why 70mph

[zipdip]

Why do we still have this stupid speed limit on Motorways,don't get me wrong you need speed limits on roads but the Motorway limit is mad ,has anybody seen the BBC film of the first days of the M1 it shows a Vauxhall Wyvern circ 1954 a Scamell truck capable of 50mph with a following wind and a stopping distance of two miles a 1949 Standard Vanguard and pre WW2 Austin which had rod brakes,all these motors could try and maybe suceed in getting to 70 mph that is scary.
I like alot of other motorists have a car with disk brakes all round and a stopping distance that made the highway code distances look stupid before they removed then from the book,my car is capable of 130 mph it handles far better than the old cars,all this and we still have a limit set 50 years ago.

[Big Sig]

Because there are still cars 50 years old on the road.

[Matt&Jemz]

Because of the stupid British drivers out there that can't read the roads properly.

[shearzy]

because limits are there to be broken!! have you ever tried sitting at 70 in a vectra? only way of doing it is sitting in cruise control!!

[m111kan]

because limits are there to be broken!! have you ever tried sitting at 70 in a vectra? only way of doing it is sitting in cruise control!!

left yourself wide open for disaprovin comments there mate, they will come

[si_hoss]

because limits are there to be broken!! have you ever tried sitting at 70 in a vectra? only way of doing it is sitting in cruise control!!

I guess there's a point to this comment, if you set the limit to say 80mph, people will push it to 90mph+. I supposed it being slower (70mph) most people not wanting to get caught will push it to 80ish, so essentially keeping the whole thing down????

Backwards logic but I made it up so be nice LOL

[Matt&Jemz]

I guess there's a point to this comment, if you set the limit to say 80mph, people will push it to 90mph+. I supposed it being slower (70mph) most people not wanting to get caught will push it to 80ish, so essentially keeping the whole thing down????

Backwards logic but I made it up so be nice LOL

Can see your logic there, I drive a lot of miles and can see why it's not set higher.

[Steves-Vec]

I also thought the 70mph limit was a little dated, until the last week or so a few of the crashes i've seen lately A13 surrounding (some serious) makes you wonder how & why Clear dry conditions open stretch and some moron still manages to plough in to another innocent motorist. Yes there will be accidents regardless of speed but hopefully the damage a bit lighter. As said there are still a lot of old bangers and heaps on the road and mainly driver error and miles of roadworks. I'd love to see an increase i've driven through Spain and France at their slightly higher speeds no probs. But dont think our roads/drivers are up to an increase yet. And no i'm not saying there driving standards are better abroad They just seem to cope as its their normal limit. Sorry for the waffle just my opinion.

[Big Sig]

In 1961 talks where undertaken with Texas racing driver, Carroll Shelby (http://www.carrollshelby.com/) with backing from Ford, proposing installation of Ford V8 engines in to the light weight chassis of the AC Ace which resulted in the AC Cobra. Some say the resulting Cobra is the reason the Uk has a 70mph speed limit as in 1963 a coupe version of the car was recorded at 185mph on the M1. The following year a 70mph limit was introduced on all British Motorways.

[rushy]

We has the 70mph speed limit because of 2 things, a couple of AC Cobras were clocked doing 196 mph up the M1 and there were some major pile ups in fog. This is probably the overriding thing, weather conditions. It doesn't matter how good your car is, if its cold, wet and foggy 70 is still too fast.

And I find if I dont push so hard on the accelerator I can keep it to 70 in my vectra

EDIT: Great minds LOL