Empty Motorways

[Tetchytyke]

you do want the nanny state telling you you must drive perhaps 20mph slower than it is safe to do so?

By that logic any speed limit is the "nanny state", so I'm really struggling to understand what your point is?

I live somewhere where we don't have a national speed limit- the diagonal black line still means end of restrictions- and I support my government bringing in a temporary limit. It's one of the few things they've done I do agree with.

 

[squizzler]

My government have just whacked in a blanket 40mph speed limit, and normally we don't have speed limits at all here. I'd say 40 or 50 would do it.

Interesting. Perhaps this addresses a specific local problem of TT fans having a go at the circuit on their sport bikes with the onset of sunny weather, during this time when intensive care have other things to do than patch them up again? Talking of motorbikers....

In other words you don't want the nanny state telling you where you can go, but you do want the nanny state telling you you must drive perhaps 20mph slower than it is safe to do so? Or have I misunderstood? Would the same logic apply to trains? Slow them to discourage uneccesary rail travel?

I think you hit the nail on the head. I think a libertarian would choose a speed limit discouragement to long distance travel as less infringing of people's personal liberties (we have speed limits already after all) over being monitored by the state. People are avoiding unnecessary public transport, so no, the logic does not apply to trains.

A lower speed limit would feel unnatural, acting as a constant reminder that travel should not be carried on like normal.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Interesting. Perhaps this addresses a specific local problem of TT fans having a go at the circuit on their sport bikes with the onset of sunny weather

I think it mostly addresses the specific local problem of the berk who did it whilst drunk and had a massive crash at the Bungalow on Thursday, to be honest.

There aren't any tourists- the island is shut to everyone- but plenty of locals have bikes.

 

[Llanigraham]

A lower speed limit would feel unnatural, acting as a constant reminder that travel should not be carried on like normal.

Fine until you realise that for some/many the commute to essential work may be an hour long on roads that allow the national speed limit. Reduce that limit and journeys are going to be extended, increasing stress, increasing tiredness and therefore not helping the current situation.

 

[hexagon789]

I was on it briefly Friday and Saturday and the traffic levels were light. Are you talking about either end ie close to Glasgow or Edinburgh?

Glasgow end, but not in the city centre. It was moderately busy again today.

 

[GB]

My government have just whacked in a blanket 40mph speed limit, and normally we don't have speed limits at all here. I'd say 40 or 50 would do it.

IoM is a relatively small place where a 40mph restriction might work on both sides (key workers vs non-essential travel). But on the mainland, I can't see 50mph making much difference and 40 or below would penalise those workers that are still required to go work. People should engage their brain before deciding to leaving their homes and thankfully most people seem to be, but proper enforcement of the current law should mop up the rest.

 

[D1537]

Fine until you realise that for some/many the commute to essential work may be an hour long on roads that allow the national speed limit. Reduce that limit and journeys are going to be extended, increasing stress, increasing tiredness and therefore not helping the current situation.

I am a key worker and my commute is around 45 minutes, 90% of which is on motorways. A 40mph limit would add an hour to my day.

Not to mention that you'd also be disrupting the supply chain if you restricted HGVs to that speed as well. Drivers can only drive for a certain amount of hours. You might just be able to get away with 50mph without disrupting them.

 

[Vespa]

Increasing fuel tax and restricting speed are not helpful to the ordinary people who needs a car to commute or is in the countryside with no public transport or reduced.

When it will inevitably go up after the crises with the new taxes on top it will cost much more !

Don't be giving the Government ideas....

 

[Cowley]

Just waved Mrs C off in my car to do her child protection work up near Bridgewater, feeling slightly jealous of the nice quiet cruise up the M5 to be honest...

 

[Rich McLean]

No point raising any duty at the moment. All taxes likely to go up a few percent once the Economy is back on track. We will all have to share the pain of paying more

 

[EssexGonzo]

It's a pity you needed to use a car for whatever reason, as I gather the trains are less full these days.

But less frequent, more expensive than a car journey, contain more virus germs and don't actually get me to my end destination. For the vast majority of my journeys to a destination other than London, the car is the better option.

My government have just whacked in a blanket 40mph speed limit, and normally we don't have speed limits at all here. I'd say 40 or 50 would do it.

Yeah, but that's on the motorway-free island..... 40 or 50 on the motorway wouldn't really be acceptable.

 

[SteveP29]

Sainsburys near us has crashed from 132.9 to 117.9 over the past week or so.

£1.05 per litre is the cheapest I've seen to date. But I've also seen prices as high as £1.22 on the same stretch of road!

Our local Asda had their prices at 8:30pm last Thursday at 102.7 (Unleaded) and 108.7

 

[nlogax]

Our local Asda had their prices at 8:30pm last Thursday at 102.7 (Unleaded) and 108.7

Asda is usually 8 to 9p a liter cheaper than anywhere else around here even at the best of times. I fully intend to fill up there at the weekend while doing a weekly shop. By then it could drop to below £1 p/l.

 

[Jamesrob637]

So will the brands remain 8-10p per litre higher? I know supermarket fuel is of marginally lower quality, and some drivers of premium cars I know wouldn't fill up there, but surely the brands are going to lose out? I'm happy to pay 2p or even 3p per litre more, but not 10p since I don't own a premium car.

 

[Tetchytyke]

or 50 on the motorway wouldn't really be acceptable

Not to mention that you'd also be disrupting the supply chain if you restricted HGVs to that speed as well.

Until very recently the speed limit for HGVs on single carriageway roads was 40mph. It's still now only 50mph, and HGVs are limited to 56mph anyway.

Reducing the limit from 70 to 50 would add 12 minutes to a 35-mile motorway commute (but as the road's empty it will still be quicker than usual!)

It's more palatable than the guff about arresting people for going more than 2km (1.3 miles!) from their home, or fining the MAMILs on their bikes.

 

[Brissle Girl]

Try going from Edinburgh to Cradley Heath and back up to St Andrews and then back to Edinburgh in less than 24 hours.

.

700 miles /12 hours drive time within 24 hours sounds on the margins of what is safe.

 

[Butts]

700 miles /12 hours drive time within 24 hours sounds on the margins of what is safe.

Who said anything about 12 hours ?

You are obviously not familiar with the route...

It's Motorway virtually all the way from Edinburgh to Birmingham on clear roads at 70mph just over four hours driving time.

The return trip about 400 miles - 320 miles of Motorway plus 80 odd miles on A Roads about six hours driving time.

I drove down in the afternoon arriving early evening and drove back the following morning after 7 hours kip.

This was a Volkswagen Estate Car not an HGV !!!

 

[Brissle Girl]

Who said anything about 12 hours ?

You are obviously not familiar with the route...

It's Motorway virtually all the way from Edinburgh to Birmingham on clear roads at 70mph just over four hours driving time.

The return trip about 400 miles - 320 miles of Motorway plus 80 odd miles on A Roads about six hours driving time.

I drove down in the afternoon arriving early evening and drove back the following morning after 7 hours kip.

This was a Volkswagen Estate Car not an HGV !!!

So as of now google is saying 5 hrs 8 mins from Cradley Heath to Edinburgh - allowing for the quiet roads, speed limits and reduced limits through the various roadworks, added to which a half hour break would be prudent.

Similarly Cradley Heath to St Andrews 5hrs 54, plus another 30 min break.

And finally 1 hr 20 St Andrews to Edinburgh. Total, 12 hrs 20 + breaks.

I find Google pretty accurate, so stand by my figures, though I accept individual driving preferences may reduce the time from that.

 

[alxndr]

Had to make a (work) journey mostly on the dual carriageway and motorway today. It was quieter, but not as quiet as I thought it might be. Probably a little busier than driving in the middle of the night, but fewer cars. I'd estimate that about 90% of the traffic was either HGVs or obvious work vehicles (vans, pick ups etc). The few cars that were around were driving slower than usual, I didn't see a single right lane idiot racing past, and in fact there was very little traffic at all in the right hand lane as there was simply no need.

All bar one motorway gantry said "Essential travel only" or words to that effect, which helps remind you that it's not OK to do for no reason at the moment.

 

[scotrail158713]

So as of now google is saying 5 hrs 8 mins from Cradley Heath to Edinburgh - allowing for the quiet roads, speed limits and reduced limits through the various roadworks, added to which a half hour break would be prudent.

Similarly Cradley Heath to St Andrews 5hrs 54, plus another 30 min break.

And finally 1 hr 20 St Andrews to Edinburgh. Total, 12 hrs 20 + breaks.

I find Google pretty accurate, so stand by my figures, though I accept individual driving preferences may reduce the time from that.

I’m with @Butts on this. A total of 12hrs driving split up with 7hrs sleep isn’t entirely unreasonable. It’s probably not recommended frequently but for the odd trip I reckon it’s fine.

 

[Busaholic]

I’m with @Butts on this. A total of 12hrs driving split up with 7hrs sleep isn’t entirely unreasonable. It’s probably not recommended frequently but for the odd trip I reckon it’s fine.

I agree, especially with road conditions as they are, if largely in daylight, with the proviso you stop at services and get refreshed in every way at least twice each way. Night driving, especially if you're not used to it, is a different thing and requires as much concentration, possibly more, when you may not be at your most alert.

 

[dvboy]

So will the brands remain 8-10p per litre higher? I know supermarket fuel is of marginally lower quality, and some drivers of premium cars I know wouldn't fill up there, but surely the brands are going to lose out? I'm happy to pay 2p or even 3p per litre more, but not 10p since I don't own a premium car.

Having worked in a branded petrol station a while ago now, the prices were set very much reactionary to what the supermarkets did. We were asked by the franchisee to monitor prices at supermarkets in the town and we would be a couple of pence higher generally,
and there were thresholds to stay within when it came to competitors (you wouldn't change your price if one nearby supermarket cut theirs by 1p but might if three did)

 

[Butts]

So as of now google is saying 5 hrs 8 mins from Cradley Heath to Edinburgh - allowing for the quiet roads, speed limits and reduced limits through the various roadworks, added to which a half hour break would be prudent.

Similarly Cradley Heath to St Andrews 5hrs 54, plus another 30 min break.

And finally 1 hr 20 St Andrews to Edinburgh. Total, 12 hrs 20 + breaks.

I find Google pretty accurate, so stand by my figures, though I accept individual driving preferences may reduce the time from that.

Fair play to you - individual driving preferences as you allude to and clear roads can knock quite a bit off google maps time

 

[Butts]

I’m with @Butts on this. A total of 12hrs driving split up with 7hrs sleep isn’t entirely unreasonable. It’s probably not recommended frequently but for the odd trip I reckon it’s fine.

Indeed even for an old codger like me - agree with Busaholic about night driving it's boring, add rain and it's a nightmare especially with normal traffic levels !!

 

[Butts]

I agree, especially with road conditions as they are, if largely in daylight, with the proviso you stop at services and get refreshed in every way at least twice each way. Night driving, especially if you're not used to it, is a different thing and requires as much concentration, possibly more, when you may not be at your most alert.

I certainly get refreshed with a B&H stop every hundred miles or so !!

 

[Butts]

Having worked in a branded petrol station a while ago now, the prices were set very much reactionary to what the supermarkets did. We were asked by the franchisee to monitor prices at supermarkets in the town and we would be a couple of pence higher generally,
and there were thresholds to stay within when it came to competitors (you wouldn't change your price if one nearby supermarket cut theirs by 1p but might if three did)

I managed a branded one (Total) a "while ago" probably before you were born !!

1980 to 1982 in Reading long before supermarkets sold petrol. I can remember putting the price up to over £1 Gallon never mind a Litre !!
Even in those days we monitored each other prices and were supposed to do a physical weekly check. In the end to save farting about we just used to ring each other up and exchange details.

Wasn't a bad job as long as the cashier turned up - if not you would be on the till !!. On a normal day the paperwork and banking took a couple of hours and the rest of the day was spent playing cards with other Managers - keeping an eye out for the Area Manager.

 

[Mike99]

I drive through the night on and around the motorways and trunk A roads of the East & West Midlands delivering Milk, Bread and Dairy Products to Care Homes and similar and sometimes it is quite hard to keep concentration levels up to 100%

 

[Bosch91]

Maybe off topic, but perhaps the taxation on fuel should be put up so that there is no more incentive to use a car than there would be normally, given the stated desire by government to keep us put. Having just written that, maybe a national 50mph speed limit (as introduced in the USA during energy crisis) would reduce unnecessary travel?

On what planet would it be more beneficial to use public transport? Woth likely hundreds of opportunities to come into close contact with others, as opposed to sitting in your own car isolated from joe public.

Edit apologies read your response wrong (night shift eyes).


Yes not a bad idea as I’ve no doubt the majorly of the people still on the road don’t need to be. Although it sort of punishes the people who are required to commute by car ie docters nurses and the haulage companies.

I feel the best way is with constant police checks and media reporting of spot checks should be enough to stop the majority of straight thinking citizens to stay at home.

 

[LAX54]

If you cut the speed limit, it will just 'force' car drivers back to public transport. our station car park is 98% empty, but the A12 London bound at 0445/0500 is still quite busy.

 

[squizzler]

If - which anecdotally is the case - there is plenty of space on the trains and platforms for 'social distancing', is that necessarily a bad thing? The externalities of motoring: CO2 and local environmental pollution, injury and death from crashing and so forth are not magically waived for the duration of the crisis, in fact environmental quality is more important than ever if people cannot get away from it (and need to maintain a healthy immune system) and we need to avoid unnecessary injuries to keep hospital beds free.