Motorway Speed Limit Plans Put In Slow Lane

Plans to raise the motorway speed limit to 80mph have been moved into the slow lane after it was decided the idea was "not a priority".

The policy change was proposed in 2011 by then Transport Secretary Philip Hammond but his successor, Patrick McLoughlin, is said not to share his enthusiasm.

Mr Hammond claimed the 70mph limit, introduced in 1965, had been "discredited" and a rise to 80mph would boost the economy.

But the idea has been condemned by road safety groups and Downing Street reportedly feared raising the speed limit would alienate women voters.

In an interview with The Times, Mr McLoughlin said the policy was not a priority: "You would have to do trials in certain areas so it's not something that's a high priority."

A source close to the Transport Secretary told the newspaper: "This is not going to happen with Patrick McLoughlin as Transport Secretary.

"Safety is paramount to him and his view of how to run the roads and he would not be confident about how you would do it."

A Department for Transport spokesman confirmed that Mr McLoughlin's reported remarks were correct.

The plans have not been completely abandoned, but are no longer a priority, said the spokesman.

Mr Hammond announced the plan at the 2011 Tory party conference, saying the 70mph limit had resulted in millions of motorists routinely breaking the law.

The 70mph speed limit was first introduced in the 1960s

He said: "The limit was introduced way back in 1965 - when the typical family car was a Ford Anglia."

He claimed a rise to 80mph would "restore the legitimacy" of the system and benefit the economy by "hundreds of millions of pounds".

But last year campaign groups estimated that raising the motorway speed limit to 80mph would cost society an extra £1bn a year, including £766m in fuel bills and more than £62m in health costs.

The groups, which include road safety charity Brake, the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) and Greenpeace, also estimated that the higher limit would lead to 25 extra deaths and 100 serious injuries a year, as well as 2.2 million more tonnes of carbon emissions.

However, Neil Greig, director of policy and research at the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: "Once again we are getting confused messages from the Department for Transport on this issue.

"With a little imagination and some investment the Dutch have shown that you can have a safe 80mph limit on the best parts of the motorway network.

"What Patrick McLoughlin has learned from Holland, however, is that the policy was not as popular as the politicians thought it would be and they promptly lost the next election."

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "The real stumbling block is likely to have been enforcement.

"Police already tend to give speeding drivers some leeway, so it was quite feasible that an 80 mph limit would have actually meant 90 mph in practice and that proved a step too far for ministers."

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