Seven minutes

There is no such tolerance. HC104 is quite clear that the speed limit is the absolute maximum. The tolerance you mention is that used by the people using speed detection equipment, it doesn't mean it is in any way legal to drive at 77 mph on a motorway in a van.

If the vehicle doing 68mph in lane 2 wasn't overtaking anything, then he was in the wrong. If he was overtaking then he was just keeping within the speed limit and abiding by the law.

The roads in France and Germany seem to be less crowded than ours due in part to the much lower population density in those countries. The population density in France is less than half our own, for example. The road rest rates in France and Germany are also far worse than our own, however. 6.1 per 100,000 population for the UK, 10.1 for France and 8.0 for Germany.

Drivers in the UK used to be much more courteous years ago when there was much less traffic on the roads. The number of licensed vehicles has doubled since 1972. If you put more and more people into the same space there is much more opportunity for conflict. On this small island there is not much that can be done about it unless vehicle ownership is restricted in some way. In towns and cities there is little scope for more road building. Between towns and cities there is some room for road expansion, but there are always cost and NIMBY considerations to be taken into account which delay projects for years.

Ian