Digital speedos are no more accurate than analogue ones unless they are taken from a GPS signal. In general all speedometers overread as there is a 10% allowance for reading too fast but it’s illegal to have a speedometer that displays a speed slower than your actual speed and manufacturers play safe.
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I like the concept of making it up as you go along
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Fascinating reading all the posts on this thread…
Everyone seems to have a different view on one aspect or another of how we use our roads… 80… 90… or somewhere/anywhere in between.
The signs which “tell us our speed”… 
are only vague indicators and are not intended to be used as “exact”… as I understand it…
The only “exact” indicator is (sadly) the camera… 
One thing though… explaining that you were only “speeding” because everyone else was… will probably not cut the mustard…
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One could try the defence that to travel more slowly would risk an accident - though I confess that I can’t quite think of an exact scenario that this would be cast-iron.
Ha ha… nice try… we came back from the Charente today… some of us at the indicated speed… others dashing past at the earliest opportunity.
The signs are clearly marked… there’s not much at 90, but enough to allow those who absolutely must be number 1… to get into the lead (@130 ish) off into the blue yonder…
The lorries seemed better behaved too today… although one did try to intimidate us … but we know the road so well and knew that 50kh was just around the bend…as we entered a village… thus the lorry had to slow down and climb out of our boot… and then it turned-off shortly after, so why try to push us… I have no idea…
I would think a satnav would give an accurate speed, most lorry drivers have one.
If you are doing an indicated 80 and you are doing 75 then the more accurate lorry driver will tailgate you. Illegal of coarse.
I know my speedo reads slow so I do an indicated 83 which is accurate at 80kph,
The blanket speed of 80 is a maximum, not obligatory.
The car has a noticeable reduction in fuel consumption now which is good for our bank account.
Well, sounds like it will pay you to ignore the “stampeding herd” and stick to the limits Barry… 
money saved can be spent on something nice…
As with all vehicles/drivers… there are good lorry-drivers and bad lorry-drivers. The good ones know how not to put fear and trembling into the folk in the vehicle in front…
From France3 today…
GRAND EXCÈS DE VITESSE SUR LA COMMUNE DE LE BARP
Le mardi 9 octobre, à 15h45, les militaires de la brigade motorisée de BORDEAUX ont intercepté sur la Rd 108, dans le sens LE BARP / SAUCATS, la conductrice d’un véhicule circulant à la vitesse de 154 km/h pour une vitesse limitée à 80 km/h…
La conductrice, une dame âgée de 65 ans demeurant à LA BREDE, a fait l’objet d’une rétention immédiate de son permis de conduire.
Le “bolide” doit son salut uniquement au fait qu’il ne lui appartenait pas !
Si les conséquences sont ennuyeuses, elles ont le mérite de n’être pas dramatiques.
Les routes sont des espaces publics que tous les usagers doivent partager en sécurité.
Bonne route
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Cars towing caravans on the German Autobahns used to be limited to 80kmh and lorries to 100. That was a bizarre situation, especially on the stretches where lorries were prohibited from overtaking.
Another time that driving slowly causes accidents is when driving for long periods on the open road at an inappropriately slow speed causes drivers to lose concentration.
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Anything to back this up?
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Even if true I can’t quite see a magistrate accepting “I was speeding to keep myself awake” as a valid reason 
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Try it. I’m surprised more drivers in their ultra comfortable, climate controlled, automatic cars don’t fall asleep as they have so little interaction with the environment. Bring on the adrenaline!
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Even pilots of high speed jets loose concentration, they use a technique of scanning from side to side to prevent the object blindness.
There was a survey carried out a few years back. Lorry drivers concentration was about 40mins from memory and about 20 for ordinary car drivers. That took speed into account.
See if I can find it.
Some time ago, there were a number of incidents/deaths in UK , related to boredom/tiredness… where the driver simply nodded off and eventually smashed into a bridge (or whatever)… it was not the speed that was a problem … as such…
This led to the campaign to encourage drivers to take sufficient rest/breaks and also to ensure they remained alert… air blowing on the face etc etc…
When I worked in traffic engineering shortly after leaving university, there was the suggestion that the invention of the airbag was possibly one of the worst safety devices invented and that a large spike in the middle of the steering wheel would have a far greater impact on improving road safety!
I used to spend months analysing police crash reports filed on STATS19 forms - unpopular as it is, speed was by far the greatest contributor to crash causation due to reducing the amount of time to react to a situation, there was always a number of causes linked to a crash but speed vastly the most common cause. This was used as a method to identify where to make changes to the road network reduce the number of crashes.
(I also learned not to overtake a traffic jam on a motorbike - the number of crashes involving right turn cars pulling through a traffic jam and colliding with an overtaking motorbike was distressingly common in our town)
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Look on youtube, russian drivers falling to sleep, probably drunk though.
Define speed? excess in the wrong place?
Totally agree with the time to react though hence why that is the bigger factor in France than the speed itself.
Digressing slightly, like total ban on alcohol because of drunk driving, speeding being a factor but 5-10KPH is unlikely to make a difference as a small amount of alcohol doesn’t the accidents are caused by being x2,x3,x4 times over the limit and in the case of speeding going hell for leather at 50+% more than the limit on any road, unlike you i haven’t had the data to examine but I would take a guess that is where the real issues are?
My French partner has a speed control on his car, normally he doesn’t use it when I am with him because I hate them. Today when we were out in his car he set it rather than keep ‘taking his eye off the road’ to check what speed he was doing. Result, apart from total boredoom, was that he felt more tired because he didn’t need to pay as much attention and felt sleepy!
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From memory alcohol did not figure particularly highly on the overall number of crashes and we did get to see the level on intoxication.
A total ban on alcohol is not workable without an overall ban in the country due to residual levels the morning/afternoon after. I have noticed that the approach to alcohol in France does seem relaxed when it comes to lunchtime drinking - not by police but by those eating long lunches with a couple of glasses of wine. I have been surprised by our nearby Routier which provides a half bottle of wine to all at lunch which is pretty well consumed by all (drivers/hgv etc).
There is an unwelcome truth that all driving has a certain level of risk associated with it, that increases with speed - BUT the collective risk (or danger) posed by a large group of drivers exceeding the speed limit by a moderate amount can be higher than the danger posed from an isolated person far exceeding the speed limit. This is a difficult concept to explain but simply by the vast numbers involved of a couple of thousand vehicles per day exceeding the speed limit collectively, as they have a certain level of risk, can have a higher risk than an individual that has a higher risk but the numbers of them were so low.
It sounds harsh but we had to try and identify where was the most effective place to spend the limited resource available based upon where actual crashes had happened rather than perceived risk. So yes it did come down to money, and yes people did “have to wait for a crash to happen” to increase the priority of work. I can’t remember the exact numbers now but there were several severities of crash (minor, serious and fatal based on the injuries of the casualties) - and each severity had a “cost to the country” associated with it. The cost of the works required for remedial measures was known so by dividing the casualty cost by the remedial works cost cost indicate where was the most effective place to do the work given a limited budget. As I said it is harsh putting the cost on a life - but it does help identify where you can most effectively spend the limited money available.
The next step was to consider the crashes that had happened in detail to establish a solution to reduce the number of crashes - then build it, then study the crash reports over the following years to see if it had worked.
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I used to enjoy driving in France mostly because of the better road surface conditions and lack of traffic compared to UK. My enjoyment is now much less since the French have embraced the money spinning radar speed cameras. I now get fed up with constantly scanning the speedo to make sure I’m maintaining the proper speed. I’m now using more fuel with the 80kph limit because I can’t use fifth gear on a road with any sort of hill or gradient due to lack of torque at that engine speed. So the new limit takes my eyes off the road and wastes fuel. It must be progress. That seems to be the fashionable excuse for new bad ideas.