Car drivers are worst offenders
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THE 70mph speed limit means nothing to many car drivers going north between junctions 10 (Luton Hoo) and 13 (Woburn Sands) on Ml. According to a survey on this 113/4-mile stretch by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory in 1978 and 1979, one in three was "over the top" and the average speed in the fast lane was 721/2mph.
Drivers of what the TRRL calls long vehicles of more than 5 metres (16ft 5in), most of which I presume were coaches or lorries, were more circumspect. They averged 531/2-54mph, crusing at 511/2-52mph in the nearside lane and 58-581/2mph in the centre lane, and well within the 60mph limit for goods vehicles.
Mind you, one in eight took advantage of the tighter traffic on Sundays to exceed 70mph but as the "long" vehicles represented only 6-7 per cent the traffic, the number of bad boys was small.
Some 300,000 vehicles were recorded at various periods during the two years. It would interesting to know whether th present penal prices of fuel arE having much, if any, effect on speeds on motorways. My owl observation suggests that the are not.