Planned 80mph limit in England is deemed too quick north of Border

PLANS to raise the motorway speed limit across Britain to 80mph fly in the face of Scottish Government policy to cut emissions and improve safety, environmental groups have warned.

The UK government said the change could be made in 2013 to boost the economy, but Scottish ministers may have the final say north of the Border because they are due to take control of national speed limits next year.

The Scottish Government yesterday gave no indication of whether it is likely to support an 80mph limit, but its road safety blueprint, published in 2009, urged drivers to cut speeds.

Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020 recommended motorists “drive at speeds lower than the limit when appropriate to the conditions”.

The document added: “In addition to increased safety, lower vehicle speeds can have financial and other benefits”.

It also highlighted that driving at 80mph rather than 70mph used 10-15 per cent more fuel.

A Scottish Government climate change action plan, also published in 2009, even included an option to cut the motorway speed limit to 60mph to reduce emissions, but this was omitted from an update report this year.

Richard Dixon, director of environmental campaigners WWF Scotland, said of the 80mph plan: “This is an entirely backwards move and would be particularly unfortunate in Scotland where the government has already raised the idea of lower speed limits to conserve fuel, reduce emissions and save lives.

“It will be fascinating to learn from the official consultation how many more people UK ministers propose to condemn to death and how much more carbon will be emitted so a few people can get to a meeting five minutes early.”

Scottish ministers are due to take control of national speed limits next year under proposals in the Scotland Bill.

The UK Department for Transport (DfT) said the move would apply only to motorways and dual carriageways “close to motorway standard”, such as those with limited numbers of junctions.

A spokeswoman stressed the planned three-month consultation would not include changes to speed limits on urban roads such as 20mph zones, which would continue to be the responsibility of local authorities.

She said an 80mph motorway limit would save hundreds of millions of pounds a year in reduced journey times.

The spokeswoman said vehicles had become much safer since the 70mph limit was introduced in 1965, with deaths on all roads cut by three-quarters.

She added that several European countries had motorway speed limits of 80mph or above, such as Italy and France.

She also said Denmark had not seen a surge in motorists accelerating to 90mph when its motorway limit was recently raised from 70mph to 80mph.

DfT figures show nearly half of drivers exceeded the 70mph limit last year, with 14 per cent doing more than 80mph.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We will consider the implications for Scotland. The current UK Government Scotland bill would devolve responsibility to set some aspects of speed limits – including motorways – probably some time next year.

“The Scottish Government believes that bill should be improved to devolve responsibility for the speed of all classes of vehicle, not just the maximum speed of vehicles on roads. This would provide greater clarity and accountability for this issue in Scotland. Ministers have no plans to reduce speed limits.”

The spokesman added that this year’s update report on cutting climate change emissions “acknowledges the role that a reduction in speed limits can play in reducing emissions, but the measure is not included in the package of action to meet targets for 2010-2022”.