Motorway speed limit (what do you set your cruise control to)?

Med101007 · 30-09-2020 11:37PM #1

So I purchased a car recently that has cruise control. Never had this before so was amazed when I was able to set it to 120kmph and glide along the motorway. However I noticed that practically every car was passing me which got me wondering what speed do people set their cruise control on the motorway. I remember an old boss of mine who used to travel a lot told me that he used to set his CC on the motorway to 130kmph as you are allowed a 10% tolerance on the speed limit if you are caught speeding. Is this true?

30-09-2020 11:40PM

I set mine at 120

lucernarian · 30-09-2020 11:42PM

Med101007 wrote: »

So I purchased a car recently that has cruise control. Never had this before so was amazed when I was able to set it to 120kmph and glide along the motorway. However I noticed that practically every car was passing me which got me wondering what speed do people set their cruise control on the motorway. I remember an old boss of mine who used to travel a lot told me that he used to set his CC on the motorway to 130kmph as you are allowed a 10% tolerance on the speed limit if you are caught speeding. Is this true?

I find a lot of cars over speed, typically by about 5 kph at that speed. I set mine to 125 and GPS confirms it's at 120 kph

W0LFMAN · 30-09-2020 11:42PM

Med101007 wrote:

So I purchased a car recently that has cruise control. Never had this before so was amazed when I was able to set it to 120kmph and glide along the motorway. However I noticed that practically every car was passing me which got me wondering what speed do people set their cruise control on the motorway. I remember an old boss of mine who used to travel a lot told me that he used to set his CC on the motorway to 130kmph as you are allowed a 10% tolerance on the speed limit if you are caught speeding. Is this true?

Ignore them, it won't be an excuse if you get caught speeding. Just be careful some areas are set to 100 and 80. Use cruse control with caution.

liamog · 30-09-2020 11:42PM

It's worth checking the offset of your speedo against your actual speed. The speedo is allowed to be up 10% faster than the actual speed. For instance my wifes car needs the cruise to be set at 125km/h to maintain a speed of 120km/h.

Del2005 · 01-10-2020 06:45AM

lucernarian wrote: »

I find a lot of cars over speed, typically by about 5 kph at that speed. I set mine to 125 and GPS confirms it's at 120 kph

Same here my car is just over 125 when doing 120 according to GPS. A lot more people are driving at120 by GPS on motorways and very few go faster, overtaking takes ages.

But I find the lower limits are routinely exceeded and the lower the limit the bigger the amount people exceed it. The RSA has made a mess with their speed kills message.

punisher5112 · 01-10-2020 06:52AM

There are ones that will tip along at 140km/h all day long and some a hell of a lot more, you focus on your driving and only be in the outer lane while passing, leave these lads off as it's better to have someone ahead then behind....

Also great when they are the ones gone ahead and get caught.

You worry about your driving and leave them off.

CiniO · 01-10-2020 10:30AM

punisher5112 wrote: »

There are ones that will tip along at 140km/h all day long and some a hell of a lot more, you focus on your driving and only be in the outer lane while passing, leave these lads off as it's better to have someone ahead then behind....

Also great when they are the ones gone ahead and get caught.

You worry about your driving and leave them off.

I was always like that, and never had a problem, especially when not around Dublin or Limerick where speeding checks are more common.
Never seen anything dangerous about driving faster, even though it's illegal to do over 120 in Ireland.

However since I started driving 190km daily commute most of it on motorway, I'm most of the times at cruise control at around 110km/h purely due to fuel savings which can be significent. This commute is in Poland where limit on motorways is 140km/h, so even more strange for me.

Simple calculation revealed that at around 110km/h my car uses less than 5 litres of fuel per 100km, while at 120km/h it's close to 6 litres per 100km, at 140km/h it's getting around 7.5 l/100km, and at speeds of like 180-200km/h we're talking of more than 10 l/100km. Difference in cost of cummuting is significent, while gain in time not so much, especially on busier motorway where you have to slow down and accelerate often.

colm_mcm · 01-10-2020 10:59AM

I set mine at 130. Actual speed 124ish

biko · 01-10-2020 11:00AM

I set mine to 110/120 depending of density of traffic.
In my next car I'll get adaptive CC so car follows the speed of the car in front. More info https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWZEvRwNwfg

Miscreant · 01-10-2020 11:26AM

I regularly do the Dublin-Galway run and set my cruise control to an indicated 110kph (more like 105kph GPS). I figure that is quick enough not to hold up the trucks/busses on the road and by keeping in the driving lane (lane 1, the left lane, slow lane... it has many names

), it allows others to overtake me at whatever speed they want and disappear in to the distance.
I find even with a time crunch, there is little difference between 110kph and 120kph in terms of time but it does make a difference to fuel consumption.
The way I look at it is, as long as I am not holding up anyone on the motorway or causing a nuisance, then the 110 is just fine. I have, of course, had occasions where I have gone faster out of necessity but these are the exception rather than the rule.
@Med101007: Set the CC on your vehicle to whatever speed you are comfortable with and is appropriate for the road you are on. No matter what speed you travel, there will always be someone faster than you (and I have seen this even when I'm doing north of 140kph)

Allinall · 01-10-2020 11:28AM

I set mine to 129.

It's partly psychological. I'm still in the "one-twenties".

Also reckon actual speed is about 125, and not enough to get done.

punisher5112 · 01-10-2020 11:37AM

Allinall wrote: »

I set mine to 129.

It's partly psychological. I'm still in the "one-twenties".

Also reckon actual speed is about 125, and not enough to get done.

I can't my car only goes in two's

ELM327 · 01-10-2020 11:39AM

120.
As in my car the speedo is pretty close to actual road speed. 120 is GPS 119-120.

punisher5112 · 01-10-2020 11:41AM

130 all the way, then 110 on N road once safe of course.

Truckermal · 01-10-2020 11:44AM

Rarely use cruise I prefer to stick the accelerator down to the floor.

duffman3833 · 01-10-2020 11:45AM

car is in miles so set to 78 which i believe to be 125kmh
what drives me nuts though about people using CC is when they are in the overtaking lane with CC on but only doing 2 or 3kmh faster and they take ages to pass and sometimes you catch up on traffic and have to slow down because they are doing the slowest overtake ever. accelerate a little ffs

bladespin · 01-10-2020 11:53AM

82mph by default.

punisher5112 · 01-10-2020 12:23PM

duffman3833 wrote: »

car is in miles so set to 78 which i believe to be 125kmh
what drives me nuts though about people using CC is when they are in the overtaking lane with CC on but only doing 2 or 3kmh faster and they take ages to pass and sometimes you catch up on traffic and have to slow down because they are doing the slowest overtake ever. accelerate a little ffs

What's worse is when using it the car in left lane pulls out, slows down as overtaking and eventually pulls in and then speeds up, this then adds to the issue you outlined and make you or me that was tipping along nicely then look slow as fook.....

Its getting worse imo and dangerous manoeuvre and just sh1,te driving.

loyatemu · 01-10-2020 12:30PM

generally have it set to 125, I'll speed up a bit when overtaking.

What you notice with CC is how some people drive really inconsistently - they'll overtake you and 10 minutes later you'll be back on their bumper. Often they'll be driving a newish car that probably also has CC, but a lot of people seem reluctant to use it.

xtradel · 01-10-2020 12:46PM

125 in my car, 130 in my work van because I'm not paying for the diesel

Del2005 · 01-10-2020 12:52PM

duffman3833 wrote: »

car is in miles so set to 78 which i believe to be 125kmh
what drives me nuts though about people using CC is when they are in the overtaking lane with CC on but only doing 2 or 3kmh faster and they take ages to pass and sometimes you catch up on traffic and have to slow down because they are doing the slowest overtake ever. accelerate a little ffs

Why should I break the speed limit because you are impatient? I could even overtake a HGV at 91 kph if I want to.

i57dwun4yb1pt8 · 01-10-2020 01:01PM

Del2005 wrote: »

Why should I break the speed limit because you are impatient? I could even overtake a HGV at 91 kph if I want to.

because its dangerous to slowly overtake anything ?
blindspot ?
sudden emergency ?

get out, get past , get in , safest process

Del2005 · 01-10-2020 01:52PM

Niko Jealous Coroner wrote: »

because its dangerous to slowly overtake anything ?
blindspot ?
sudden emergency ?

get out, get past , get in , safest process

The risk is the same regardless of how fast you go

bladespin · 01-10-2020 02:05PM

Del2005 wrote: »

The risk is the same regardless of how fast you go

It's the time exposed to the risk that's different, moment of danger etc.

R.O.R · 01-10-2020 02:09PM

Del2005 wrote: »

Why should I break the speed limit because you are impatient? I could even overtake a HGV at 91 kph if I want to.

You could do, perfectly legally, but it's still a bit of d1ck move.

Backs traffic up for miles if this happens on a busy 2 lane motorway, and quite frequently (on the M1 Northbound in evening rush hour anyway) is a factor in accidents, which then further slows down everything.

punisher5112 · 01-10-2020 02:12PM

BMW pulls out coming home there now, woman, on the phone well actually fixed looking at the screen, no concept what's around, truck at 90 she falls back to that and less, then speeds up a little, eventually finished manoeuvre, pulls back in and speeds up.... Ugh

Then before this I get a fricking stone chip..... Will need fix as it's that bad and right in front of my face.... Ugh

cpoh1 · 01-10-2020 02:14PM

Niko Jealous Coroner wrote: »

because its dangerous to slowly overtake anything ?
blindspot ?
sudden emergency ?

get out, get past , get in , safest process

The guy is a windup merchant and looking for a reaction, best to ignore.

Del2005 · 01-10-2020 03:04PM

R.O.R wrote: »

You could do, perfectly legally, but it's still a bit of d1ck move.

Backs traffic up for miles if this happens on a busy 2 lane motorway, and quite frequently (on the M1 Northbound in evening rush hour anyway) is a factor in accidents, which then further slows down everything.

It's proven that when roads are busy reducing the speed limit improves safety and reduces congestion, which is why a lot of countries have variable speed limits on motorways . So if drivers are crashing due to slow moving traffic it's bad driving to blame not the slow moving vehicles.

liamog · 01-10-2020 03:10PM

Del2005 wrote: »

It's proven that when roads are busy reducing the speed limit improves safety and reduces congestion, which is why a lot of countries have variable speed limits on motorways . So if drivers are crashing due to slow moving traffic it's bad driving to blame not the slow moving vehicles.

The reason why reducing the speed limit in variable systems works is because it reduces the delta between traffic, it's safer for vehicles to be travelling at approximately the same speed. A slow moving vehicle in the midst of otherwise free flowing traffic has a detrimental affect on the overall safety of the road.

duffman3833 · 01-10-2020 03:25PM

Del2005 wrote: »

Why should I break the speed limit because you are impatient? I could even overtake a HGV at 91 kph if I want to.

going a few extra kmh isn't going to hurt. Road awareness is non existent on roads.
If i was overtaking you in the overtaking lane with CC on, but seen we were both approaching a lorry driving on left lane, i would speed up just a bit to hurry the overtaking process and so you would not have to break and slow down, especially if busy as breaking can have a chain reaction further back

Motorway speed limit (what do you set your cruise control to)?

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