[AP_75]

Colleague at work recently suggest most of the aggressive driving he see's is BMW's -really? I don't see the difference nowadays between any of the prestige brands or especially Sprinter type vans.

[allachie9]

I blame the dealerships for making us sit through this -

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by Dandanbmw

I found it amusing that a c200 was caught at 154mph. I'd of protested that haha

A couple of us were cruising down to Le Mans on the Autoroute in an Ultimata at an indicated 160 a few years ago and were overtaken, albeit VERY slowly, by a 2L Alfa 156.

Hate to think what revs he was pulling

[225]

wow! I hate to think how noisy it would it have been at 150 odd mph inside the alfas cabin. I used to have a v6 156 and the sound (engine) was amazing but over a certain speed it was pointless having the radio on due to road and wind noise.

[Tengocity]

To quote the article...."There are young men - so-called boy racers - but also men in their 40s and 50s who own luxury cars and may do a lot of driving for work".


So that's @teaston and then the rest of us!

[Quakered]

Let's kill the thought that the driving is safer in Germany. By almost any measure their comparative death rates are 20% higher than ours.

[stefan4]

I had a debate with someone recently regarding speeding etc. She said she never went over the speed limit and that I was reckless for driving at 80 to 90. So after asking when did she last check her tyre pressure, tyre tred depth, questioned the grip level of her budget tyres and the braking performance of her over 10 year old polo - she had to climb back down off her high horse. I would much rather be doing 90 in my car than hers! Though driving at all times and especially when at speed attention and hazard perception are absolutely critical!

[mikeoz]

Originally Posted by Quakered

Let's kill the thought that the driving is safer in Germany. By almost any measure their comparative death rates are 20% higher than ours.

A
I don't think any one has said it was safer as such?

I think you have to look deeper in to the causes however. Germany is a large diverse country with the Alps and the weather that brings and a equally as cold north. The old Eastern Germany still has some very poor roads and they built roads with large trees lined all along with in 5 meters of the road side. This was stopped on safety grounds in the western part long before the wall came down. The old DDR still suffers from this. It's also a major crossing point for many different nations to drive across. I'm sure speed has a factor in overall "deaths". No doubt.

Having spent over 20 yrs living and working there I can say that in my opinion that the overall standard of driver training which as I said in a post above plus the standard of law enforcement is certainly better than the UK.

[Rbrown]

I got cut up the other day by an aggressive driver in a BMW. but it actually turned up to be quite a positive experience.....it was a brand new X1 and i have to say that it gave me a good opportuity to look at it .....and i liked it!

[WeaverBeaver]

I've said it on here before and I'll say it again, but the driving standards in Birmingham are the worst I've come across in the UK. At least in London although drivers are aggressive they seem to have better skill/awareness. In Birmingham everyday my commute to/from work is like hordes of blind handicapped drivers have been unleashed onto the roads

[....,,,,..,,..]

Originally Posted by WeaverBeaver

I've said it on here before and I'll say it again, but the driving standards in Birmingham are the worst I've come across in the UK. At least in London although drivers are aggressive they seem to have better skill/awareness. In Birmingham everyday my commute to/from work is like hordes of blind Uninsured handicapped drivers have been unleashed onto the roads

I refuse to drive to Birmingham and I hate to say it, get the train, not quite stooped to getting the tram yet.

Slight edit to your post...

[4WDriver]

A balance is needed although I agree UK lane discipline is staggeringly bad.

Cars have improved since the national speed limit was introduced but human beings have not changed at all. Our reaction time is still the same and at 100 the distance travelled is massive compared to 70. Add then the stopping distance increase from 70 to 100 and you can see that space needed rises exponentially. Even 32 vs 30 loses you so much time/distance.

Now on the other side our motorways are our safest roads and when empty (v rare) 156 might be good and far safer than even 30mph at 15:15 outside Torquil's primary school. But I'd accept that most of the day 70 on motorways is sufficiently dangerous to be a reasonable limit. Shame that the rozzers can't apply judgement occasionally.

[mpawood]

Originally Posted by 4WDriver

A balance is needed although I agree UK lane discipline is staggeringly bad.

Cars have improved since the national speed limit was introduced but human beings have not changed at all. Our reaction time is still the same and at 100 the distance travelled is massive compared to 70. Add then the stopping distance increase from 70 to 100 and you can see that space needed rises exponentially. Even 32 vs 30 loses you so much time/distance.

Now on the other side our motorways are our safest roads and when empty (v rare) 156 might be good and far safer than even 30mph at 15:15 outside Torquil's primary school. But I'd accept that most of the day 70 on motorways is sufficiently dangerous to be a reasonable limit. Shame that the rozzers can't apply judgement occasionally.

This guy is trying to say 70mph is a reasonable speed limit on the motorway, get out your pitchforks!

[Tengocity]

70mph as a limit on most proper motorways is a farce of a limit, hence why if you actually stick to it you'd be the slowest vehicles on the road except for the trucks.
Given that most of the motorway network can effect variable speed limits the sensible thing to do would be alter the limits more readily depending on volume of traffic and weather conditions, but also raise the upper limit to 80 or even 90 when appropriate.