Safe Speed Forums

We do not intend to raise the speed limit from the current 70 mph to 80 mph. This was our policy at the last election but on reflection we have decided that this could have some disadvantages. The first one is environmental as the faster cars go above a certain speed the more CO2 they produce per kilometre and the second point is that if we increase the speed limit to 80 mph there would have to be some draconian measures, possibly involving speed cameras or time over distance cameras, to ensure that people did not use that as an excuse to travel at 90 mph. I am sure you are aware that current ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) guidance is not to prosecute until the person is doing over 10% plus 1. This would mean if the speed limit was 80 mph people would be travelling at almost 90 mph before they were liable to be prosecuted. This could have effects on road safety and also it has been shown by research that if cars travel faster on very busy roads the journey times do tend to increase because of the bunching of traffic and the way the congestion builds up. We have seen on road works for example that where a 50 mph speed limit is enforced by time over distance cameras then the number of vehicles getting through the road works is greater than if no speed limit were enforced.
I have pasted a copy of Theresa Villiers speech at the Party Conference which makes some announcements on both safety cameras and clamping of parked cars which I hope you will find interesting.
Thank you again for your interest. We will be outlining some more of our policies as time goes on as we get nearer to the election which I hope you will take an interest in.