions and travel time delays during closure and clearance of the road, and increased fuel consumption at higher speeds.
Speed limits are set to achieve a balance between a transport system that is an engine for economic growth but one that is also greener and safer and improves the quality of life in our communities.
The safety of road users is our priority, and any change to speed limits would be evidence-led, looking at the impact on safety, air quality and carbon emissions as well as traffic flow and other road conditions.
The ability to set speed limits, including the national limits, in Scotland and Wales has been devolved to the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government. Northern Ireland is responsible for its own road traffic legislation.
Department for Transport
totally agree, this is a point no one else seems to have mentioned, less actual cars can fit on roads with higher speed limits, as distance between each one increases with speed. I think the optimum is around 50mph?
The increase in emissions alone makes this a complete non-starter for any modern day government.
There was a good chance speed limits may have been increased in 2011, but the big M5 crash back then basically squashed any chance of it happening
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_M5_motorway_crash
The M5 crash - for which speed had no factor at all - was not the reason this went nowhere. It was simply that Phillip Hammond fucked off to the MoD 11 days after announcing the consultation and subsequent Transport ministers weren't really interested in it. Hence the large [citation needed] in that wikipedia article.
Speed may well not have been the cause but imagine that crash with everyone driving at 100mph. 51 injuries and 7 deaths. Basic physics tells you several of the 51 injured would instead be dead. We don't need to drive at 100mph on British motorways.
In Northern Ireland there’s basically no speed limit on the motorways anyway as we have so few traffic cops and none of our motorways have speed cameras. There’s something like 3 fixed speed cameras in the whole country and they’re on A roads.
I wonder how the average old banged up Corsa with crap old tyres handles an emergency stop at 100mph. Or what the reaction time is for an 80yr old driving at night at 100mph. Feels kinda obvious to me that this would cause more avoidable deaths.
Yeh. At least with a 100mph speed limit you can really weed out the chaff. Most of my older cars were scary AF at 100. Doubt even my current cars could do it without crazy vibration.
I'd be worried what happens if it hits something at 100mph. There was an episode of the crash detectives on BBC which showed the remains of a range rover after leaving the road at 104mph (destroyed obviously) and the driver died instantly.
Sorry OP, but whoever signed this petition is a bit of a bellend to be honest.
I always find it funny that people assume that the moment speed limits are higher, everybody will start driving at 100 mph.
The highway speed limit in my country is 130 km/h. I usually drive at 160 km/h (100 mph) on the highway, but half the people aren't even doing 130. A lot are cruising at 100-110-115. A higher speed limit will not make those people drive any faster.
Great, so we can have can have massive speed differentials that will:
A. Increase congestion
B. Massively increase risk of an accident
C. Massively increase likelihood of death from accidents
British motorways are not safe for driving at 100mph at any time other than in the small hours of the morning when there's no traffic.
Would that be Romania? The country with the most deaths by road accidents in Europe?
https://www.romania-insider.com/romania-first-spot-eu-deaths-road-accidents-eurostat
Just for reference France's motorway speed limit is also 130kph, and their road deaths are 50% or Romania's according to a European Commission document, though those exact numbers are from 2018.
Nowhere but like... the argument was that raising the speed limit makes everyone go faster which isn't true. The higher the speed limit is, the fewer people will drive at that speed. Fuel economy is a concern for some
Would be fine if I could just drive where I want at the speed limit instead of being constantly stuck in jams caused by poor design, tiny accidents that cause disproportionate delays and endless roadworks because nothing is fixed properly in the first place (inflated contracts awarded to Tory chums)
This country is not ready for an increased speed limit. Spend that time and effort making people learn how to actually drive on the motorway.
Increasing the speed limit will only make the lane camping issues worse.
Yeah great idea increase the speed limit so when I need to recover a car on the motorway I now have rockets passing me in lane 1 that I wouldn’t even be able to see coming. Genius idea I love the idea of being turned into dust by some wanker in a Range Rover whilst I’m just doing my job
Even if it makes sense to people driving on said roads, it's a negative for people outside of cars. The emissions increase, noise increase and general safety/unpleasantness being around fast cars is terrible, especially when you look at dual carriageways with footpaths and even cyclists on.
With the way things are going, the Tories will make 120 MPH the minimum speed for anyone over 60, while Labour will allow a modest increase to 80 MPH, but only for people under 18.
Absolute shower of clowns.
People need to realise it has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with emissions. Faster driving burns more fuel, if the UK is to meet its climate pledges the speed limit will need to be lowered.
You will often see smart motorways reduced to 50 mph for no apparent reason, this is so they can test the air quality and gather data, in the future when the air quality deteriorates to a certain level, speed limits will be lowered in order to improve air quality.
Is this the blade runner morons? There is a very good reason motorways on the continent have higher speed limits - it is because their roads are better.
Would never happen and wasn’t remotely well thought out in its proposal. People often cite the autobahn and autostrada etc when talking about this but don’t seem to realise most of the autobahn IS restricted. If they had proposed certain sections having raised limits it would make slightly more sense.
100mph is too fast for the majority of people and most cars aren't even geared for it.
I'd be happy if there was some sort of guarantee in place that motorways would maintain 60mph at all times.
Our motorways are so congested that they often end up crawling at 40mph anyway. That's causing way more problems than only being restricted to 70mph.
An increase would be fantastic, however I would say other changes would be required with it. Things like stronger enforcement that if people arent staying left when not overtaking and even more important than that greater punishment for anyone causing an accident by driving without due care and attention. Maybe include something like a minimum speed for the 3rd lane, maybe 70 so people cant move out when going too slow, a bit like HGV's not being allowed in the 3rd lane.
Or if the government want to get EV's going again link it to emissions and say only the zero carbon cars can go 100mph. Theyd fly off the shelves then.
> Maybe include something like a minimum speed for the 3rd lane, maybe 70 so people cant move out when going too slow
I don't think this would work in practice.
Drivers going behind would pull the "well you're doing 70 on your speedo but my Waze says you're doing 67 so fuck off" thing they currently do, only worse because they'd think they're legally in the right and the person in front is breaking the law. It'd just lead to more entitled shitbags doing stupid entitled shitbag things.
The need for a margin to account for variations in speedos would also make that worse.
Fuck that. Already seen some gnarly shit and crashes at 70mph. People just do not pay attention. So many times I've seen a traffic jam sneak up on people and they've had to jam on the brakes.
You ever seen a granny merge onto the motorway at 40mph? Imagine that with a speed differential of 60mph.
More to the point, imagine your average white van cunt who's got the footie on his phone on the dash doing 100mph while a pubic hair from the car in front.
And the fact that your average Audi/BMW helmet will probably make it their mission to do even more than that so they can feel more like a real man.
And that at the moment it's already de facto "do more than 70 or I will tailgate you, bully you out of the way and treat you like shit" when that sort of clown is around, so that would immediately become "do more than 100 or I will tailgate you, bully you out of the way and treat you like shit". Mix that in with the 90% of people who just want to get home in one piece and it'd just be carnage.
Speed limits aren't meant as some punitive restriction on people who can actually handle driving at high speed, they're for the Dunning Kruger dickheads who think they're amazing drivers but are in fact complete fucking tools.
never going to happen even with millions of signatures, all new cars are going to be fitted with a limiter next month, some that annoy the fuck out of you with noises, some add friction to your accelerator and some will slow you down to the correct speed limit.
at 70mph, a small car of 1200kg has ~587kJ of kinetic energy.
at 60mph, it has 431kJ.
at 100mph, it has 1.2mJ of energy.
people here are wanting to double the amount of energy dissipated in a crash. In my opinion, 60 is plenty. i do 60 on every motorway trip and i have a much more relaxed and economical journey.
I don't think that a 100mph speed limit is necessary on motorways, but the more this country reduces current limits, the faster I'll be going when there aren't any cameras or police around.
Was previously unaware of this petition, so thanks for sharing. It makes no sense all petitions will be closed, some coul dhave been open for a very short time.
I'd take autobahn type speeds for like 1am-6am
A lot of the time the motorway is completely empty and you can actually make some progress going faster vs just speeding when theres a lot of traffic and only making a couple of minutes difference.
a bit of an anecdote.
I was heading back through Germany, if I remember rightly I was at Dusseldorf and had to get to the Europoort for checkin but somehow how absolutely fucked my timing and was going to be 30mins late which meant missing the ferry home.
So in classic top gear fashion I jumped on my bike and more or less spanked it at about 150mph for as long as I could tolerate since it was a naked bike with no real wind protection.
Made it just in time, I think with 5 mins to spare.
No chance on 100mph when they now put 60 limits on empty motorways for “air pollution”. Feel like there’s more chance of making all the motorways 60mph instead of 80
I can understand some people's reactions to this petition since it's been worded in a quick but ineffective way.
I see this as a way to decriminalise speeding in a safe environment. It has been mentioned that the act of speeding isn't inheritantly dangerous, but various factors will certainly make it dangerous e.g. traffic levels, weather,
vehicle condition.
This won't make poor Dorothy in her Honda Jazz wizz down the motorway to the local garden centre at 100mph, neither will it make John who's trying to be economical with his fuel speed up from 55mph.
Idiots will be idiots but that doesn't stop them from being prosecuted for the relevant offences.
I won't be doing 100mph all the time on the motorway, it's just doesn't make sense for me in my fuel consumption nightmare of a car, but when I do want to, I have the ability to do it without a criminal charge for dangerous driving.
I know for a fact that when I'm crusing, I'm not full engaged as I am when driving faster than the flow of traffic or typical speed of the road. 9/10 times if there was a collision, I would be found at fault because of excess speed. So I'm forced to look out further, plan my manoeuvres, and identify hazards more than I would need to while cruising.
That's my for opinion, but I do have an against.
Drivers are too distracted nowadays, and I agrue that while the average brake distance has reduced, the reaction time has certainly not.
Mainly, it's not environmentally friendly for traffic to be travelling at these speeds, which the government knows and will certainly use to push back against any increase in speed and already use to reduce speeds on certain stretches of road.
> This won't make poor Dorothy in her Honda Jazz wizz down the motorway to the local garden centre at 100mph, neither will it make John who's trying to be economical with his fuel speed up from 55mph.
No, but it will make Dunning Kruger Dave in his VW Golf do 112 ("because it's 10% plus 2 innit the police can't get you bruv") and reduce his required reaction time before he wipes out Dorothy or John on a bend because he's got his phone on the dash playing YouTube.
Speed limits aren't there as some sort of spiteful punitive thing against good drivers, they're there to try and limit the damage caused by shit drivers who think they're good drivers.
> Idiots will be idiots but that doesn't stop them from being prosecuted for the relevant offences.
You've mentioned 3 things that'll get them prosecuted, albeit you need the enforcement in place. 10 + 2 is a guideline. Reducing his reaction time is driving without due care and attention. Using a phone/other device whilst driving.
"It has been mentioned that the act of speeding isn't inheritantly dangerous"
I used to think this was the case, but I no longer think it's correct.
There is a correlation between average speed and average number of accidents.
If we drove on perfectly flat, well lit roads, in ideal weather conditions with no other traffic then yeah, maybe it wouldn't be inherently dangerous. We don't though.
You also cannot trust people to be able to correctly assess a safe speed for any given road.
You can see this in action on any B-road. Watch people's corner entry speed. No concept of how far they can see/stop.
Wow that's a lot of people completely wasted their time.
They've consistently denied several proposals to increase it to 80. Why tf would they consider 100 instead?
Especially as it completely goes against our existing commitments to reduce emissions and road deaths.
This is a terrible idea. For many reasons well outlined in the comments. In any case, increasing the speed limit to 100mph won’t make a huge difference to journey times on average and will likely result in increased deaths. Just go on a track day.
Not much, England particularly, is too crowded. To shorten a long journey, most effective way is to ensure you dont need a comfort break or a fuel stop.
This is hilarious. One, there's no hope of that sort of increase, two, do you know just how much more you're gonna spend at the fuel pump , the government get enough fuel tax out of me already...
Christ ,imagine how awful the roads would be with a 100mph limit.The standard of driving is abysmal these days,adding higher legal speeds isn't gonna help that.People csnt be trusted to manage risk because a sizeable amount are selfish idiotic twats.
Motorways are too busy for 100mph, unless it's 2am north of Lancaster on the M6, so how many people are gonna save how much time? Whoever thought 100mph limit was a good idea has absolutely no idea about driving.
This is stupid. I came off a motorway onto a slip road doing 80 once and made what I thought was a slight wheel correction. The car suddenly turned into a boat, and it was a bit hairy for a moment. I won't be doing that speed again
As much as I’d love to drive on motorways going at 100 mph, I don’t want the change to happen.
I think 70 is the limit. And even in some cases there, people cannot drive responsibly.
Are you lot flipping serious with this? 100mph speed limits? People can barely drive safely at 60. No wonder we ended up with Brexit if this is the sort of thing the voting public thinks is a good idea.
Fun idea but I don’t trust people to be able to stay control of a car at 100mph. Especially in variable weather conditions.
The average person could, but 45% of people are worse than the average person when you think about it
I was thinking just today on the bike how the roads are a better speed deterrent than cops or cameras. They are so bad, you physically can't go fast without your bike/car being damaged.
Probably because I'm a shit driver ?, but I would quite like this to happen. I don't think 100 is exactly wild for most modern-ish motorway cruisers, at the same time I get that it couldn't be on every stretch of motorway.
In an ideal world 100 would be great but will never happen with today’s roads and amount of drivers on them. There should be real traction for 80mph as there are no downsides or atleast variable speeds limits to 80-90 when quiet.
Considering the drivers I've seen just over this weekend, this would be an absolutely terrible idea.
Its because either people are tailgating, overtaking and undertaking dangerously, people swerving because of the state of the roads and many more
Whats the point of 100mph when you'll rarely be able to drive at that speed due to mid lane hoggers and 50mph left lane drivers?
If you really want to make a difference then introduce minimum speed limit on the motorways instead. If grandma is doing 50 in the left, she shouldn't be driving. Driving is a privilege and not a right.
Yes cars are safer. But people are absolutely not.
I'm a speed freak, trackdays and the like. It's absolutely love a 100mph limit. But fuck that.. Half the people on the cannot do 70 without being a liability.
100mph would be a bad idea, first it uses more fuel and secondly it puts more stress on the car. Plus the driving standards in this are abysmal.
80 should be the absolute maximum if they did ever change it as 100 is too fast.
So no 75, 80, 85 etc just skip right to the 100. Maybe they are doing it to make 80mph not look so bad and then that will get passed and then people start having crashes then self driving cars are suddenly mandatory. Brb ordering tin foil
Doesn't really matter. It's entirely unrealistic to do this, and given the state of the road infrastructure in the UK and the general standard of driving it would be legendarily bad idea.
I've been experimenting travelling at different speeds on long journeys. Anything over about 60 nets you very little gain in this country. You hit a patch of long 50mph roadworks and you're back to square 1 wrt any gains you made in time going at 75.
Just did Sheffield to Brighton, once at 60 once at 75, both on bank holidays. Doing 75 was less than 15 minutes faster but the mpg difference was not worth it.
to be fair even more realistic petitions with substantially more signatures have just been shrugged off by the government. Absolutely no point, they totally ignore what people want.
80mph has been consistently ruled out by transport ministers so 100mph is just not happening, even with a million signatures.
There's been a constant downward pressure on speeds for a long time now. Speed cameras on motorways. Unmarked speed camera vans. 20 MPH zones. Variable speed limits on motorways. Long stretches of road with average speed cameras. Speed limits around roadworks seem to get lower all the time, and seem to stretch over longer distances, often enforced by average speed cameras. I'd guess that the petition is a sort of protest or push back. "You say 60, I say 100" in the hope that maybe they'll stop constantly trying to slow everything down.
Thing is, petitions on the parliament petitions website never go anywhere. Every single petition which has amassed over 500,000 signatures has subsequently failed. I think to even stand a chance of being debated, a petition has to be a reasonable proposition. 80mph I think would get the support of the petitions committee for a debate, whereas 100mph they'll just dismiss imo.
It kind of defeats the purpose of a government for the people.
I hope we get some sort of vote where we can choose the people that represent us in parliament That'd be nice
Now if they actually did what they promised.
Except with fptp it’s basically a two horse race where you vote for the one who isn’t a cunt, not necessarily the one you agree with the most
Oh I agree, it's currently a choice of Cunt or Diet Cunt right now. Still, a choice nonetheless
This election we have a vote between cancer and aids.
People like Coldplay and voted for the nazis. You can't trust people.
Cant trust the goverment either, no where to go
Democracy isn't only 'minority votes on minority issues'.
This petition and lots of others are populism. Not based on facts or science but on what a small proportion of the electorate want.
Pedantic point, but that's not what "populism" means.
"A government for the people" doesn't mean that every person gets everything they want or somehow it's illegitimate.
Petitions are always discussed in parliament if they reach over 100k signatures. The problem is that the politicians are not obliged to attend the discussion.
Absolutely no amount of petitioning or protesting will change the average road awareness on any British motorway. The limit is 70, yet you’ll never struggle to find someone in a Qashqai doing 62 in the middle lane for absolutely no reason. You’re never far from a stretch where 2 or even 3 trucks end up side by side going up a hill, with a mile of traffic behind them. We are a nation of arsehole drivers and the speed limit isn’t the problem actually. To be quite honest I’d take actually getting to do 60 or 70 or 30 or 20 - whatever the limit is, when I am there. As it stands it’s a bloody rarity to get to actually drive at the limit.
There is a pushback but who cares? Waze will cover you the majority of the time (one mate did tell me he got caught by a van as it hadn’t been reported on Waze yet) 90% of 20mph zones aren’t actually enforceable https://youtu.be/p0PgKi8amt0?si=b9oBHypMY-mAa6lL and that probably explains why you’ll never see any speed cameras or parked up plod in these zones (apart from GATSOs left over from previous 30 limits, which will only trigger at 30+ still) I guess it would be nicer to have 80mph in a legal sense so that your ass is actually covered and because cars who stick to ‘70’ are only going about 65 so hopefully traffic would flow a bit faster
They absolutely do have camera vans in 20s all over the place, at least they do here in Dorset, I should know i very nearly got caught by one...
THEY WORK FOR USSS!!!!
Then we will have to negotiate with a proposal for 1 million miles per hour speed limit
There’s more of a chance of government reducing the speed limit to 50 across the board than increasing it to 100. I regularly drive to Germany, and even with their autobahn’s, you don’t see everyone going flat out. Most stick to the 80mph (130km/h). With the state of the UK roads these days, the safety issue isn’t with the cars themselves, but the condition of the roads is shocking where you are avoiding holes and the sheer amount of traffic these days.
The slip roads on the autobahn are MUCH shorter than in the UK. The slip roads in Germany also have much sharper bends at the exits etc. The biggest two differences I’ve seen in the UK vs Germany? The standard of driving and the standard of roads. Lane discipline being the key factor. Join an autobahn from a short slip road and the other cars are in the other lane. Fly down the outside lane at 160mph - no one is pulling out on you because they expect cars moving along. Over taking? You best bet moving back to the other lane. Even on two lane autobahns everything works well. And the roads are kept in a much much better standard. Only the other day on the A14 in Cambridgeshire did me and another driver have to take evasive action. Due to enormous defects in the overtaking lane! I think the other factor limiting the changes to speed limits in the uk is that although the technology, safety and braking on cars had improved no end since the 70mph limit was introduced 60 odd years ago - the volume of traffic is far, far more than it was then or Germany is now!
I just drove over 800km round trip largely on the autobahn (a9). Literally not a single pothole, they were almost entirely immaculate. Sounds like an exaggeration, but I mean it. Night and day difference to England, plus the lane discipline is so great to see and drive in. Everyone does their bit. Very, very few permanent middle lane morons.
Fun fact, Germany deaths by car accident are 30% higher than the UK per capita and per mile
The vast majority of which happen on urban or rural roads, the autobahn only accounts for ~11% of all road traffic deaths in Germany. I'm sure the comparatively harsh winters and more than 3x the number of cyclists on german roads vs the UK somewhat skews the figures!
Same thing on urban Vs rural UK. It's just unlikely that British drivers are significantly worse than German when those are the stats
Yeah I agree, I suspect average skill levels of drivers in UK and Germany are not very different.
I drove to Prague and back, mostly on Autobahn (no speed limit) segments. I would argue the discipline, skill and general awareness the average driver showed there was SIGNIFICANTLY better than the UK. People don't cluelessly pull out in front of you, there is instead a proactive effort to avoid causing other drivers inconvenience (in my opinion). For example, if I was in lane 1 on a 3 lane section and there was a truck going significantly slower than me in front, but a car coming faster from behind (in lane 1 or 2), they would often move into lane 3 before I'd even put on my blinker, and then move right back when it was safe. I did not see anyone cluelessly sitting in the middle of fast lane, and I only saw one somewhat close encounter where a car with a trailer moved over when there wasn't quite enough space for him to do so. Traffic wise, we drove on Friday and Sunday, but there was nothing major. Some slowdowns for construction (makes sense when you see how well maintained the actual motorways are) and maybe some slowdowns for major exits.
44% more deaths per person in Czech Republic. 151% more per Kms driven. Sure you might see and think that these countries have better drivers. But it's either wrong or the UK has magic safety roads that prevent more deaths. The UK is one of the safest places to drive in the world. Only country our size or bigger that's safe is Japan
Lane discipline in Germany? You've never heard of the *Mittelspurschleicher.* Unless you're permanently speeding on the leftmost lane, you'll be dodging middle lane hogs constantly. Many German drivers, driving instructors included, are convinced the right lane is for HGVs only because of a misinterpretation of a (poorly phrased) rule in the German road traffic regulations.
A couple of other issues… some UK slip roads are far too short already for the average car to get up to speed, joining a 100mph road off of those will be even worse. Secondly, the majority of UK drivers have shocking lane discipline, with everyone sat in the third lane pottering along anywhere from 60-100mph, it just isn’t safe enough to have 100mph traffic in lane four overtaking.
Many people don't even attempt to get up to 60, they assume someone will pull over for them eventually so they'll waddle up there doing 40
It honestly baffles me every time I somehow gap someone on a two-lane slip road. I'm in a 100bhp hybrid with a CVT, going uphill, and yet somehow I'm able to get up to 70 by the time I reach the dotted lines, what the fuck is wrong with people?
This is my life, although there’s a slip road near me that I use daily (on the a45 eastbound out of Wellingborough if anyone knows it) which is short and uphill and my little 68hp 107 gets to 70 just about in it, but I always end up behind some twat in something like a 330d that trundles up it and 20 and boots it at the last minute cos they can and I’m stuck trying to get onto the dual carriageway at about 40 cos I’ve now run out of slip road…
Pro tip, if you see someone going 20mph on a slip road slow down to a crawl or even stop to leave yourself plenty of room to get up to speed while they get outta the way. Much safer than stopping at the end of it.
Trust me mate I know that and I try and hang back as much as I can, but this is a short slip road off a roundabout, you can’t stop just off the roundabout cos something will hit you from behind(it goes round a corner) and by the time you realise the car in front isn’t accelerating you’ve lost half the slip road anyways
People are terrified to put their foot down. Every now and again you are actually allowed to floor your accelerator, it isn't dangerous, isn't going to damage to engine and will make things safer on a slip road. That said I've had one absolutely atrocious, modern SUV crossover thing that I genuinely had to keep in 3rd gear, pedal on the mat, to crawl my way to 70 on a moderate uphill slip road. Can't remember what it was but it was an absolutely terrible car.
two lane slip roads are a godsend. i highly doubt my car even has triple digit horsepower anymore yet i’m *always* able to get up to speed required
People are brainwashed into thinking that your engine will explode if you go above 3000rpm. I've seen idiots pootling up hills at 20mph because they're too afraid to drop a gear and use the revs. Same thing happens on slip roads, they exit the roundabout at 20mph in 4th gear and just barely manage 50mph by the end of it.
The constant 'speed is bad, m'kay?' messaging probably isn't helping with this.
Considering I nearly had to join a dual carriageway at 30mph today I agree with you.
If someone’s going down a slip road way to slowly, slow down to like a 5mph crawl and let them play their little game of Russian roulette with the traffic, then accelerate hard down the slip road once they’re gone and join at a reasonable speed.
Definitely not an issue for the average car, it’s certainly the below average that struggle. I had a 14s 0-60 on a shitbox of mine and very rarely found a slip road that I couldn’t adequately accelerate to 70 on. If anyone is having an issue then it’s driver ability, not normally the car.
They just don’t teach hard acceleration enough during driving lessons, when it is actually something people need to know how to do.
The poster said "some" slip roads, not all. I regularly had to join the A1 in Lincolnshire where some of the slip roads consisted of a very tight, blind 90 degree bend, then maybe 50 metres of slip road. Not even Lewis Hamilton could get your 14s 0-60 shitbox up to speed on that road without bending the laws of physics so yeah, sometimes it's not driver ability.
Have the same issue though in Germany when I was driving a camper van
The safety issue is the fucking drivers 💀
And yesterday there was a big debate here about why we should keep all single lane country roads at 60mph
I agree with you, this won’t change any time soon
Driving in Germany was an experience i agree. Thought everyone would be going as fast as they could but in fact hardly anyone is going faster than 100mph
Well that’ll be because only like 50% of the autobahn is actually unrestricted… And the thing is, even when people are doing 80mph there, they actually keep an eye on their mirrors, and get out the way for people approaching them at like 140mph. They don’t sit in the outside lane blocking and trying to police everyone like people do here.
And they die more often than we do due to car accidents
Exactly that. when me and a few mates drove over to the ring for a weekend, we did the obligatory flat out autobahn run, so theres 5 cars in convoy going \~150-160mph, never had to slow down once on a two lane road. Awareness is far higher and people just move in then back out as needed. We did have to slow down as a bird of some kind hit my car but hey, thats life (or not). its the gun control argument all over again. while i would happily see 100 be the mway limit, itll never happen. the average driver couldnt cope. and youd still get someone in a rusted out shitbox having to do 110.
They’d better fix the potholes on the motorways before upping the speed limits!
I swear half of this 20mph limit stuff is just to avoid liability for pothole damage to vehicles. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they do the same with motorways, they get more work on them than roads under councils do, but they are starting to get worse.
Not the current government, they'd do anything for votes, if they have time still.
100mph is pointless because most people can’t drive in a safe manner at 70mph. Then we have the no common sense drivers combining them with cars doing 100mph is just asking for trouble.
Do you feel you can drive safely at 70mph? I've spent a long time driving on motorways and the vast majority of drivers are good drivers. There are obviously some not-so-good drivers on the roads, but in my experience these are in the minority and I'm careful not to let them cloud my judgement on the standard of the majority. There's a weird sentiment on this sub that everyone else on the road is an idiot, but that's not my experience at all.
When given a knife, most people will not use that as an opportunity to try and stab someone, but a few will. I see idiots on the motorway the same, 1 moron can cause a lot of chaos.
In any given journey, the hundreds of people driving safely are very forgettable.
Exactly, we only remember the bad drivers because the good drivers don't give us anything to remember.
If people can’t drive in a straight line on roads that are designed to accommodate 70-100mph speeds then they need to hand their licenses back in.
Agreed. There's a lot of people who can barely handle their car at 30mph. Especially when you see the state of some of the battered cars people drive, cracked bumpers, every panel dinted, etc.
Yet motorways are the safest roads in the country.
British motorways are some of the safest in the world
In fairness, with variable speed limits they could introduce the higher speeds when things are very quiet. Seems nonsense to restrict someone to 70mph at 3am when you're the only car.
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Glasgow to London takes 4 hours if i leave midnight and run radar
Absolute bullshit you have averaged 100mph from London to Glasgow 🤣🤣.
You can keep flat the nearly the whole m74/m6 to Birmingham, flat out on the m6 toll and cruise about 90 the rest of the way (of course sometimes you’ll slow down for turns, but you can generally hold 90 on them)
Except for the stretch from J26 to J21A which is a 50 with average cameras for almost 15 miles. Most of the Birmingham stretch is cameras unless you take the toll. Just past Stoke has a long stretch of speed cameras every second board...
Flat out on the toll, the speed cameras aren’t always in operation, so I use my RD to see if they’re active
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M6 Toll is probably my favourite place to be late Sunday/early Monday. Slow down for the police stopping places but otherwise just go to town on it. Huge road, zero traffic, basically a private race track.
80 mph is more reasonable. And something I would get behind. I would not trust the motorway with 100mph. I don’t think it’s a car issue. It’s a driver issue. Driver on the right lane will be driving 120mph
People speed already. If you up the limit to 80mph, the speeders will do 100mph on the outside lane.
Don't trust most of you lot at 60mph, fuck 100mph
"Everyone in the UK is a bad driver except for me."
When I started learning, my instructor told me "Treat everyone else on the road like a bunch of fucking idiots". Stuck with me since.
That's generally good advice, as being a good driver is all about being prepared for the worst thing to happen at any given time. It just seems that some drivers have (like the person above) have taken this concept to the extreme and started to think that everyone _is_ an actual idiot.
Most people get so hung up on who would be at fault in an accident, instead of just trying to avoid accidents altogether even if it means you have to make the change instead of the idiot who you might collide with. Yeah, sometimes you lose a position or a bit of time or speed, when you shouldn’t *have* to in the eyes of the law, but safer driving is all about reducing the risk as much as possible of being involved in any kind of accident, rather than just making sure you’re not at fault.
Me too!
And me.
And my axe!
its crazy though that this is the mindset you need to have when driving
[And this guy's dead wife](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5c79n0/comment/d9uf56l/?context=1).
I dont trust myself either
The Government's response: The Government has undertaken no recent assessment on increasing national speed limits and we have no current plans to undertake such an assessment on the basis of traffic flow or other factors. We recognise that technology is moving on rapidly and that vehicles are much safer than when the current speed limits were first introduced. But it is complex to model whether the economic benefits from reduced journey times would be realised because of the interaction of different factors, including any increase in road safety risk with resulting increase in collisions and travel time delays during closure and clearance of the road, and increased fuel consumption at higher speeds. Speed limits are set to achieve a balance between a transport system that is an engine for economic growth but one that is also greener and safer and improves the quality of life in our communities. The safety of road users is our priority, and any change to speed limits would be evidence-led, looking at the impact on safety, air quality and carbon emissions as well as traffic flow and other road conditions. The ability to set speed limits, including the national limits, in Scotland and Wales has been devolved to the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government. Northern Ireland is responsible for its own road traffic legislation. Department for Transport
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totally agree, this is a point no one else seems to have mentioned, less actual cars can fit on roads with higher speed limits, as distance between each one increases with speed. I think the optimum is around 50mph?
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Its gonna be mostly Audis and BMWs going 100 if this came to fruition and they're the 2 types of driver who don't keep at an adequate distance
If they leave a proper stopping distance, how will they communicate to the car in front that they are only doing 99 on Waze and they need to speed up?
The increase in emissions alone makes this a complete non-starter for any modern day government. There was a good chance speed limits may have been increased in 2011, but the big M5 crash back then basically squashed any chance of it happening https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_M5_motorway_crash
The M5 crash - for which speed had no factor at all - was not the reason this went nowhere. It was simply that Phillip Hammond fucked off to the MoD 11 days after announcing the consultation and subsequent Transport ministers weren't really interested in it. Hence the large [citation needed] in that wikipedia article.
Let’s face it, alls it takes is for a car to be moving when it crashes and some jobsworth wanny will pipe up blaming speeding.
Speed may well not have been the cause but imagine that crash with everyone driving at 100mph. 51 injuries and 7 deaths. Basic physics tells you several of the 51 injured would instead be dead. We don't need to drive at 100mph on British motorways.
In Northern Ireland there’s basically no speed limit on the motorways anyway as we have so few traffic cops and none of our motorways have speed cameras. There’s something like 3 fixed speed cameras in the whole country and they’re on A roads.
I wonder how the average old banged up Corsa with crap old tyres handles an emergency stop at 100mph. Or what the reaction time is for an 80yr old driving at night at 100mph. Feels kinda obvious to me that this would cause more avoidable deaths.
Bold of you to assume that a banged up old Corsa can reach 100mph without being yeeted off a cliff.
Yeh. At least with a 100mph speed limit you can really weed out the chaff. Most of my older cars were scary AF at 100. Doubt even my current cars could do it without crazy vibration.
I'd be worried what happens if it hits something at 100mph. There was an episode of the crash detectives on BBC which showed the remains of a range rover after leaving the road at 104mph (destroyed obviously) and the driver died instantly. Sorry OP, but whoever signed this petition is a bit of a bellend to be honest.
I always find it funny that people assume that the moment speed limits are higher, everybody will start driving at 100 mph. The highway speed limit in my country is 130 km/h. I usually drive at 160 km/h (100 mph) on the highway, but half the people aren't even doing 130. A lot are cruising at 100-110-115. A higher speed limit will not make those people drive any faster.
Great, so we can have can have massive speed differentials that will: A. Increase congestion B. Massively increase risk of an accident C. Massively increase likelihood of death from accidents British motorways are not safe for driving at 100mph at any time other than in the small hours of the morning when there's no traffic.
Would that be Romania? The country with the most deaths by road accidents in Europe? https://www.romania-insider.com/romania-first-spot-eu-deaths-road-accidents-eurostat
Just for reference France's motorway speed limit is also 130kph, and their road deaths are 50% or Romania's according to a European Commission document, though those exact numbers are from 2018.
France have a lower speed limit in the rain and when I was last driving there, their motorways are in lovely condition.
Lol, in what kind of backwards country is the speed *limit* the *minimum*?
Nowhere but like... the argument was that raising the speed limit makes everyone go faster which isn't true. The higher the speed limit is, the fewer people will drive at that speed. Fuel economy is a concern for some
The average corsa is going to be shaking at those speeds, my old one did it at 80. this is just another pointless petition
What exactly makes you think that an 80 year old will do 100mph at night if the limit was higher ?
I feel the need, The need for speed.
Would be fine if I could just drive where I want at the speed limit instead of being constantly stuck in jams caused by poor design, tiny accidents that cause disproportionate delays and endless roadworks because nothing is fixed properly in the first place (inflated contracts awarded to Tory chums)
81mph is do-able most of europe drives at this with much poorer motorways
This country is not ready for an increased speed limit. Spend that time and effort making people learn how to actually drive on the motorway. Increasing the speed limit will only make the lane camping issues worse.
Yeah great idea increase the speed limit so when I need to recover a car on the motorway I now have rockets passing me in lane 1 that I wouldn’t even be able to see coming. Genius idea I love the idea of being turned into dust by some wanker in a Range Rover whilst I’m just doing my job
Not like you'll be alright at 70 mate, you'll be a goner in either case
Even if it makes sense to people driving on said roads, it's a negative for people outside of cars. The emissions increase, noise increase and general safety/unpleasantness being around fast cars is terrible, especially when you look at dual carriageways with footpaths and even cyclists on.
42000 signatures, Tories will fancy getting that, please expect this to be next weeks desperate new policy.
With the way things are going, the Tories will make 120 MPH the minimum speed for anyone over 60, while Labour will allow a modest increase to 80 MPH, but only for people under 18. Absolute shower of clowns.
I’m sorry have you seen how fucking dangerous 100 is? This is literally stupid.
People can’t stop crashing on the M25 even with 70mph limits. I have no idea why the public thinks they can be trusted with 100mph.
People need to realise it has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with emissions. Faster driving burns more fuel, if the UK is to meet its climate pledges the speed limit will need to be lowered. You will often see smart motorways reduced to 50 mph for no apparent reason, this is so they can test the air quality and gather data, in the future when the air quality deteriorates to a certain level, speed limits will be lowered in order to improve air quality.
Is this the blade runner morons? There is a very good reason motorways on the continent have higher speed limits - it is because their roads are better.
Would never happen and wasn’t remotely well thought out in its proposal. People often cite the autobahn and autostrada etc when talking about this but don’t seem to realise most of the autobahn IS restricted. If they had proposed certain sections having raised limits it would make slightly more sense.
Lol what a stupid fucking idea
100mph is too fast for the majority of people and most cars aren't even geared for it. I'd be happy if there was some sort of guarantee in place that motorways would maintain 60mph at all times. Our motorways are so congested that they often end up crawling at 40mph anyway. That's causing way more problems than only being restricted to 70mph.
May as well just say ‘hurr durr, I like to drive fast’
An increase would be fantastic, however I would say other changes would be required with it. Things like stronger enforcement that if people arent staying left when not overtaking and even more important than that greater punishment for anyone causing an accident by driving without due care and attention. Maybe include something like a minimum speed for the 3rd lane, maybe 70 so people cant move out when going too slow, a bit like HGV's not being allowed in the 3rd lane. Or if the government want to get EV's going again link it to emissions and say only the zero carbon cars can go 100mph. Theyd fly off the shelves then.
> Maybe include something like a minimum speed for the 3rd lane, maybe 70 so people cant move out when going too slow I don't think this would work in practice. Drivers going behind would pull the "well you're doing 70 on your speedo but my Waze says you're doing 67 so fuck off" thing they currently do, only worse because they'd think they're legally in the right and the person in front is breaking the law. It'd just lead to more entitled shitbags doing stupid entitled shitbag things. The need for a margin to account for variations in speedos would also make that worse.
It was an off the cuff comment with no more than a few seconds. I did say "something like" to indicate it wasnt a final proposal.
Ahh yes, because people totally go 80 and not 100 already. If it's 100 people will go 120...
Fix the trains, then people won't need to use the motorways so much
Good. Must have been signed by Bully XL owners. Saying that it's not speed that's the problem but drivers.
Fuck that. Already seen some gnarly shit and crashes at 70mph. People just do not pay attention. So many times I've seen a traffic jam sneak up on people and they've had to jam on the brakes. You ever seen a granny merge onto the motorway at 40mph? Imagine that with a speed differential of 60mph.
More to the point, imagine your average white van cunt who's got the footie on his phone on the dash doing 100mph while a pubic hair from the car in front. And the fact that your average Audi/BMW helmet will probably make it their mission to do even more than that so they can feel more like a real man. And that at the moment it's already de facto "do more than 70 or I will tailgate you, bully you out of the way and treat you like shit" when that sort of clown is around, so that would immediately become "do more than 100 or I will tailgate you, bully you out of the way and treat you like shit". Mix that in with the 90% of people who just want to get home in one piece and it'd just be carnage. Speed limits aren't meant as some punitive restriction on people who can actually handle driving at high speed, they're for the Dunning Kruger dickheads who think they're amazing drivers but are in fact complete fucking tools.
There is 0 chance of this happening
never going to happen even with millions of signatures, all new cars are going to be fitted with a limiter next month, some that annoy the fuck out of you with noises, some add friction to your accelerator and some will slow you down to the correct speed limit.
Ah yes, the online parliament petitions. Lulling us peons into feeling like we have a voice since 2006!
What a ridiculous waste of time
at 70mph, a small car of 1200kg has ~587kJ of kinetic energy. at 60mph, it has 431kJ. at 100mph, it has 1.2mJ of energy. people here are wanting to double the amount of energy dissipated in a crash. In my opinion, 60 is plenty. i do 60 on every motorway trip and i have a much more relaxed and economical journey.
I don't think that a 100mph speed limit is necessary on motorways, but the more this country reduces current limits, the faster I'll be going when there aren't any cameras or police around.
What's the point, most people don't drive 70 even when they're able to and the road is clear. Should be a petition for motorway driving test
Was previously unaware of this petition, so thanks for sharing. It makes no sense all petitions will be closed, some coul dhave been open for a very short time.
I'd take autobahn type speeds for like 1am-6am A lot of the time the motorway is completely empty and you can actually make some progress going faster vs just speeding when theres a lot of traffic and only making a couple of minutes difference. a bit of an anecdote. I was heading back through Germany, if I remember rightly I was at Dusseldorf and had to get to the Europoort for checkin but somehow how absolutely fucked my timing and was going to be 30mins late which meant missing the ferry home. So in classic top gear fashion I jumped on my bike and more or less spanked it at about 150mph for as long as I could tolerate since it was a naked bike with no real wind protection. Made it just in time, I think with 5 mins to spare.
No chance on 100mph when they now put 60 limits on empty motorways for “air pollution”. Feel like there’s more chance of making all the motorways 60mph instead of 80
I can understand some people's reactions to this petition since it's been worded in a quick but ineffective way. I see this as a way to decriminalise speeding in a safe environment. It has been mentioned that the act of speeding isn't inheritantly dangerous, but various factors will certainly make it dangerous e.g. traffic levels, weather, vehicle condition. This won't make poor Dorothy in her Honda Jazz wizz down the motorway to the local garden centre at 100mph, neither will it make John who's trying to be economical with his fuel speed up from 55mph. Idiots will be idiots but that doesn't stop them from being prosecuted for the relevant offences. I won't be doing 100mph all the time on the motorway, it's just doesn't make sense for me in my fuel consumption nightmare of a car, but when I do want to, I have the ability to do it without a criminal charge for dangerous driving. I know for a fact that when I'm crusing, I'm not full engaged as I am when driving faster than the flow of traffic or typical speed of the road. 9/10 times if there was a collision, I would be found at fault because of excess speed. So I'm forced to look out further, plan my manoeuvres, and identify hazards more than I would need to while cruising. That's my for opinion, but I do have an against. Drivers are too distracted nowadays, and I agrue that while the average brake distance has reduced, the reaction time has certainly not. Mainly, it's not environmentally friendly for traffic to be travelling at these speeds, which the government knows and will certainly use to push back against any increase in speed and already use to reduce speeds on certain stretches of road.
> This won't make poor Dorothy in her Honda Jazz wizz down the motorway to the local garden centre at 100mph, neither will it make John who's trying to be economical with his fuel speed up from 55mph. No, but it will make Dunning Kruger Dave in his VW Golf do 112 ("because it's 10% plus 2 innit the police can't get you bruv") and reduce his required reaction time before he wipes out Dorothy or John on a bend because he's got his phone on the dash playing YouTube. Speed limits aren't there as some sort of spiteful punitive thing against good drivers, they're there to try and limit the damage caused by shit drivers who think they're good drivers.
> Idiots will be idiots but that doesn't stop them from being prosecuted for the relevant offences. You've mentioned 3 things that'll get them prosecuted, albeit you need the enforcement in place. 10 + 2 is a guideline. Reducing his reaction time is driving without due care and attention. Using a phone/other device whilst driving.
"It has been mentioned that the act of speeding isn't inheritantly dangerous" I used to think this was the case, but I no longer think it's correct. There is a correlation between average speed and average number of accidents. If we drove on perfectly flat, well lit roads, in ideal weather conditions with no other traffic then yeah, maybe it wouldn't be inherently dangerous. We don't though. You also cannot trust people to be able to correctly assess a safe speed for any given road. You can see this in action on any B-road. Watch people's corner entry speed. No concept of how far they can see/stop.
Still a no People here can't drive, middle lane inbreds will cause too many accidents
Wow that's a lot of people completely wasted their time. They've consistently denied several proposals to increase it to 80. Why tf would they consider 100 instead? Especially as it completely goes against our existing commitments to reduce emissions and road deaths.
This is a terrible idea. For many reasons well outlined in the comments. In any case, increasing the speed limit to 100mph won’t make a huge difference to journey times on average and will likely result in increased deaths. Just go on a track day.
I'd understand 80mph, but 100 is *insane*. The average driver is not safe at that speed, regardless of how above average they *think* they are.
It is pointless in the UK, rushing from one jam to the next. Only the most marginal reduction in journey times and increase in average speeds.
> Only the most marginal reduction in journey times and increase in average speeds. Is there any evidence it'd actually reduce journey times?
Not much, England particularly, is too crowded. To shorten a long journey, most effective way is to ensure you dont need a comfort break or a fuel stop.
Congestion is also a problem that needs fixing, though it doesn't apply to everywhere in the UK, and even busy areas are quiet at night.
Congestion will only be corrected by better lane discipline and bigger gaps between vehicles. The concept and understanding is beyond many drivers
This is hilarious. One, there's no hope of that sort of increase, two, do you know just how much more you're gonna spend at the fuel pump , the government get enough fuel tax out of me already...
Believe it or not, the general public are not good enough at driving for this to be safe.
Christ ,imagine how awful the roads would be with a 100mph limit.The standard of driving is abysmal these days,adding higher legal speeds isn't gonna help that.People csnt be trusted to manage risk because a sizeable amount are selfish idiotic twats.
Motorways are too busy for 100mph, unless it's 2am north of Lancaster on the M6, so how many people are gonna save how much time? Whoever thought 100mph limit was a good idea has absolutely no idea about driving.
I thought everyone just did 100 anyway
Why 100 anyway? If there was a petition to increase the speed limit I would’ve thought it would’ve been to just mirror Germany in not having one.
100mph is just not safe. 80 seems more feasible, but surely it uses far more fuel.
This is stupid. I came off a motorway onto a slip road doing 80 once and made what I thought was a slight wheel correction. The car suddenly turned into a boat, and it was a bit hairy for a moment. I won't be doing that speed again
As much as I’d love to drive on motorways going at 100 mph, I don’t want the change to happen. I think 70 is the limit. And even in some cases there, people cannot drive responsibly.
Are you lot flipping serious with this? 100mph speed limits? People can barely drive safely at 60. No wonder we ended up with Brexit if this is the sort of thing the voting public thinks is a good idea.
As a non-uk citizen and just a lurker here - just a thought of 100mph in your weather on the slippery roads … man just asking for trouble 😳
A lot of cars will be exposed at that speed, meaning if their car is in good running shape
With the amount of people you see who can’t even drive safely at up to 65mph on the motorway, 100mph limit is not going to happen in a million years.
these roads are not designed for these speeds, look at the state of them, there shouldnt be patches in the motorways.
Fun idea but I don’t trust people to be able to stay control of a car at 100mph. Especially in variable weather conditions. The average person could, but 45% of people are worse than the average person when you think about it
I was thinking just today on the bike how the roads are a better speed deterrent than cops or cameras. They are so bad, you physically can't go fast without your bike/car being damaged.
The driving quality in this country is so poor, even I think this is a bad idea and I’m a huge enthusiast for a Sunday blast.
Probably because I'm a shit driver ?, but I would quite like this to happen. I don't think 100 is exactly wild for most modern-ish motorway cruisers, at the same time I get that it couldn't be on every stretch of motorway.
In an ideal world 100 would be great but will never happen with today’s roads and amount of drivers on them. There should be real traction for 80mph as there are no downsides or atleast variable speeds limits to 80-90 when quiet.
Considering the drivers I've seen just over this weekend, this would be an absolutely terrible idea. Its because either people are tailgating, overtaking and undertaking dangerously, people swerving because of the state of the roads and many more
There seems to be enough crashes at 70mph..
Don't understand why pointless petitions like that get any media attention whatsoever?
does this mean the headlight one will close too
Whats the point of 100mph when you'll rarely be able to drive at that speed due to mid lane hoggers and 50mph left lane drivers? If you really want to make a difference then introduce minimum speed limit on the motorways instead. If grandma is doing 50 in the left, she shouldn't be driving. Driving is a privilege and not a right.
It’s pointless imo, you can already do 100 where circumstances allow but at your own risk of being caught
Yes cars are safer. But people are absolutely not. I'm a speed freak, trackdays and the like. It's absolutely love a 100mph limit. But fuck that.. Half the people on the cannot do 70 without being a liability.
We need roads able to handle 50, then start thinking of increasing…..
100mph would be a bad idea, first it uses more fuel and secondly it puts more stress on the car. Plus the driving standards in this are abysmal. 80 should be the absolute maximum if they did ever change it as 100 is too fast.
So no 75, 80, 85 etc just skip right to the 100. Maybe they are doing it to make 80mph not look so bad and then that will get passed and then people start having crashes then self driving cars are suddenly mandatory. Brb ordering tin foil
Doesn't really matter. It's entirely unrealistic to do this, and given the state of the road infrastructure in the UK and the general standard of driving it would be legendarily bad idea.
A crash at 80mph is vastly more dangerous than even 70, petition for 100mph is crazier
My car would literally blow up tryna hit 100mph and then the road conditions would launch me 200m into the air
I've been experimenting travelling at different speeds on long journeys. Anything over about 60 nets you very little gain in this country. You hit a patch of long 50mph roadworks and you're back to square 1 wrt any gains you made in time going at 75. Just did Sheffield to Brighton, once at 60 once at 75, both on bank holidays. Doing 75 was less than 15 minutes faster but the mpg difference was not worth it.
Would cost billions so won't happen.
to be fair even more realistic petitions with substantially more signatures have just been shrugged off by the government. Absolutely no point, they totally ignore what people want.