DeletedUser
I guess this would probably depend on where you live, in the USA they all have them.
DeletedUser563
80 mph = 128 km/h. Im not certain you brittish can survive at that break neck speeds lol. 120 km/h is in fact a very tame speed. I often drive. What are your speed limit now tortoise speed. Well in our country every second guy is a maniac so speed of 160 km/h or +- 100 mph is quite common. I usually drive at about 120 our speed limit.
My best was a humbling 180 - 200 kph I cant remember which . But it was done on a road going downwards at quite a steep angle and perfect and straight. My best experience was driving my new car at night at top speed to another town. He he he.
But our roads are really bad now so those days are over.
For me . Others not> My favorites were:
1. Guy driving at top speed over a section of dirt road in the tar road about 500 meters (guess he was about doing 160kph).
2. One guy pulling a wagon(not certain of english) with a land rover on it bouncing all over the place due to the high speed he was driving.
3. This morning Taxi trying to take a inside gap. But I closed it quickly.
4. All the other crazy sons of guns on our roads.
My best was a humbling 180 - 200 kph I cant remember which . But it was done on a road going downwards at quite a steep angle and perfect and straight. My best experience was driving my new car at night at top speed to another town. He he he.
But our roads are really bad now so those days are over.
For me . Others not> My favorites were:1. Guy driving at top speed over a section of dirt road in the tar road about 500 meters (guess he was about doing 160kph).
2. One guy pulling a wagon(not certain of english) with a land rover on it bouncing all over the place due to the high speed he was driving.
3. This morning Taxi trying to take a inside gap. But I closed it quickly.
4. All the other crazy sons of guns on our roads.
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DeletedUser
I don't really think that 80 mph is that fast. More than 30 years ago, I'd almost always drive faster than that on highways, and neither roads nor cars were what they are today. I believe my fastest, Jakkals was 115 mph, but I also got stopped once for going 85 in a 55 mph speed zone during a blizzard. I was amazed that he just warned me that I should slow down a bit because the roads were really bad up ahead rather than giving me a ticket. A bigger question for me is: when did UK start using miles instead of kilometers?
DeletedUser
As a UK driver im pretty sure we've always been using miles, as we still use imperial measurements for some things. We buy fuel in litres yet measure fuel economy in miles per gallons which is a different gallon to a US gallon to the best of my knowledge. Confused yet?
As for the speed limit going up to 80mph sure it is achievable when the roads are empty. But when its busy you can count yourself lucky if you ever get to break 60.
This from the directgov website may be of interest http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelA...G_178867?CID=TAT&PLA=url_mon&CRE=speed_limits
As for the speed limit going up to 80mph sure it is achievable when the roads are empty. But when its busy you can count yourself lucky if you ever get to break 60.
This from the directgov website may be of interest http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelA...G_178867?CID=TAT&PLA=url_mon&CRE=speed_limits
DeletedUser
Thanks. I hate showing off my ignorance in public like that, but I'm sure it won't be the last time I do. My sister lived in Australia for years, and I just always assumed (dumb, I know) that they used the same terms/measurements.
My sister lived in Australia for years, and I just always assumed (dumb, I know) that they used the same terms/measurements.DeletedUser
Well, the Romans introduced the mile to Britain, from mille which means one thousand, as it was 1,000 paces of a marching soldier.
The English mile is much longer, being derived from the furlong, the length of a ploughing strip. The Anglo-Saxons took over the Roman term for a length of 8 furlongs, or 1,760 yards, which became statute probably some time in the Middle Ages.
English colonists then took the measurement to America.
DeletedUser563
well interesting points there artemis and eli. i could run and get my book we use for accident reconstruction etc: what you are referring to is your response time :
Basically this would mean that where you are following safe following distances you would have a certain amount of seconds to respond to road conditions. In normal cars this would I think be somewhere along 10 seconds at 120km. In a Mercedez Benz its computer do assisted braking the moment you brake hard and that car will literally brake in a few metres.
http://www.firerescue1.com/Columnists/Chris-Daly/articles/239741-Stopping-Distances-Part-1/
Basically this would mean that where you are following safe following distances you would have a certain amount of seconds to respond to road conditions. In normal cars this would I think be somewhere along 10 seconds at 120km. In a Mercedez Benz its computer do assisted braking the moment you brake hard and that car will literally brake in a few metres.
http://www.firerescue1.com/Columnists/Chris-Daly/articles/239741-Stopping-Distances-Part-1/
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DeletedUser
Many people do not realise that when a road is operating past its carrying capacity, increased average traffic speed will result in slower journeys - because it's counter-intuitive. This is because safe inter-vehicle distances are not linearly proportional to speed.
A single mile of carriageway has a safe capacity of about 17 vehicles travelling at 70mph, but only 13 at 80mph because of the greater stopping distance (and therefore distance between each vehicle) at the higher speed.
At 80mph the vehicles will 'vacate' each mile in 45secs, as opposed to 51secs at 70mph.
Thus, in a stationary queue waiting to join the traffic stream, approx 20 cars/min will be able to join if the traffic is flowing at 70mph, but only just over 17 at 80mph. In other words, the faster the traffic flow, the longer you will have to wait to join it. For a lot of European motorways, this is the limiting journey speed factor rather than the max legal travelling speed.
That's also why reducing urban speed limits can actually shorten journey times, and why traffic suddenly comes to a halt on busy stretches of motorway that are clear of accidents, roadworks or other obstructions.
A single mile of carriageway has a safe capacity of about 17 vehicles travelling at 70mph, but only 13 at 80mph because of the greater stopping distance (and therefore distance between each vehicle) at the higher speed.
At 80mph the vehicles will 'vacate' each mile in 45secs, as opposed to 51secs at 70mph.
Thus, in a stationary queue waiting to join the traffic stream, approx 20 cars/min will be able to join if the traffic is flowing at 70mph, but only just over 17 at 80mph. In other words, the faster the traffic flow, the longer you will have to wait to join it. For a lot of European motorways, this is the limiting journey speed factor rather than the max legal travelling speed.
That's also why reducing urban speed limits can actually shorten journey times, and why traffic suddenly comes to a halt on busy stretches of motorway that are clear of accidents, roadworks or other obstructions.
DeletedUser16008
Always been miles since the Romans introduced the Latin measure as Eli says, btw the reason we changed to litres was because of the common market and the collapse of sterling in the 70s, it was always per gallon but when oil prices went up and the £ collapsed in order not to freak out the population and get brownie points in the EEC we adopted the litre measure.
Basically the usual smoke and mirrors and spin to keep the people from going on the rampage...