UK motorways have a 70mph national speed limit for cars, unchanged since 1965. Modern vehicles feature superior braking, electronic stability control and driver assistance systems that improve safety compared to 60 years ago. A parliamentary petition calls for raising limits to 90mph on motorways, but the DfT has no current plans, citing risks of more collisions, higher emissions and uncertain economic gains.
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6 Opinions
Yes but with a caveat of improving the motorway road surfaces and a clamp down on the terrible driving standards. Too many times have I seen lane hoggers and people jumping out in front of oncoming cars.
Too many accidents already
With modern motorways having variable speed limits, raising and lowering (instead of just lowering) is safe and simple to achieve.
For years I was very much in the Yes camp, certainly in my 'boy racer' days, imagining an Autobahn style motorway was the dream. But realistically, at 90mph, fuel burn spikes, EV ranges get gutted, and you create a 30mph speed gap with lorries in the slow lane. Given the 70mph limit was set in 1965 when drum brakes and cross ply tires were common, I think we can raise it to 80mph like many European countries, but I fear 90mph is simply a death wish.
Going faster burns more fuel in a shorter period of time. You have no choice but to go faster as everyone else is. It is also a lot harder to stop a vehicle going 90 mph than 70 mph, and some vehicles, such as HGVs, still have speed limiters and cannot speed up to get out of the way of a 90 mph vehicle about to rear-end them.
No. The capabilities of cars on the road are not on a levelled playing field! Ask me again at the appropriate level of technology - but I will still factor in human behaviour!