If you’ve been on the motorway or dual carriageway recently, you might have some gripes about the speed limits when you’re in a rush... but should it change?
According to a new parliament petition, the speeds of UK roads have come into question and have been labelled as too ‘restrictive’ by those in favour of increasing them.
Whether it’s because you need to over-take slow drivers hogging the middle lane, or you’re late to an appointment, accelerating over the 70mph limit to make it on time is illegal and for some, a pain in the arse.
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In light of the new speed-system for all UK drivers, over 40,000 people have signed a petition which calls for the government to raise the speed limit on motorway to 100mph and dual carriageways to 80mph, citing cars now have safer features.
The petition, which was filed in May, said: “The 70mph speed limit is 58 years old. Some modern vehicles have advanced safety features and faster stopping speeds.
"Faster travel could enhance reliability of supply chains and logistics. Adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance systems can enhance safety. We believe a speed limit increase will improve traffic flow, reducing congestion.”
A good point about the speed limit was made, explaining that it’s been nearly six decades since the limit was implemented.
But why was it set at 70?
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Well, because of the obvious - speed-related crashes.
According to HistoryHit, numerous car crashes occurred during a particularly foggy autumn in 1965 which led to the government, police and National Road Safety Advisory Council to consult on a plan.
They realised that vehicles were traveling too fast for the weather conditions and suggested a four-month trial period for 70mph to combat accidents.
This then came into effect on 22 December, 1965. Clearly, this hasn’t stopped people from getting into accidents, and it also didn’t stop people from speeding.
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But the limit was set to enforce consequences on speedy drivers.
In response to this petition, which saw an overwhelming amount of support - 42,796 signatures at the time of writing - the government quickly squashed any hope of a new law passing.
Just two days after the petition was filed, the government responded, sharing that it ‘has undertaken no recent assessment on increasing national speed limits and we have no current plans to undertake such an assessment on the basis of traffic flow or other factors’.
The response continued: “We recognise that technology is moving on rapidly and that vehicles are much safer than when the current speed limits were first introduced.
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“But it is complex to model whether the economic benefits from reduced journey times would be realised because of the interaction of different factors, including any increase in road safety risk with resulting increase in collisions and travel time delays during closure and clearance of the road, and increased fuel consumption at higher speeds.”
So there’s no hope of faster travel, then.
For this to come just before the mandatory new UK speed limit law… comical.
This means that any new car manufactured in Europe needs to come with a speed tracking system. So, no speeding for anyone purchasing a brand new car!
Britt Jones