This suggestion is immature and plain silly.

Two boy racers died in my village when their car went out of control.

Speed cameras save lives.

I hope that I do not meet this chap on the motorway

Thank you for taking the time to post your idea.

Please note, this website is about repealing or amending existing laws in order to restore civil liberties and cut business and third sector regulation. We believe that the idea that you have submitted falls outside our present remit, because you have posted a general point of view, rather than contributing an idea for repealing or amending existing laws.

For that reason, we have closed this idea for further contributions. We hope there will be a suitable opportunity in the future for your contribution.

I think the proposer is exactly the kind of driver speed limits and cameras were invented for - scary!!

As far as I'm concerned, anyone who uses multiple exclamation marks shouldn't be allowed to contribute to this dialogue.

The man is a moron.

Speeding increases the probability of a collision, plus the severity of any resulting collision.

European Road Safety Laboratory
1 km/h increase in speed ? 3% increase in accidents
With links to the science http://erso.swov.nl/[…]/speed_and_accident_risk.htm

Kinetic energy = 1/2 mass X velocity ^2
This means that not only is thinking distance increased, but braking distances grow rapidly with speed, and impact severity is also increased.

The poster may have expressed his view in an unfortunate manner and indeed attitude is most important in road safety...however:

The 70mph speed limit on motorways particularly when combined with rigid camera enforcement is out-dated. Modern cars are safe to use at much higher speeds and much of the 'establishment' view on the impact of speed on safety is based on manipulated data. 1kmh reduction in ave speed = a reduction of xx casualties is an over simplification and does not allow for real-life factors of greater relevance. The Association of British Drivers has exposed much of the misleading mis-information in this space. You should visit thier website.

So I say we need an upward movement on MWay speed limits and in very light traffic there is no need to limit speed. How we get to that is open to debate. I hope the new Government reverses the luddite anti private transport agenda of the last mob and soon. We need genuine road safety measures (engineering and real police officers - not cameras and defo not on motorways), sensible speed limits tht suit the road and not PC agendas.

I think this proposal is foolish.

On the other hand, I certainly believe the motorway speed limit and a fair number of others should be increased. Many speed limits are regularly exceeded by the majority of drivers in a safe and responsible way - why should this behaviour be considered illegal?

Cars have improved significantly since the introduction of the motorway speed limit in the 1960s both in terms of performance and protection of occupants in the event of a collision. It seems foolish that the motorway speed limit remains the same when almost every motorway user expresses their disapproval of it by their non compliance.

The comments made above by 'ASENNA' show little insight into the issue. Having taken a look at the safety website for which a link is provided, I have been informed of nothing. All the arguments I have seen make wild leaps from some poorly collected data to the conclusion which was probably decided before the data was collected. There is no discussion of the data or any cogency in the progression of the argument. His mention of the word 'science' with reference to this junk is worthy of ridicule! I therefore discount it.

'ASENNA' states the relationship between kinetic energy, mass and velocity and seems to correctly imply that heavier or faster travelling vehicles will require greater energy dissipation in the brakes to facilitate stopping. However the distance required to stop at any normal road speeds is far shorter than the typical visual length available to the driver, so the alert driver is able to plan well outside the braking zone to reduce the risk of collision to negligible, even at higher speeds.

Driver education should be the focus of road safety - improving concentration, observation and vehicle control, and encouraging a culture of self improvement.

increasing the speed limit gives you the choice to use the speed or not. thats why motorways have 3 lanes! slow people in slow lane and fast and able drivers in fast lane. even if it means taking a high speed motorway exam or lessons on controlling cars at high speeds would be an idea. and in response to 1 comment, what are the chances of you having a head on collision on the motorway??? increasing speed limits also gives the police something better to concentrate there efforts on (why i would rely on them is beyond me).

for instance if the speed limit was 120mph not many cars are capable of those speeds on our roads and why spend 1000's of tax payers money to put up one speed camera to just criminalise for breaking the speed limit by 1mph on a daul carriage way for instance. then again i forgot thats where kids love to play football.!!!!!

Seems that moderator_moj missed the "close" button...

If this is your plan to sort out the gene pool by removing the congenitally moronic then I'll agree, but once they've gone we'll restore sanity to our roads.

The motorway speed limit should definitely be raised by at least 10mph & speed cameras removed because by braking hard when one comes into sight causes the accident not the speed.

Every sensible driver and road user know that 70 mph is just plain outdate. Derestricting the motorways is a perfectly acceptable option.

As has been mentioned this doesnt mean every body must travel at 150, nor does it mean that every body will start to drive recklessly. If you have a powerful car you should be able to open it up a little to a) get to where you need to faster or b) help you unwind.

Again this can be done with out being reckless. If everybody on the road knows how to use the road then we will have less problems. The kneejerk reaction to say NO! just means you havent thought about it.

WOuld also like to point out to "janeleaper", speed camera dont save lives especially when most of the time they are hidden for maximum revenue collection. Also this doesnt mean opeing speed restriction through villages either. 20/30/40 restrictions would remain. This discussion is purely about the open highway.

All this has been proven across the Water where the AutoBahns have been derestricted for years. As a result the inner city roads are much safer and all the road users have a higher level of road awareness. Something 60% of the UK population seem to struggle with.

Make British roads safer. You want AUTOBAHN? Move to Germany.

Thats a good point. Move somewhere the government knows how to run roads and people like Mr foxcliffe don't exist.

Your probably one of those people sat in lane 3 doing 66 miles an hour refusing to get out of the way.

Inother words a road hazard.

The proposer's inability to spell "braking" correctly just about says it all! I trust s/he "breaks" her/his vehicle frequently.

@ScottjGregory no I am just one of those people who object to being shouted at, who feels that swearing whilst proposing an idea is unnecessary and one who believes that motorways are there for the purpose of getting from A to B as quickly, yet as safely, as possible within the letter of the law - not to an untimely funeral. Though there are, seemingly, many drivers in the UK who seem unaware of it, there are rules governing the proper use of each of the lanes on a motorway. See here http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/[…]/on-the-motorway.html for more information.

Whatever my feelings with regard to the maximum speed limit set for motorway travel in the UK and whatever the reason the limit is set as it is, the law states that the maximum speed a vehicle is allowed to travel at is 70mph. Until such time as that law is revoked anyone travelling at a speed in excess of 70mph is breaking the law. I have no particular desire to break the law.

@foxcliffe, from what I can see the only post you put forward in this particular thread was the one which I responded too. So at that point nobody had shouted at you. Your post was initially completely unproductive and not really offering an argument either way.

I wish more people on the roads actualy new how to use the roads as per the link you posted, that really would be great. The point of this thread though is to discuss how the law of the roads require a major rationalisation. This should include speed restrictions (on motorway/bypass) lifted and use of speed camera/vans on these roads reviewed.

I apprecieate your argument that currently above 70mph driving is indeed against the law, however its not really morally wrong is it. I am not advocating mass caos on our roads, just a mass reform.

Dispite your initial reaction I think that we could learn alot from the German road system, not only the derestricted of speeds but also things like no overtaking for lorries, and no lorries during peak hours.

I look forward to seeing your response on reform being a good thing or bad.