80mph Motorway Limit: Get up to Speed
It was 2011 that the idea of raising the UKs motorway by 10mph to 80mph was perused by Transport Secretary Philip Hammond. Two years on and many of us are wondering what the situation is and when said speed will come into effect.
Much has happened in this space a party reshuffle has led to change of Transport Secretary which has resulted in a change in direction. Current Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has a new focus on road safety; this new focus does not include support for the increased speed limit. The proposed plans were said to reduce congestion and boost the economy by hundreds of millions of pounds.
However the move was ridiculed by road safety campaigners and environmental groups one such road safety group Brake warned there would be more casualties and serious injuries if the speed is implemented. Campaigners said raising the limit would mean that the de facto limit would be 90mph because under guidelines applied by the Association of Chief of Police Officers a motorist will not face prosecution unless caught driving at 10 per cent plus 2mph above the limit. Recent studies show half of all motorway drivers break the current 70mph limit.
David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne are both understood to be agnostic about raising the speed limit. Whereas Mr McLoughlin is said to believe there is no significant support for it within the cabinet aside from said Mr Hammond who now resides as defence secretary.
A Coalition source has said: there is no imminent announcement of a U-turn but rest assured there is no way Patrick {McLoughlin} is going to preside over a raising of the limit on motorways. You are likely to hear official conformation later this year.
