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Thread ID: 98917	2009-04-12 23:01:00	How fast do you drive on the open roads?	Nomad (952)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
764491	2009-04-13 10:43:00	Another way to say I "carefully" speed:p:D The conditions would also include the law.	wmoore (6009)
764492	2009-04-13 11:11:00	I look back with nostalgia on the days in the UK before a speed limit was put on the "open roads" and motorways :) That was in 1965 as a temporary measure...then finalised in 1967. Vincent 'salad days', days when you could cruise at 100mph (160kmh) legally and effortlessy, have a 'dice' with Triumph TR2s whose drivers always wore check peaked caps, scarves, and hand signalled over their heads, showed Triumph Bonneville twin and Trophy riders that their bikes weren't that clever after all, same for Lotus Elites and XK 120s. I remember Vincent builder extraordinaire, Tom Somerton, riding the Pete Darvill Vincent/Norton that he had just bought, Norvin as the type was later called, at some 140mph (225kmh) past the club meeting place on the Coventry bypass Then there was the tale of the bloke with a special car fitted with a Merlin engine, 27 litres, imagine that, travelling at some unheard of speed up the M1 around 1960 :eek: Yet among my circles of two wheel acquaintances over the years, only one was killed, and he was riding a moped to work. Having no speed limits possibly resulted in a greater overall riding skill, there was far less traffic of course, and roads were generally of a higher standard than NZ roads. Or, alternatively, those that survived ended up with a high skill level :banana Open road speed limits were introduced primarily as a reaction to multiple vehicle pileups in fog on the newly opened motorways, not as a result of excessive accidents due to unrestricted speed on open roads. These pileups still occured however despite a 70mph limit. As traffic density has increased way beyond what it was in 1965, then speed restrictions probably make sense.	Terry Porritt (14)
764493	2009-04-13 11:23:00	Wonder what the road toll was pre 1965 bet it was carnage all those poms speeding in their morrie thous.	prefect (6291)
764494	2009-04-13 19:02:00	I just take them for COFs and rechecks now days, the drivers would revolt if I drove a school run. So we are not alone,findind you revolting?	Cicero (40)
764495	2009-04-13 21:15:00	Wonder what the road toll was pre 1965 bet it was carnage all those poms speeding in their morrie thous. Fazackerly.....Just 10 years before open road speed limits were introduced, the majority of cars on the road were pre-war bangers. Minis and motoring for everyone had not yet arrived, dads still took their families on holdiay on motorbike and in side car. So it was a joy to motorbike the open roads then, the top speed of the majority of cars was around 60mph, and were few and far between. It was difficult to buy a new car, firstly there was the money, and there was a sort of queuing rota scheme as the emphasis was on exporting. The last item of wartime rationing, sugar, came off the ration. Petrol was still low octane "Pool" stuff, Premium 85 octane just about arrived then I think. Another reason maybe for introducing speed limits,was the vast influx of third world immigrants whose driving skills up till then had been limited to bicycles and rickshaws...........:)	Terry Porritt (14)
764496	2009-04-13 21:25:00	I dont tend to speed at all except on long trips now, got too many little tickets around town. :blush: And we aren't in that much of a hurry, surely. I try to maintain a high average speed on long trips - EG if the destination is 400km away I would like to be able to make it in not much more than 4 hours. That's when I'm by myself though. Safety first. I do think that the speed limit should definitley be raised on some roads that are part of longer trips (as a rule). 100km/h in most of todays cars is a bit of a crawl.	wratterus (105)
764497	2009-04-13 22:03:00	Your post (and Terry's) just reminded me, wratterus . . . . Many, many years ago, when I was first married, my wife and I went on our honeymoon in the South Island on my bike (Yamaha XJ900) . Down the east coast and back up the west coast (BTW when a sign recommends a maximum speed of 25km/h around a corner, it MEANS it!! - usually, on a bike, in good road conditions, twice the posted speed is comfortable) . Coming out of the Buller Gorge (heading for Picton), beautiful January weather, nice straight road, no traffic . Two up, tank bag, soft panniers, pack on pack rack, I opened the throttle nice and wide and before I knew it we were doing just a tad over 210km/h . Power poles were flying past like fence posts do at 100km/h . A few km down the road, I noticed, way in the distance, some white dots which appeared to be in the middle of the road . So as a precaution, I released the throttle and started to slow down using engine braking . Then I realised that what I had seen were some loose sheep on the road - about 4 of them . Hit the anchors big time and shed a lot more speed, until I felt comfortable and thought, if need be, I could easily stop, put my feet down, and let them walk around us . Then, when just a few hundred metres from the renegade sheep wandering about in the middle of the road, I looked down at my speedo . STILL DOING 100km/h!!!!!! It felt like I was idling along at 20km/h! On the way down the east coast, we had ridden Picton to Dunedin in a bit over 8 hours, including an hour-long lunch break outside Christchurch, so I was no stranger to speed - by that point I had been riding bikes for about 15 years and had been a motorcycle courier - here and in London - for 5 years . But that episode outside the Buller Gorge was enough of a scare to put me off sustained high-speed (160km/h +) riding . From then on I only used the throttle for good, not evil . . .	johcar (6283)
764498	2009-04-13 22:56:00	:D I want to get a nice bike, but worry that I may kill myself. :p They are certainly a lot of fun to ride. Took a 600cc Suzuki for a spin a few weeks back, even a smallish bike like that has some serious grunt. After cruising at anything over 130 or so, slowing down to the limit does seem very slow.	wratterus (105)
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