Crisscrossing the British countryside can be a gorgeous adventure, that is until you hit roadworks and despite the speed limit being 50mph, it's either bumper to bumper or just horrendously slower than what you were just doing.
But one of the bigger headaches is average speed cameras, which work out how fast you've been going over a period of time. It's meant to make sure you stick to the speed limit, rather than just slow down for that particular camera. Although it can be particularly annoying when there isn't anyone around on the work sites, despite flashing signs telling you to slow down.
Obviously, this technology is designed with safety in mind, however, if a driver increases their speed to overtake someone, they are left feeling nervous because they might have gone over the average speed.
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But that 50mph speed limit will be scrapped, according to the Times, after research suggested that motorists actually feel safer travelling at a higher speed.
Credit: PA
In the study, drivers were hooked up with heart monitors to look at how they reacted to the changing speed limits. Sure enough, it found that six in 10 drivers had lower heart rates travelling at 60mph rather than 50.
The average speed cameras will be recalibrated to 60mph by next year at some locations, starting with the ones that don't have workers on site at night.
The news has divided opinion on social media.
One person though the move was 'common sense', however another wrote: "Work on the motorway, then let me know if you feel safer." There are about 30 road ongoing projects at the moment across the UK.
There are about 30 major road ongoing projects in the UK at the moment, as well as 120 smaller developments.
Highways England was reportedly looking into ways to ease congestion after news that a whopping 16 projects were going to be delayed.
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Chief Executive Jim O'Sullivan told the Times: "[The] volume of roadworks that the network and our users can cope with is probably reaching its peak.
"If we're going to have this volume of roadworks we need to have some serious thought about how we improve the customer experience."
Research found congestion was costing the economy £9 billion in lost productivity and fuel. But those average speed cameras are a nice little revenue raiser, with one on the M6 catching 1,600 drivers on one morning in 2015.
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Sources: The Times
Topics: UK News
