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Did any one else see this??
Driving

May 15, 2005

Europe-wide 62mph limit mooted


The European Union’s energy commissioner has called for a 100kph — 62mph — speed limit to be adopted throughout Europe.
And further on -a universal highway code - what next - ban all right hand drive cars?

http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/articl ... 94,00.html

Yet another very good reason if we get a referendum on europe to tell em where to go

I think that the Murdoch Times would be a very poor source of information on such things - EU regulation would stuff his ability to pay bugger-all tax on his businesses.

Even if this proposal does have weight:

a) it's 2mph more than the current limit, so what are you worried about?
b) it would be far too costly to implement a single highways policy.

J.

That's funny, i could have sworn the national speed limit on our motorways and dual carriageways was 70mph.

And the usual limit in Europe is 130kph.

Botach has mentioned nothing about the motorway/dc limit being changed - NSL on single-carriageway roads is 60mph.


Tc.

And he didn't mention single carriageway roads either. if this went ahead, could you really see the limit on these being RAISED by 2mph while the main national limit is reduced by 8mph? me neither.

VERY long way to go before it could happen.

Well, IMO it's just kneejerk anti-Euro claptrap from people who won't get with the 21st-century programme (which is either Europe, the 51st State of America *shudder*, or third-world irrelevance for this sceptred isle).

The point is that motorways are and always have been considered an exception to standard rules of the road, both in continental Europe and here, designed to get an emotive negative response rather than actually debate the issue sensibly.

Tc.

Actually HGVs might be happy - the last time Europe interfered in UK road laws we got limiters, so the HGV s that could legally drive at 60MPH on a UK motorway were restricted to 56+/- a bit.
How do you bring in common leglislation when one part of the organisation needs lights on during the day and another bans it - and the people proposing the idea have to be told why.

Mind you imho its a non starter as
A comment on the website of Der Spiegel, the German news magazine, said: “With those speed limits we would be castrated.”

Suspect Fritz might object slightly to driving as slow as we are forced (unless your practicing in a vectra)

was put on as a news item - so if you've finished blunting your fangs on the end of my nose -

It is intended to apply as a maximum on ALL roads where the limit is currently higher - especially motorways although he was explicitly talking about Autobahns, and other reports put it at 90kph or 56mph:

http://www.fleetnewsnet.co.uk/news/view_article.asp?s=view_article&art_ID=37558&menu=1

It is basically intended as a fuel saving measure, and he isn't considering road safety issues at all.

Remember, the Yanks had a blanket 55 mph limit for many years. They even, mainly, kept to it. I was stopped at 80 mph heading up an almost deserted highway rom LA to San Francisco and got off with a warning. They learned to live with it and if (when) it happens here we will as well. After all, we'll have no options in view of the increasing technology for detection and taxation.

But then the US allowed limits to be set at a State level, and some States kept 55mph and others that have dead streight roads that go on forever such as Montana even tried having no limits at all.

Interestingly there was minimal affect on accident rates, which given that the whole US is a pretty large sample implies that "Speed Kills" is a load of nonsense:
http://www.nationalreview.com/moore/moore062503.asp

Rewolf/cooperman, thanks - was beginning to think i was getting a paranoidal reaction to Euro fiddle and my nasal extremity was in need of repair.
But please tell me that this will depend on Euro constitution voting.
If so - herr bliar might have to forget about it --
http://www.ukonline.net/news/?doc=story ... 70052139-4

The french govt might like it but will pierre le plonk, frantz ze bmw man certainly wont if he has to drive this slow - - this suggests he like the natives of other countries might tell le govt where to stick le constitution of the disunited states of europe.
As Rewolf said - once the national speed limits get clobbered - the "safety mob" won't let them go back up.
Try driving from London to Edinburgh at 55 -- be quicker to take the train

Now very strange, on April 8 2005 we have a report and a post by SS( BTW, SS left with nasel extremity intact, unlike me)

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/viewt ... eed+limits

Basically same German Eurocrat was spouting off about the need to reduce speedlmits to 55 to save oil.

Heard of a Dutch auction , is this the German version of speed haggling??

It is not down to Euro constitution, sorry, as they discussed on C4 News yesterday the failure of the constitution doesn't actually change anything - all the existing treaties (Maastricht, Rome etc) are still in place.

It would appear that it might be a part of the detailed work following on from this 2001 report about Energy and Transport - Andris Piebalgs is in charge of the energy part and works closely with transport...

http://europa.eu.int/comm/energy_transport/en/lb_en.html

Here in writing is the Euro grand plan for transport - I haven't read it all, but I have skimmed a few sections and it covers everything from modal shift (forcing you to use public transport), to the banning of Lorries at week-ends, extending speed restrictions to buses (bus >= 8 people), common road signs, common tax policies, road usage charging, aircraft fuel taxation etc.

Some of it appears to be very sensible, and then it starts going on about costs with some stacked bar graphs (p106/107) where somehow Car use is dramatically more costly that rail or bus although it does admit that bus use causes more polution that car! Where I really start to question some of the connections is blind statements about CO2 being the primary cause of global warming (big fan of Kyoto I think), but they don't blink an eye about suggesting Hydrogen cars which only output water vapour; is this water vapour that is the real no1 greenhouse gas???

Will it happen? well the timetable states 2005 is the big decision date, and that European Parlement and Council both need to agree, and that the Transport ministers current policy of seeking concensus must be broken allowing the decision to be made by "qualified majority".

Having looked at this thing and thought about the timing, it is most likely that this speed limit statement is actually a "softener" before the big debates begin so that when they don't do it we are all happy to have all of the other dodgy measures slipped through.

Rewolf - you said -

Having looked at this thing and thought about the timing, it is most likely that this speed limit statement is actually a "softener" before the big debates begin so that when they don't do it we are all happy to have all of the other dodgy measures slipped through.


Now don't think i'm a sceptic but for those old enough, we might remember a certain Sir Gerald Nabarro - "the motorists mp" - was leaked many years ago about a very large labour increase in ved - caused many hours of "embaresment" to govt, who "gave in" and "reduced" the ved increase.
As you said - a sop to keep those who would campaign quiet

Can't see the Germans, French, Italians, Belgians, Spanish agreeing to 100 kph which is what 62 mph is. They'll probably get exemptions while the idiots in Whitehall bring ours down to 80 kph just to show how law-abiding we Britons are.

Or 2 jags could shout about how fuel efficient the UK is ?? (mot,when he drives about at about 5 mpg, car does 15, unless loaded)

Is it any wonder I can't take you seriosuly when you're using these blatant Sun-isms?

You should try living in Germany for a bit - they simply run their country better than we do, and they do all the dreadful 'socialist' stuff that right-wingers are so afraid of. The French aren't far off.

No other country could have absorbed the social problems that came from re-uification with East Germany with so little fallout (depsite the current problems, the cuontry has yet to collapse). I think we should respect them immensely for that.

Tc.

They both have twice our fatality rate on th roads per head of population...in case you didn't know....

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Speed camera policy Kills

All the big ones appear to run their countries better much than we do - especially when it comes to roads, and transport in general - my limited experience of German public transport was that it ran like clockwork and even integrated ferries with busses. The French are apparently going for "Speed Kills" at the moment and having a BIG clamp down.

My experiences of driving in France were of nice very well maintained roads (as long as you kept out of big towns and off the route national that were swamped with lorries), and even when the Gendarme were doing speed checks all the drivers coming the other way would flash to warn you about it in advance! The little country roads are great, and on the autoroute the lane dicipline is very good.


Apparently the primary target is Germany, where he wants to stop the 200kph+ on the Autobahn due to the "excessive fuel use at such speeds". If this is the case then we don't need to worry too much as the compromise might just be forcing Germany into a 130kph limit on autobahn. But it will probably by used by HMG to throw the idea of 80mph on motorways out the window.

Also included in the document is unified traffic enforcement so that foreign drivers don't escape as they currently do, and unified punishment - this might mean everybody getting a points system... I doubt that any of the potential positive changes will happen in the UK but I am getting very cynical these days.

I drive in France and I drive in Germany. Both have much less traffic density in rural areas. Regarding driving habits anyone who thinks the French can drive has never gone round the Périphérique...

They do have lower fuel prices though.....

In Germany I do like the pedestrianisation of the of the towns though, without sacrificing access by road. A good balance.

France just looks "unfinnished" to me. Eveywhere looks delapidated in the countryside.

And Paris has the WORST airport in the world.

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Speed camera policy Kills