Government to let local authorities set speeds
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pr The government Is believed to have shied away from reducing speed limits, preferring instead to give local authorities discretionary powers to alter them to suit local conditions.
A review of speed policy was prompted by last year's Transport White Paper and proposals are due to be published soon after Christmas as part of a general road safety strategy.
Ideas under consideration included a blanket cut of 30mph limits to 20mph and reducing speeds on single carriageway roads outside urban areas from BOmph to 50mph.
But Prime Minister Tony Blair is understood to have personally intervened to block the proposals, fearing a political backlash from motorists.
A spokesman for the Department of Transport said the road safety strategy had not yet been written so nothing was decided.
Transport 2000 and other transport and road safety pressure groups have already condemned Blair for caving into the motoring lobby at the expense of road safety. All the surveys show there would be considerable support for lowering speed limits in many, many places across the country," said Lynn Sloman of Transport 2000.
Geoff Dossetter of the Freight Transport Association said altering speed limits at local level to suit local conditions was the best approach. "Sometimes trucks get a lot of flack from motorists for operating at a speed limit of 50mph when it would be easier for everyone if it could go faster. Perhaps ideas like the variable speed limit on the M25 could be used elsewhere as well."
a A year-long investigation by motoring organisation the AA has found that Britain has the safest roads in Europe with the risk of being killed almost four times lower than in Greece or Portugal. The report also highlights "pitifully low" levels of investment on the transport infrastructure although the British pay
most for petrol and diesel.