UK speed limit petition gathers pace
April 8, 2009 by Matt Brogan
A petition against the British government proposal to reduce the national speed limit from 60mp/h to 50mp/h (96km/h to 80km/h) has gained over 20,000 signatures to date, and is currently the fourth largest petition on the website of the Prime Minister.
The government has reducing the national speed limit on safety grounds, but the Association of British Drivers vehemently opposes the proposal which it says serves no positive purpose whatsoever and will act only to retard journeys, reduce attentiveness, and further increase contempt for the law.
The ABD went on to say that the government is being influenced by a 1998 proposal from the ‘Friends of the Earth’ group who said, “Speed limits should be made very low and rigidly enforced to take all the glamour out of motoring”.
ABD Spokesman Nigel Humphries said, “This proposal has nothing to do with road safety, and nothing to do with protecting the environment, it is born of the anti-mobility ideology of new-age Luddites who don’t even drive.”
ABD Chairman Brian Gregory said, “I call upon all of Britain’s 33 million drivers to sign this petition to allow them to continue to be vigilant when driving, rather than be sent to sleep by these absurdly low speed limits.”
Which brings us to our ‘Poll Position’ question this month about raising Australia’s speed limit to 140km/h.
Would higher speeds, on appropriate roads of course, help drivers feel less frustrated, more alert and in turn reduce accidents? Do you think a petition would work in this country to up the speed limit accordingly?
It’s a very interesting discussion, and one we invite you to participate in via our comments section. The best comment found could be in the running to win our Comment of the Month and a $50 fuel card.
Print it: 
“The ABD went on to say that the government is being influenced by a 1998 proposal from the ‘Friends of the Earth’ group who said, “Speed limits should be made very low and rigidly enforced to take all the glamour out of motoring”.”
I have never been more angry at a green party ever.
Can you just imagine driving without some variety? Eg: Hay look a TR6, or 355!
How can they even bother to listen to this nonsense. If they lower the limit in a country like this with such bad drivers then everyone will crash. This will reduce driver concentration, because at 100kmh the driver is alert and has some fun driving, but if you lower it to 80kmh your bascially driving on suburban roads. THis is a bad move and if P.M Brown does put this into legislation he will defintly become very unpopular.
Why is 50 the magic number?
I reckon they should drop it to 40…..
From what I see of late no one takes a lot of notice of those funny little numbered signs on the side of the road anyway.
No, No, No. No! Based on road toll/road death statistics, speed reductions appear to have been highly ineffective. In fact over the past decade road deaths have remains fair flat with a minor trend down – Gee I wonder if safer car more capable cars and road improvements is money better spent. Anyway, if you want to make roads completely safe and green then just ban cars altogether, PR why not go for zero….zero KPH! Lower speed limits create lazy and distracted drivers, and contributes significantly to Government coffers in the way of speed fines! The problem is that Governments have become so dependent on speeding fines as a source of funding that they find it hard to countenance more appropriate solutions to road deaths and accidents. One final comment, thank god that most drivers I observe don’t fly planes….they seemlingly have any understanding of fundamental road rules and can berely control a car.Cheers
I think 140km/h might be pushing it a touch, but I see no reason roads like (parts of) the Hume between Melbourne and Sydney for example shouldn’t be 130km/h.
The section of that road between Albury and Melbourne was designed by a French engineer who built the road purposefully to be driven at that very speed.
The speed kills argument is dead in the water. If drivers were better trained there would be far fewer accidents regardless of the speed limit – it’s that simple. The current licensing exam is pathetic.
Can you actually do 50 over there? The amount of traffic i would have thought you would be pushing it to do 40 anyway?
Why is the speed limit about the only road rule that is enforced? I think that the speed limit should be increased to at least 130km/h but that keeping left and no tail gating should be enforced more strictly. Driving to Avalon airport is one of the most boring and difficult trips because of the amount of speed cameras. Maybe the scrappage idea will take of and the Australian car fleet will be updated.
CA – why not introduce a petition here for a raising of the speed limit? I agree with volk613, most of our modern freeways are designed for speeds of 130kph, so lets present the petition and hold the govt accountable. Petitions work if they become large enough..
There are a lot of studies that show that the safest speed in the average spped of all the traffic on th road. Your risk of a crash increases the faster or slower that you are travelling. Which is why your can safely drive at 200kph in the fast lane in germany, but would be crazy to drive at 100kph in the fast lane. So if you and the car in front are both sitting at 140 then your unlikely to crash into each other, unless the person in front decided to suddenly try to stop..then things might get a bit more interesting.
140kph on an appropriate road is very safe, as long as there is someone doing 80kph in the fast lane.
Since when was the speed limit every the issue?
With so many people behind the wheel whilst texting, knowing they’re too drunk, fiddling with their kid in the backseat or tailgating, the speed limit seems like a trivial concern.
Being a young P-plater, I really don’t get why so many teenagers take their car for granted and have no respect for other people on the road. And its not just kids either. In fact, I’d say that the most dangerous driving decisions I’ve seen are usually performed by 40+ drivers who think they know it all.
I hope for a much, much stricter licensing test (similar to the Finnish one) with re-tests every 2 years to keep morons off the road. Basic car maintenance should also be part of the program considering how many clapped out rustbuckets which are a danger to everybody on the road exist.
As for these “greenies” constantly seeking ridiculous ways to get media attention, ignore them. The make the rest of us educated people with a genuine interst in resource conservation look bad.
There may well be an argument for “Faster speeds increase awareness”. Certainly the Italians beleive that going faster reduces the likelyhood people will fall asleep at the wheel.
Two things will hold back any proposal to raise the limit in Australia though.
1. Most cars on Australian roads (especially the 4 cylinders) are terribly inefficient at 140kph. Almost everything on our roads is geared (literally) to cruise at 100/110kph comfortably. There’s a ‘green’ argument here then, but also a safety argument. There’s lots of vehicles on our roads that will take considerable time to accellerate up to the 140kph limit once they merge into these roadways. In an emergency their brake packages are designed for optimal braking from 110kph… stopping times then will also be an issue.
2. Driver skill in Australia is, on average, terrible. Anyone who’s been on a German autobahn will agree, you feel a LOT safer around Euopean drivers because they actually have some smarts. Until getting a license in Australia requires proper driver training (not a suburban drive around the block after a few lessons), our population just isn’t qualified to handle vehicles at these speeds in anything but perfect conditions. Australians are not trained to handle a vehicle at speed when something goes wrong. Be it emergency braking, bad weather or a blowout.
We have some great roads, and plenty of modern, powerful and efficient vehicles in Australia, but until these two points are addressed, to level the playing field dramatically, we’ll be stuck at 110kph max in Oz.
ps. The Poms are mad, of course. 50mph to be introduced into a country of drivers experienced at 60mph – madness.
I’d like to see a raise in speed limits to ~140km/h. Every vehicle i’ve been in will reach that speed with no difficulty and little more wind noise than 110km/h. Even the oldest of old shitboxes would reach 150km/h.
Merging might be a difficulty for some drivers/cars, which is why i’d like to see the increased speed limit apply to the lanes to the right of the left lane. This is similar to the german system. Those people worried about efficiency or their cars performance can stick to the left lane, with trucks and vehicles towing trailers.
I’d love to see 140km/h limits, but I don’t think it will happen, or that its the right thing to do.
Like a few other people I’d be happier for people to KEEP LEFT! That should sort out a fair bit of the problem.
I also think that inexperienced or cautious drivers shouldn’t or won’t travel at that kind of speed- meaning we would have cars traveling at different speeds on the same road and THAT is bad news.
Another issue is LIFT! I believe that speeds around 140km/h + can cause your everyday pulsar, yaris, commodore and the like to experience lift, meaning loss of steering- more bad news.
On the bright side, these limits would actually make those evo and wrx wings do something.
The National speed limit on motorways and Dual Carriageways in the UK is 70mph (112kph), on “derestricted” single carriagway roads is 60mph (96kph) with all other roads having their own limits such as schools 20mph (32kph), Urban streets 30mph (48kph) and others in between. However there isn’t the idiotic constant changes in the speed limit on the same stretrch of road for no reason as in Australia. Agree with NacaYoda driver skill in Oz is bad compared to Europe with the tailgating, right and middle lane hogging and general arrogance of driving being a right and not a privilege, as it should be. The average speed on a UK motorway is around 80 to 90mph (128 to 144kph) and this can be done quite safely as the rest of the drivers have the smarts not to pull out in front of you or charge down the left hand lane and cut in.
Will it really matter what the speed limits are? If you are the type that goes over the limit regularly than it won’t matter anyway? I don’t know anyone who sticks to the limits. I am a regular speeder; I am almost always above the limit. Am I a bad driver? No. Not a single accident. I always drive to the conditions and use common sense. Is speed the only factor in road accidents? No. So what’s the point in slowing everyone down? As long as a human is involved then their will always be errors, and as far as I know there is not cure for that. So we want less road deaths, the question I think is should cars be safer? Defiantly A global standard must be set for all manufactures to meet a five star rating. And what better time to implement new standards then right now, during the global economic crisis when so many manufactures are re structuring to fit an ever changing market.
A speed limit of 140km/h would be great. If the limit was eventually implemented it would be a safe bet the quite a lot of motorists would not drive to the new limit. The highways that receive the new limit would need to be a minimum of 4 lanes for the traffic to flow freely. In the case of the F3, the camber on more than a few corners would need to be altered.
I’d go for a limit of 130 kph. I’m old enough to remember when you could do this speed on the Hume highway and not be bothered by the revenue raisers.
It should be obvious to most reasonable people that the slowly lowering road toll over the last decade is almost entirely due to improved car safety. Similarly, the road toll dived during the last recession (the fact that people drive less in times of recession is well documented) – but the various state governments and police forces took ALL the credit. Watch them do the same this time around.
Finally – speed kills? I don’t think so. Poor driving ability and poor judgement might, though. The emphasis on speed as the major cause of road trauma is I think solely due to the fact that your speed can be measured without your car having to be stopped. Imagine if they had a camera that could detect drunk or drugged drivers; then we might see law enforcement concentrate on the things that are intrinsically dangerous, which speeding isn’t.
I love the statement “Every k over is a killer” Am i the only one who realized the symbol k stands for Kilojoules (kj). I know the message intention. But are they also trying to say we are fat? Or only fat people speed?
Speed definitely kills.
Crashing a car @ 150km/h, even a 5 star safety car won’t save your life.
100km/h is slow and boring, but I believe it could reduce some chances of serious accident.
People its “km/h” not kph.
Literacy is turning to crap US standards in this country. Be Australian, be proud, and use our units of measure!
In my opinion, the reason of speed limit is because that’s the only road accident factor that can be easily monitored.
How can we monitor a person driving while talking on mobile phone? Sure, police can do the job. How many officers are needed to spot all offenders?
How can we monitor a person hogging right lane? It’s their right to do so.
How can we monitor human negligence/error (fatigue, not stopping at stop sign, illegal u-turn, etc) and pre-emptively prevent it before it happens? Impossible.
Me and someone I know of have been involved in a number of accidents. And guess what, none of these accidents are caused by speed. None. Nil. All of them were due to the stupidity and in some instances, ignorance from other drivers.
Education and training is the key to eliminate most if not all factors contributing to road kills.
Riviera says:
“How can we monitor a person hogging right lane? It’s their right to do so”
Umm, not it’s not. It is a legal requirement to keep left on any road where the posted limit exceeds 70km/h.
And besides, the “Keep left” and “Tailgating” cameras ARE coming. You’ve been warned.
We have several dual-carriageway roads in Perth that could support 130km/h, but sadly are posted at 100km/h, which is slower than some of the most dangerous roads in WA (which are usually posted at 110km/h).
The new dual-carriageway Perth-Bunbury Hwy would be a prime candidate for an inter-city route that should be posted at 130km/h. In fact the stretch that was finished years ago is easily driven at this speed.
However, the problem that law makers face, beyond the need for revenue, is that people just cannot drive to the conditions. Driving at 130km/h at dusk can be very dangerous in Australia.
This isn’t Germany, where their autobahns are nicely fenced off from their skippy equivalent (deer) and have crash barriers along both sides of the road.
I think most cars’ braking systems are up to the task, but gearing is an issue. Our models delivered from places like Japan are geared very shortly. Drive a Euro car and notice the difference.
If we are talking about reducing irritation, I think dual-carriageways along major routes would be nice and having people keep left, and allowing those in the right lane to overtake at a reasonable speed without fear of getting a fine.
A slight bump up in speed limits in open country areas would help (I think people falling off the road won’t be affected that much as plenty manage to do it even now).
Finally, not having a huge ditch lined with massive trees next to the road might also reduce the loss of life on our country roads.
140 is a bit high, but generally support the notion of an increase. 130kmh would be the top. The problem with any increase of course is in the event of having to stop suddenly…stopping distances increase mega-proportionately the faster you go. Cant deny the law of physics no matter what you drive!
New Zealand had the 80kmh limit in the 70’s but changed it to 100. Can remember the stink that caused back then.
Look at the Italian situation. A few years ago they RAISED the limit from 130 to 150. I don’t know what the figures are, but in 6 weeks of driving in Italy I saw only one accident – a nose to tail when someone stopped suddenly at a pedestrian crossing. Only saw two accident damaged cars being towed as well.
One interesting result is that there are no high speed police patrols on the autostrada. No police cars more potent than Subaru Libertys, because such a large proportion of drivers stick to the limit that they don’t have an enforcement problem.
Also EVERYBODY indicates before going to pass in the fast lane – NOBODY bothers to indicate when they move back because everybody knows that they will do so as soon as they have finished passing.
Speed does not kill. Cars do not kill. People kill. The car is merely an instrument in which has the means of producing the outcome. Driver attitude is the harbinger of death on our roads. There is a big difference between speeding and reckless driving. For a reckless driver it doens’t matter if the speed limit is 140km/h or 40km/h. A reckless driver will find the means to endager his/her life and the lives of others. Unfortunately the only cure for this is education and maturity. Neither of which is possible to account accurately during a driving test. Hence as the goverment is under pressure to address this the only viable outcome is to lower speed limits. This is merely the appease the focus groups hell bent on destroying the passion of motoring. The politicians know this, the police know this. The only ones who do not know this are those easily swayed by the media and public opinion.
Solution: Make it compulsory for drivers to sit a personality test taylored to weed out the obviously reckless to be drivers. Then conduct extensive driver training (including skid pads, multi weather/condition driving) that is accessed. Stress test the individual (this should weed out those with tendencies to take action against thier better judgement). High speed assesment (this will train/test the individual for reflex times, spacial awareness and distance judgement). With this hopefully a breed of ‘professional’ drivers will reduce our road fatalities and abolish the rediculous speed limits.
A car has similar killing power to that of guns. Every driver should be aware that they are sitting in a loaded gun and one wrong move could set of the trigger.
140k’s on the highway will save lives, you see.
So why was the car invented? To go slower than a horse?
Thats what we will end up doing.
The article is a little misleading. The proposed new limit is only to be applied on rural single carriageway “A” catagory roads. The current 60mph is in most cases too high anyway and many roads are undriveable at that speed. Other road users (Trucks and Thomas79 types) generally hold traffic up driving between 40 and 50mph. So in reality most of the time thge limit is not exceeded.
We are still allowed to maintain a healthy 110Kmh on dualled roads with the police turning a blind eye pretty much on everyone not exceeding 135Kmh
For anyone above (and i’ve seen a few) suggesting that the standard of driving in the UK is inferior to here or elsewhere I would argue vehemently.
Training/tests are among the most stringent you would find, and in general European drivers (with possible exceptions of the Italians and French!) are more conscientious and follow the regs more closely than here.
50mph is too slow in a majority of cases. Vast swathes of road are at the national limit, most of which are 60+mph safely. If there are other areas which need to get knocked down, then i’m all for limits there (thinking of several A-roads across the North) but theres just no need for that limit on 85% of it.
The summary, and seeming consensus above, is that the limit should be apropriate for the road. On the vast majority of derestricted roads 60 is the sensible limit. Other parts, stick in a limit and camera.
Oh, and by the way… absolute B/S coming from those saying speed cameras are a key revnue source for Govt, something like 20m GBP net profit in 08 – as I believe Top Gear itself told us – Simon Cowell pays more than that in Income Tax alone!
Has anyone done any stats on the number of accidents fatalities in the NT for before and after the speed limit was imposed? This would make interesting reading
I see absolutely no reason for not increasing the speed limit of light motor vehicles NOT towing trailers boats etc to 120kmph when the current law deems it “safe” for 30 tonne rigs to do 100/110 kmph right up my ass as I have experienced several times on the Bruce and Peak Downs Highway.
I also think it would be a good idea for the relevent authorities to be more proactive with safety and make Australia the first country to make it manditory that all new light motor vehicles sold in this country be fitted with ABS as standard. It is a small cost to pay for something that has prooved to save lives in the past
We need a maximum of 4 of speed limits according to the type of road and location. 1 for Motorways and out of town Dual Carriageways. 1 for Urban Dual Carriageways. 1 for single carriageway out of town roads and 1 for single carriageways in built up areas. Currently, the speed limit appears to alter at random often leaving the motorist unsure of the limit.
These days I find that I spend more time looking at my speedometer than the road ahead. Constantly varying speed limits are more likel;y to cause accidents than allowing drivers to drive according to conditions.
I have just returned from Italy on holiday and if any of you have driven there recently it’s a real eye opener. It could be described as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
In the cities its very aggressive driving and in Naples its hard to find a car without panel damage but despite this style of driving I saw no road rage just liberal use of the horn. That’s the Mr Hyde side of them.
Their motorways were an absolute pleasure to drive on, trucks were limited in speed (60, 80 and 100km/h depending on size and weight I guess) and could only use the inside lanes. The speed limit was 110 to 130kph but most drivers appeared to sit around 140km/h and for the most part drove to the 2 second rule. The outside lane was for overtaking and if you are out there and there is a faster car coming up quickly behind they flashed their lights to says “ I’m here and want passed” and people do move over asap to let them through. Fast moving cars were sitting at a guess 160 to 200 km/h with no problems and no sign of traffic police or speed cameras.
One near crash but that was because the female drive had a cell phone welded to here left ear and almost put an Alfa 159 into the crash barriers as she weaved/drifted into the outside lane as he was passing. Good job the guy was fully alert probably from driving at those faster speeds and reacted very quickly to avoid a crash. One big crash but that involved two trucks and spilt half a curtain trailer of Becks beers over the hard shoulder and I think these guys were in an 80 kph zone for trucks at the time so another nail in the coffin for speed kills! Maybe driving to close to the truck in front with a full load and could not stop in time might have been a possible cause?
My girlfriend during the trip drove from London to Glasgow. Now she has to drive all over Melbourne to visit clients everyday and she said afterwards that even the UK roads and drivers made for a very pleasant journey compared to Melbourne.
Driving on Melbourne’s freeways is a nightmare. Trucks, cars and 4 x 4’s 3 meter from the back of your car, virtually pushing you along, slower vehicles hogging the outside lanes, cars undertaking you everywhere and speed cameras everywhere. You need eyes in the back of your head and cat like reflexes just to survive.
Vic Roads and the Police should remove their blinkers and model what actually works a dam sight better and safer from other countries in the world rather than ramming down our throats that speed kills and installing another 1,000,000 speed cameras to fix the problem of road deaths. When are they going to wake up and smell the coffee its not going to do anything except annoy even more drivers.
Fix the problems!
The roads are more than capably of being driven at 130kph + but the road rules and the complete lack good/sensible drivers with the correct ability/skills would result in horrific accidents at this increased speed but if you have ever driven in Germany you will know how good it was! We are all human, right! If they can do it there why can’t it be done here!!
Well said David Hunter I too have been to Germany and concur with your observations
I am getting increasingly ‘annoyed” with these trucks driving up my rear. We despirately need a legal speed differential (20 kmph) between light vehicles and trucks to allow safe passing and prevent road trains forming which is a recipe for a serious head on.
Speed DOES NOT kill !!! FACT !!!
It is the sudden deceleration which kills, and this is caused solely by DANGEROUS driving. This will still happen regardless of posted speed limits.
They will have us all driving at 4MPH with a person carrying a flag in front at this bloody rate.
The whole purpose of DRIVING is to GET SOMEWHERE is it not?
Solution to all the dangers on the roads = TAX people who happen to be driving along a clear stretch of motorway in good conditions a few MPH above the dictated limit.
BG