If speed kills, is this premeditated murder?

[mashman]

"The UK Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond, has proposed to increase the speed limit on UK motorways from 70- to 80mph.

The idea behind the change is to reduce journey times, as the Government believes that the economy could be improved if motorists spend less time behind the wheel. "

[Banditbandit]

Interesting ideas ... "safety might not be the only factor to consider when it comes to judging how fast cars travel on the roads" ... I wonder what our curent crop of dickhead rulers (MPs) might think of that ????

[oneofsix]

Interesting ideas ... "safety might not be the only factor to consider when it comes to judging how fast cars travel on the roads" ... I wonder what our curent crop of dickhead rulers (MPs) might think of that ????

If it means investing on roading other than so Toll can run larger trucks they will run faster than the European speed limits allow.

[mashman]

Interesting ideas ... "safety might not be the only factor to consider when it comes to judging how fast cars travel on the roads" ... I wonder what our curent crop of dickhead rulers (MPs) might think of that ????

brilliant ain't it... the fact that a hell of a lot of people are hitting nearly 100, or so I've guesstimated whilst adhering to the UK speed limit , should be some indicator that the carnage ain't likely to rise by much, if at all . Funny thing is, it's wall to wall traffic on most motorways during rush hour, so setting a limit of 8mph may well speed things up further .

[HenryDorsetCase]

Murder by definition is premeditated. (pretty much). So your question is "if excessive speed kills, is that murder?" Answer: not likely to be, but in some circumstances it could be (for example, that guy who tried to commit suicide by driving into oncoming traffic: tragically killing the mother and daughter).

the key for murder pretty much is intention. (if you dont intend to kill, or arent so reckless as to not care whether you kill or not, then you have committed mans laughter, not murder.) Of course the penalty for murder is mandatory life imprisonment , and the maximum for mans laughter is the same penalty.

So, you know..... its complicated.

[steve_t]

It'd be interesting if their motorway road toll went down What's 80 mph? 130km/h ish? Shirley, everyone in the UK will instantly die on the UK motorways

[Spuds1234]

Shirley, everyone in the UK will instantly die on the UK motorways

Why are you calling me Shirley

I would love to see the open road speed limit go up in NZ but unfortunately it wont.

Hell even if we were allowed to do 120 down certain pieces of road in Canterbury I'd be for it. It sucks riding down long straight pieces of road for miles on end.

[Banditbandit]

Why are you calling me Shirley

The long-haired whacker in your avatar pic suggests it's appropriate ???

[Katman]

Only a very small percentage of New Zealand's roads would come close to the motorway system that the UK have.

To compare our roads to theirs is an exercise in the ridiculous.

[Toaster]

Only a very small percentage of New Zealand's roads would come close to the motorway system that the UK have.

To compare our roads to theirs is an exercise in the ridiculous.

Completely agree. Anyone having driven both can see the vast differences we have between their system and ours.

However, when it comes to our dual carriage highways with barriers, I see no harm in raising the limit at least to that of the similar roads in Australia.

It is always a trade off in potential aggregate economic value on our time vs the direct cost of extra fuel inefficiency at any increase in average speeds.

This of course assumes free flowing traffic. Speed limits are almost pointless in heavy traffic where we all suffer wasted time AND more fuel use when stop starting our vehicles.

I would love to see a dedicated 1/3rd size motorcycle lane on the extreme right lanes with a 120km/h limit on open roads with barriers.

[MisterD]

As you point out mashman, 90mph is the standard cruising speed of a lot of Mway traffic in the UK, you'll get pulled over for doing it but only in the same way as wildebeest will get eaten by lions...most of them escape most of the time.

BTW Our motorway lanes are narrower than in the UK...as little as 3.1m through Spag Junction and the middle of the bridge to about 3.5m on the clip-ons. UK is between 3.65 and 3.75m.

[p.dath]

Finally someone who makes the decisions being pragmatic.

There is nothing you can do to get the death toll to zero that involves any speed limit other than zero. So it is more sensible to accept that there will be some level of deaths on our roads, and that anything at or below this means that we don't have a problem that needs fixing.

[mashman]

Murder by definition is premeditated. (pretty much). So your question is "if excessive speed kills, is that murder?" Answer: not likely to be, but in some circumstances it could be (for example, that guy who tried to commit suicide by driving into oncoming traffic: tragically killing the mother and daughter).

the key for murder pretty much is intention. (if you dont intend to kill, or arent so reckless as to not care whether you kill or not, then you have committed mans laughter, not murder.) Of course the penalty for murder is mandatory life imprisonment , and the maximum for mans laughter is the same penalty.

So, you know..... its complicated.

pedantic bastard ... i do take your point though. It must at least wave red flag with Health & Safety in mind (tantamount to man slaughter I believe?)... Speed Kills, but by all means go faster with out blessing

As you point out mashman, 90mph is the standard cruising speed of a lot of Mway traffic in the UK, you'll get pulled over for doing it but only in the same way as wildebeest will get eaten by lions...most of them escape most of the time.

Fortunately ... Any idea what's with the "new" safety police back on old blighty's motorways. When we was back a year or so ago, there were no traffic police anywhere to be seen in their jam jars, but rather black and yellow checked Highway Patrol thingies... did they privatise it or somefink?

[MisterD]

Fortunately ... Any idea what's with the "new" safety police back on old blighty's motorways. When we was back a year or so ago, there were no traffic police anywhere to be seen in their jam jars, but rather black and yellow checked Highway Patrol thingies... did they privatise it or somefink?

Haven't been back for three years so dunno. I do know that a few of the West Midlands forces created a cross-border specialist motorway policing group a few years ago, so maybe they've just filtered through to special cars for that now?

I know that UK police forces (and ours here too) have moved away from white cars to other colours because they have higher resale at the end of service (and the metallic paints survive the stickering better).

[HenryDorsetCase]

Why are you calling me Shirley

I would love to see the open road speed limit go up in NZ but unfortunately it wont.

Hell even if we were allowed to do 120 down certain pieces of road in Canterbury I'd be for it. It sucks riding down long straight pieces of road for miles on end.

Absolutely. the closest I think I have ever come to dying on a motorbike was travelling south on the canterbury plains on my GSX400, in the dying days of the 80kph limit. Then (as now) the road is very heavily trolled by rozzers looking for easy ups to their quota. so I was trundling along, a bit tired, and kind of nodded off. came to when the bike crossed into the grass verge.... managed to not fall off, but I reckon its the fastest change in heart rate I have ever experienced.

If i had been doing 180kph then obviously that wouldnt have happened..