Lower speed limits on UK rural roads will save lives

The UK's Department for Transport has unveiled new guidance that will make it easier for 40mph (64km/h) speed limits to be imposed on quiet rural roads. These roads currently have a typical speed limit of 60mph but the Government is keen to change this in a bid to reduce road casualties. The latest figures from the government show that there were 1,901 road deaths in 2011, a three per cent increase on 2010. In 2010, 68 per cent of road deaths occurred on rural roads, of which almost 50 per cent had a speed
July 16, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The UK's 1837 Department for Transport has unveiled new guidance that will make it easier for 40mph (64km/h) speed limits to be imposed on quiet rural roads. These roads currently have a typical speed limit of 60mph but the Government is keen to change this in a bid to reduce road casualties. The latest figures from the government show that there were 1,901 road deaths in 2011, a three per cent increase on 2010. In 2010, 68 per cent of road deaths occurred on rural roads, of which almost 50 per cent had a speed limit of 60mph.

Normally it would prove expensive for a local authority to reduce a speed limit, as they have to put up several signs. However, under the new plans they will be allowed to designate quiet parts of roads as 40mph zones, requiring just one sign to show where the zone begins and one to show where it ends. It is thought that this move will also help to combat road clutter.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • IAM calls for more visible policing as speeding offences rise
    October 1, 2015
    Figures obtained by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) show that, over the last decade, speeding is still the biggest motoring-related offence where the defendant is found guilty in court. The numbers of those found guilty have risen sharply in the past 12 months – from 115,935 to 148,426, an increase of 28 per cent, the highest number since 2005. The 2014 figures were two per cent greater than 2004. The next highest offence where defendants were found guilty was vehicle insurance-related crime
    Read More
  • Enforcement a key part of the road safety solution
    January 31, 2012
    The Partnership for Advancing Road Safety is a new organisation set up in the US to push the national debate on speed and intersection safety, something which hitherto has been absent. Here, executive director David Kelly explains the organisation's work. With moves to address drink/drug driving and the wearing of seatbelts starting to prove successful in the US, the use of inappropriate speed and poor driving at intersections have become responsible for a proportionately greater number of the deaths and in
    Read More
  • APA supports automated work zone speed enforcement
    July 17, 2015
    A trade association representing the highway construction industry strongly supports automated enforcement of speed limits in work zones and Maryland's experience with a similarly designed program has had very good results, the association head has told a joint Pennsylvania House and Senate committee. According to PennDOT, 24 people were killed in work-zone crashes in 2014, eight more than in 2013. Additionally, there were 1,841 crashes in work zones last year, a slight decrease from the 1,851 crashes
    Read More
  • Improve and increase mass transit systems to minimise congestion
    January 24, 2012
    Rather looking to solve congestion by spreading the load, perhaps we need to look at concentrating it. Michael L. Sena writes. We humans were made to walk and run at embarrassingly slow speeds by comparison with other, more fleet-footed organisms. The sea is not our natural habitat and we were definitely not designed to fly unaided. Nevertheless, humankind has evolved a method of living during the past century that is dependent on transporting its members over very long distances during relatively short per
    Read More

Highlighted Content