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The 70 mph speed limit on motorways is so far out of date. A few years ago I had the misfortune to own a Morris Marina 1.3, the brakes were so bad, it took slightly less than one bank holiday weekend to stop it. The handling was appalling bouncing all over the road,it was lethal at 70 mph. Todays cars with their superior braking systems and handling characteristics are far far safer at this speed. The point is that the same speed limit is in force today as it was then. It causes unnecessary bunching and my observations on motorways is that the idiot drivers are not the fast ones but those that drive with absolutely no thought in what they are doing. It is a pity that there cannot be extended speed limit variations as there are now in foggy and adverse weather conditions so that for instance in the middle of the night or when traffic is lighter the speed limit can be raised above 70mph thereby keeping the drivers far more alert and actually safer. It is very difficult to hold a modern car on an empty road at 70 mph for long periods at a time.
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I think many people would agree with you. Unfortunately the "Safety Lobby" hold the moral high ground, and the govt. is scared of the fuss these people would kick up if the idea was mooted, so I think even an experiment with a higher limit on selected roads is a long way off.
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I have to agree with both your sentiments here. I suppose one of the problems is there still are some Marina 1.3s floating around on the motorway.
An old girlfriend had an Allegro that I was driving one night due to her being somewhat the worse for ware, the gear lever came off in my hand! I ended up driving in 2nd 3 miles home, "It does that all the time was the pi***d comment.
The "Lobbies" of all varieties manage to bugger up the way we live all of the time. I used to do a lot of pistol and rifle shooting but after Hungerford I had to hand over my rifle and then my pistols after Dunblane. The compensation for my LEGALLY held equipment was abysmal. One day you can bet "they" will have a go at your cars and bikes, maybe all limited to a max of 70 or 65 or 55!!!
Bill
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> One day you can bet "they" will have a go at your cars and bikes, maybe all
> limited to a max of 70 or 65 or 55!!!
>
Given that in the US you can sue McDonalds for making coffee too hot, you can sue tobacco companies for making you smoke, you can sue bar staff for letting you get drunk, how long do you reckon before someone sues a car company for making a car which will go too fast ?
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Marman - if you find it hard to keep down to 70 on a M-way, what do you manage to stick to in a 30 or 40 zone? That must be really difficult.
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Andrew--Travelling on an open motorway is a lot different than in a restricted zone of 30 or 40 mph. I bet there are not many drivers who can honestly say that travelling mile after mile on a motorway they keep below the 70 m.p.h. limit, it is very easy to get caught up in the general speed of the traffic and most cars will cruise much happier at over 70 mph. What is this magical speed limit any way, if there is snow fog or ice on the road it is certainly unsafe at that speed, but on an open clear motorway in good conditions why not allow faster speeds. A man is a fool if he travels at 30 mph past a school when pupils are leaving, and that shows how stupid speed limits are. There are times to drive faster than the limit and most certainly times to drive slower. I used to be on night work and got stopped and warned by the police for exceeding a 40 mph limit on a dual carriageway at 3.30 in the morning. I pointed out to the officer that at that time of morning I could travel for a month every night and never see another vehicle, it was safer to do 60 at night than 20 during the day. He even had to agree with me and luckily sent me on my way, they are not all bad!
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There was an attempt a couple of years back to ban motorcycles with more than a certain horsepower. I seem to recall that it would have taken the Triumph Bonneville off the market.
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Brian wrote:
>
> There was an attempt a couple of years back to ban
> motorcycles with more than a certain horsepower. I seem to
> recall that it would have taken the Triumph Bonneville off
> the market.
Not quite: there was some toying around with the idea of a 100 bhp limit. This was exercised to some degree in Germany and France. Clearly though, most of the resurrected Triumph motorcycles from Hinckley exceeded this limit and so there was opposition from within the UK.
As for the German and French markets, I'm led to believe restricted bikes for one country were designed to be derestricted, whereas the other market required considerable and expensive efforts. Perhaps this was a rumour spread by Triumph when I went on a factory tour a couple of years back.
The Triumph Bonneville, original or contemporary, would not have been affected.
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