Higher Speed Limit is bad Says Report

Jan 10 2012

A new report warns that Government plans to increase the maximum speed limit will have very few of the promised economic benefits, it will be harmful to the environment and it will cause unnecessary road deaths.

Government plans to increase the maximum speed on dual carriageways and motorways from the current 70 miles per hour to 80 miles per hour as part of a programme to speed up Britain and eliminate red tape.

Recently, however, public health experts expressed their amazement in the British Medical Journal that the government should even consider such a step.  It flies in the face of international road safety evidence they say.  In the United States a similar move in 1995 lead to an increase of 16.6% in the number of road deaths.

A professor of public health attached to the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Martin McKee, says there was not sufficient evidence of the claimed economic benefits.  Heavy goods vehicles, he says, would still face a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour.  If the Government should increase the speed limit to 80 miles per hour “most people will drive at 90” he warns.

The authors of the report are of the opinion that the proposed speed increase was simply a gimmick to get popular support and concludes that “past evidence shows that speed limit increases lead to substantial rises in road deaths, as well as other potential negative health and economic impacts.”

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