A thousand quid....no wonder people use their cars.
Yes in some places it is almost impossible to even do 60mph on a motorway, but when motorways are relatively quite, it should be increased.
I still think though that a 70mph speed limit may well have been fine in the 60's, it is impractical now.
My son thought I was joking when I told him that private car ownership would probably disappear during his lifetime.
Infrastructure and alternatives are the key and for long journeys you cant beat the train. Eighty quid gets you from kent to north west wales in under 5 hours. You can just about manage that in a car if you are lucky and you can beat the price if your car is capable of doing 40 plus to the gallon at 70-90 mph. Of course if more people used the train the price would go down.
Rather than increasing speed limits or building more roads I think we need to devise a comprehensive transport strategy that takes into account all of the important issues.
Fair point flower, as part of a comprehensive review id like to see community bicycle schemes like they have in french cities and better buses and cheaper taxis, most of which I think could be funded by the money currently spent on buying maintaining and running private cars. On a personal level lets assume a reasonable car costs a grand a year to run. That pays for a fair few taxis and bus fares.
Oh I forgot to mention freight, we have a rail infrastructure yet most freight is carried overland on individual lorries which has always beggared belief. Oh and did I mention canals, canals could be part of the plan.
Aother fair point flower, we have a similar problem with Snowdon but being wales we dont have a road up it so we walk.
LOL Dave the railway up snowdon never crosses my mind, at £82 to get a family of four to the summit its more like a voluntary taxation system for the tourists.
That said, although I have never tried it with kids, can you imagine the cries of " are we there yet" and "my legs are aching" from the under tens as you struggle up the Pyg Track.
So without cars - what are we supposed to do about shopping? I can't carry 8 carrier bags 10 miles from Asda to my house. I'm NOT paying the extorionate prices at the Tesco Local and shopping daily is a waste of time and resources. Bulk buying is the only way of keeping costs down.
What about getting to work? We cannot all live walking distance of work. There can't possibly be public transport from every house to every work place. And I object enough to the wasted time of being at work (I only work for the money). Walking to work would take 2 hours each way and public transport simply doesn't exist. Cycling would be the same as walking - since after the first 3 miles I would be walking and pushing the damned thing.
Getting away from the roads and cars is great - but life without a car cannot be done for the vast majority of people.
Oh I agree foxy life without a car in rural wales would be really difficult at present.
Sadly we wont have much choice for much longer.
Thats why I think we need to start planning properly.
I think the speed limit is not the problem!!
The Problem is lane discipline!!
We lived in Spain for two years where most motorways only have TWO lanes and they have nothing like the problems the UK. Admittedly there is less traffic but pretty much everyone overtakes in the outside lane and as soon as space is available goes back into the inside lane.
In my experience in the UK people just get in the outside lane and then just drive fast or just go along in the middle lane even when the inside lane is empty. Also another small point in Spain learners are taught to drive on motorways unlike in the UK...
Once again its just MY opinion!!
Im afraid Id have to shoot ya too Steve. lol
*Asks the assembled lynch party if I look bovvered*
Ok I will chase ya so long as you promise not to run tooooo fast.
Sorry I haven't replied after posting the thread I've been at work and don't get chance to use the computer.
I understand that the main problem is lane discipline but still 70mph! I'm pretty confident that at least 90% of sh will have broken the limit. As for people just going faster than 90mph if they raise the limit, the simple answer to that would be to come down heavy on those that break this limit and i don't mean points on your licence.
Correct me if i'm wrong but I think most people are willing to break the 70mph limit because they know they can do upto 100mph before they risk losing there licence.
If you look at the statistics of road fatalities of the Uk compared to Germany their isn't much difference.
in the early hours of the night/morning the speed limit on motorways should be unlimted if traffic is light and weather good.
speed limit should be raised to 80 during good daylight.
the A1 in germany is the only part left where you can drive unlimited and the police have lamborginis to catch you in needed.
other areas you can drive fast but the fines are massive.
you can hit over 300 kilometers per hour no problem.
:D:D:D:D 
