Free Traffic Legal Advice

And the Theory Test should include knowledge of ftla as well as The Highway Code. 

And the practical test should include the use of the "lifesaver" - what motorcyclists have to show when they do their tests on turning right i.e. turning one's head to the right before performing a right hand turn. It has ensured my safety many a time in the car!

Is it true that motorways originally had no speed limit?

Yes, I'm told that coaches used to travel at 90 mph and it wasn't uncommon for cars to travel at 100 mph, that all came to an end when a temporary speed limit was introduced in winter owing to bad fog causing many crashes (as if anyone would do such speeds in heavy fog anyway). That "temporary" speed limit is still with us today.

cp8759 isn't quite right about when the limit was introduced.

I didn't say when it was introduced, I know it was winter but I did not specify the year.

It is still a temporary limit on non-motorway roads, it just doesn't have an end date.

and Jaguar testing the E type

It was further lowered in the winter of 1973 to 50mph during the Israeli conflict of that time, when we saw petrol rationing introduced.

Mway limit was 60, it was DCs that had a limit of 50 imposed.

https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/products/sets-3-piece-mgb-roadster-lancashire-police-76set11

As an MGB owner about that time I can assure you that their top speed was only about 108 mph.

Was on a speed reduction course a couple of weeks ago.

Freewheeling down a hill on a country road, said to the missus look I am getting 300mpg. That's not all you're getting says she you've just gone past a speed camera.

Anyhow the instructor noted that the safest place to drive nowadays was a motorway because the investment in infrastructure had reduced fatalities by 60%.

Not convinced that raising the limit to 100mph would be wise.

I dread the thought of being tailgated at that speed.

Besides which, if Liz Truss is in favour of derestriction like German autobahns I'm agin it.

Mike
(Clean Licence!)

 On 11 June 1964 a team from AC Cars met at 4am at the Blue Boar Services (Watford Gap) on the M1. They were there to speed-test a Cobra Coupe GT in preparation for Le Mans.

They didn’t have a long enough stretch of straight test track to check the top speed of the car, so they opted to use a section of the motorway instead. The driver, Jack Sears, registered speeds of 185 mph during the run, which is the highest speed ever recorded on a British motorway. The absence of any speed limit meant their test run was perfectly legal.

Two policemen approached the team at the services afterwards, but only to get a closer look at the car!

A number of car crashes during the foggy autumn of 1965 led the government to hold consultations with the police and the National Road Safety Advisory Council. They concluded that the crashes were caused by vehicles travelling too fast for the conditions.

It was suggested that a speed limit be used during periods when the road was affected by fog, ice or snow, and that an overall maximum speed limit of 70 mph should be tested out. The four-month trial began at midday on 22 December 1965.

1965, the minister of Transport, Tom Fraser, announced a 70mph limit on all unrestricted roads for a trial period of four months. The limit was extended by Barbara Castle in 1966, and made permanent in 1967.