How was your first day+ at 80kph?

since it came out I have done over 1000 km I did a trip to Toulouse and back and suck to the limit all the way using my navigation setting it to alarm anything over 80.

Not only did very few cars over take me the entire trip but the entire trip (nearly 300 km) only took me just over 15 minutes longer than at 90.

So far doing just over 1050 km I have onlty spend an extra 52 minutes in the car and honestly my 2 ltr car is using less fuel. ( normally fill up when doing a pick up or drop off before i leave) and used about 6 euro less in fuel which does not seem like much but that was one trip. last year i did 37 trips to Toulouse alone which is a saving of 222€ this year if I do the same which I can pass down to my clients as i charge them exactly what is costs me.

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If you want to save fuel by driving slower you can do that whatever the speed limit. If fuel economy is that important, why are you driving a 2 litre car? I could offer the different argument. On Sunday after driving on N and D roads at 80kmh and below my car informed me that I needed to buy fuel within 46km. I travelled the 30 km to a petrol station on a dual carriageway at 110kmh. When I got there the car’s range was showing much more than 16km suggesting that it is much more economical maintaining 110kmh than it is driving much slower and having to use the lower gears more often. That car is reasonably happy in its top gear at 80kmh on the open road, my other car is not, 80kmh corresponds to about 1600 rpm which is too low for its maximum fuel efficiency as you end up having to change down through the gears for any significant hills or when the traffic is slowed down. With the increased bunching brought on by the lower limit that will happen more frequently. @Robert_Hodge has got it spot on; if excess speed is to blame for serious accidents the blackspots where those accidents occur and possibly the category of drivers involved should be targeted; a ridiculously low blanket speed limit, especially one which will encourage some additional hazardous driving behaviours, is not the answer.

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I am driving the 2 litre as its used for transporting dogs and has a large boot space and was sold to me very cheaply by a friend. My car is Nissan Micra, which unfortunately does not have the space for transporting dogs safely. Part of my journey last week also was to pick up 400 kilos of dog food.

I would love a less litre vehicle but at the time cost was a bit part of it we had just got the mortgage and funds were tight to say the least. My old car was a kangoo 1.6 litre which in its life cost me a small fortune including the back lights fault which went 3 times!!!

Im sure most folks in their newer cars designed with such low ranges in their higher gears are struggling but then again I have never seen the point in designing cars for the road that do insane speeds. On the way back home from dropping kids at school I entered the 50 zone only to be overtaken by a blonde haired woman (in the 50 zone) doing stupid speeds. I know she was who she was as the oncoming traffic stopped her over taking all the way into the road as there is a big big funeral for a local figure this morning. By time i gt ot of the 50 zone (about 150 mtrs) the other car was long gone. Those are the sorts of people who should be banned from driving for a year or more.

Clearly 90KPH is insane, likewise 130, :expressionless::expressionless:achieving this at lower rpm saves fuel and noise (bring on electric, no more gears, far less noise)

One of the things I miss about living in Germany is the ability to drive on the Autobahns. It’s got nothing to do with being able to drive at insane speeds it’s to do with being able to drive at the speed you are happy with when taking the weather and traffic conditions into account without having to concentrate too much on the number on your speedometer. Unfortunately, even there, many sections are now limited especially where there is heavy traffic density. Mind you the Germans must be suicidal, they allow their motorists to travel at speeds of up to 100kmh on two lane roads! The fact that they have fewer road deaths than France suggests that the national speed limit might not be the vital factor.

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bring on the day I can afford an electric car. I would love one.

no driver mentality is a great part of it.

Exactly, but who in the French government is big/stupid enough to tell the French population they are rubbish drivers? Roundabouts are not their fault, stupid misleading instructions ambiguous to the point of collision

haha funnily enough i know the woman she lives in a village near me and she is not french. I do not think country of origin has anything to do with it.

And what about killer trees? It’s always the tree’s fault…

Exactly the root of the problem

Hate it, hate it !
Today I did a longer journey and I really did have to make an effort to keep at 80 kph when there was clearly no need to do so on long straight stretches with clear visibility.
Was tailgated much more than usual by lorries.
Kept having to take my eyes off the road to check my speed.
Found it more tiring, and a lot more boring too !
As already stated by some on here there are some stretches of road where 80 kph and even 70kph is too fast, but the ‘powers that be’ in their wisdom would rather have a ‘blanket speed’ than common sense.
Oh and I found I was having to change gear more often too so I suppose not economic for either my car or my nertves ! :frowning: .

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Would you therefore prefer a lower speed limit on the places you have suggested?

I suppose it should be remembered that it is a speed limit and not a recommendation to drive at that speed?

Hello Mat
I believe that some places do have need of a lower speed limit. I am an experienced driver and always ‘think ahead’ and drive according to road condtions. There are many roads around where I live that frankly, although perfectly legal, it would be suicidal to drive at 80 kph !
The 80 kph limit is unreasonable in my opinion on long straight stretches with clear visibilty.

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My point was that you do not need to be controlled by an artificial limit. Most people regularly drive much slower than the limit along sections of roads because the national limit is too high for the conditions. A lower limit is unnecessary unless people are driving dangerously there. A wonderful thing common sense.

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We have a limiter on our old Mercedes and it is now set at 80kph.
If we drive in large towns, hardly ever, we set our speed so that we don’t get caught out.
Idiots who did not respect 90 will not respect 80.

We do not drive a lot as we are retired now.
Our car is a 1.9 jtd at 80kmh it feels as if there is something wrong with the engine, we cannot hear it and there is no vibration, havent use any fuel yet, and we settle at 83kph everyone else behind us settles down too, except for the mad drivers who will pay eventually.
The only thing I worry about is that the overtakers will cause accidents that may not have happened otherwise?
Barry

I have always said that, french drivers have mental block though

Despite my rebellious temperament (Really, Peter? We’d never have guessed) I have never had a problem with observing the speed limit, although I once missed the signage at Jurques when I first came to Normandy and copped a fine, got a point.

I don’t find French drivers much different from the British although there are perhaps more elderly women drivers in and around our locality. If anything, French drivers seem quite cautious around cyclists, which is a good thing.

I have to say 80 is difficult to keep to, especially on a long straight well maintained “D” roads.

I could see t he logic in, for example, making the "C"s and unclassified roads 80, in fact 70 even, but keep 90 on "D"s which, after all, typically drop to 70 through hamlets or hazards.

Or would that have been deemed to complex for the French motorist?