For south Devon from west London, definitely the M3 / A303 route (despite the single-carriageway bits).
25 miles added on for the motorway route is a lot, and the M4 / M5 is susceptible to hold-ups.
Although that camera is still there you should be safe from it (unless being on the A303 it is operated by Highways England rather than Wiltshire Police.)
from
Researchers suggested variations across forces are partly due to geographical area, road type, traffic volume and local policing priorities.
In Wiltshire, all speed cameras were turned off in 2010.
You will still have to keep an eye open for the mobile vans.
It amazes me how many people go past
Yes, I was thinking about that. The M4 from the M25 to Reading is being "upgraded" to a smart motorway with very long sections of 50 limit at the moment. When I'm out and about here in Somerset I often here about issues on the motorway systems around Bristol and almost every time I actually end up around the M4/M5 junction I seem to find a speed limit imposed even if there are no crashes.
The other thing about the M4/M5 is that there are no easily used alternatives while the 303 offers a range of alternatives.
I have a pal who does London to Torbay regularly to visit family, and uses the motorways. For a one off, the pretty route might well be preferable. But I'd guess he simply wants the fastest way on average.
Another possibility if the 303 is shot is to drop down to the coast road. A31/A35 is it?
Yes, I sometimes use that (all you do is keep on the M3 down to the M27 at Southampton and then switch to the A31). However the bit around Bournemouth and Poole is very clogged with commuter traffic at certain times, which the A303 isn't.
Can be busy on the section that skirts Bournemouth/Poole. After that it is much like the 303: alternating dual and single carriageway sections
That was[1] my experience; broadly speaking the best choice is...
- off-peak and outside the holiday season: A303, no question - off-peak and in holiday season: A31 can be quicker, but - in-peak, any time - A303, and put up with the holiday traffic if you have to because it's still better than the rush hour past Bournemouth
[1] I have to put this in the past tense because, since I moved to where I now live, I've only done this journey twice and that's not a big enough sample.Mark
Or you can access it part way along by leaving the A303 near Andover or Amesbury and then going Salisbury ,Blandford Forum, Dorchester. Will not be quicker but if you find out the A303 beyond Amesbury is blocked by an accident it can be an escape and though Salisbury can be busy that bypasses Southampton and Poole sections. Don?t try it when the Dorset Steam Fair is on though. And for those who might still enjoy a bit driving with a view then the road between Abbotsbury and WestBay which can be joined by a short over the hill drive at Dorchester or easily at Bridport is a proper bit of coast road near the sea.
GH
I used to have to travel from east of London to the Somerset area about ten times a year. I soon found that M25/A3/A31/A287/M3/A303/A36 worked better than the M4 (despite A287 passing through suburban Farnham). I sometimes heard about closures of the M4, and the resultant standing traffic, whilst cruising across Salisbury Plain.
Exactly.
A31 via Winchester?
I heard nothing from the 5 flashes of the cameras on the M1 in South Yorkshire last year on the Smart Motorway near Sheffield.
However no speed restrictions were displaying.
But the new thing is that the gantry signs just before the cameras show NSL and the info signs now say "SPEED CAMERAS" so I dropped my speed to
86MPH and have not been flashed again.
Yehbut that is a Fiat speedo. ;-)
GPS.
Many years ago I had VH Carlton and the speedo broke. I used the tachometer as my speedo and remarked it with Tippex.
Not doing bad this week. The check strap bolt on the drivers door fell out and the LHS sliding door will no longer open due to an apprentice trapping the dust sheets in it.
A good kicking will fix that second problem:-)
It was common place for salesmen and others to disconnect the speedo to maintain the car's value!
And then the used car dealer clocked it some more. ;-)
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.