Biker's 235kmh escape

In the UK the limit is 70mph, but the police are sensible when
applying it. If it's pissing with rain then people will generally go
a lot more slowly and if it's snowing then people chug along.

A similar system to the one they have in France/Belgium (and other
European countries, for all I know) is a variable speed limit. The
road signs are quite clear: Sunny = 130kmph, wet = 110kmph. It seems
reasonable to me.

Yes. On motorways here lorries, caravans and cars with trailers are
not permitted into the outside lane. So if there's a three lane
motorway they are only permitted in lanes 1 and 2 which always leaves
the third lane free for overtaking. On a four lane motorway they can
go in lanes 1-3 but not 4.

It's also worth noting that lorries, caravans and cars with trailers
have a maximum speed limit on a motorway of 60mph whereas everyone
else has 70mph to play with.

The speed limit and driving times on lorries are tracked by
tachographs (I don't know if you have something similar over there)
which I think sits in the dash somewhere and it prints on a circular
piece of card things like speeds and driving times. This is one of
them:
<http://www.liv.ac.uk/researchintelligence/issue11/images/virtuous2.jpg>

The police and other authorities are entitled to look at these at any
time. Any case of speeding is logged on the tacho. It is a very,
very serious criminal offence to tamper with a tacho. They're there
not only to make sure the drivers keep to the speed limit, but also to
make it a legal requirement for drivers to have a rest, which must
last a certain length of time. This stops their employer putting
stupid demands upon them and prevents them from driving all day and
all night.

Undertake them when you feel it is safe.

Speed kills, smoking kills, heart attacks kill. Saying it all the
time doesn't stop anyone from doing it. Attacking the cause of bad
driving habits (changing lanes without checking over your shoulder and
mirrors) is simple and could save so many lives.

Look at what my lovely Dunhill International's look like these days:

http://hayn.gotadsl.co.uk/dunhill.jpg <-- There's no room left for the
packet.

Is it quite common for people to travel along at 110kmph anyway?

There was some debate over here a year or two ago about increasing the
speed limit to 80mph on motorways but the RAC thought it was a bad
idea to push for it. They knew that if the speed limit was increased
to 80mph then it would be enforced at 80mph, so they said that the
speed limit should be left at 70mph, but everyone should drive 10mph
faster. Sorted.

 

Reminds me of signs on the highway outside of Denver, Colorado. The sign
said 70 (mph) in daylight but, if it was dark your headlights reflected 60.
I thought that was pretty clever for 1968.

Theo

 

People appear to think of safety gaps in terms of distance rather than
time.Traffic flowing better and smoother at higher speeds is a myth. If you
leave a gap of 1 second to the vehicle in front of you (which most people do
rather than the recommended 2 seconds) whilst travelling at 100 km/h,there
will be 60 vehicles passing a given point on the Freeway per lane. Guess how
many vehicles will pass that point in a minute with a 1 second gap at 120
km/h......., 200km/h.....? If you want the road to be less congested for the
same volume of traffic you need to have more lanes.

Theo

 

Ahh, anything displaying an L-Plate isn't permitted on a motorway.

They may well be called tachygraphs