NO to 60mph motorway limit, say 78% of drivers

Friday, March 14, 2014 - 15:00
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OPPOSED: Are you against the limit cut plans?

Plans to lower motorway speed limits have been blasted by almost eight in ten drivers.

A Motorpoint poll of more than 4,100 motorists has revealed that 78.1% do NOT want the government to introduce a 60mph limit on a 34-mile section of the M1.

Under proposals, the section – spanning Derbyshire and Yorkshire – would have the maximum limit enforced between 7am and 7pm, seven days a week, from 2015.

The plans have been mooted as part of a drive to meet European Union clean air targets.

“The government needs to be focusing its efforts on making the motorway ‘smarter’ rather than harder, adding lanes wherever possible to free up traffic and avoid costly queues.”

Mark Carpenter, Motorpoint

Mark Carpenter, Managing Director of Motorpoint, said: “The results of our poll are definitive – drivers don’t want to go any slower on motorways – rather they want to get their destination quicker.

“The government needs to be focusing its efforts on making the motorway ‘smarter’ rather than harder, adding lanes wherever possible to free up traffic and avoid costly queues.

“Motorists are already doing their bit for the environment by buying greener cars in record numbers and the government needs to respond in kind rather than introducing measures that will only contribute to making our motorways even slower.”

5 Comments

  1. If the government can provide statistics to prove that this measure will be effective and not a waste of resource for the sake of ticking a box then support would follow. Trust a Government decision – not on the records of the last 200 years.
    An efficient rail freight system would achieve more and stop road freight companies from moanimg about fuel tax.

  2. Whether or not a 60mph speed limit is right for motorists is not the point!
    It’s the fact that this law is passed on by an unelected remote power against the will of the people that they are supposed to serve

  3. I wonder if anyone has bothered to work out the difference in pollution in a car being driven at 60 mph for 34 mins and 80 mph for only 25.5 mins. Less pollution at 60mph but the car is in the area longer so I doubt there would be a significant difference overall.

  4. Would it not be the case that slowing traffic means more time on the road, engines running longer and therefore emitting MORE pollution into the atmosphere?

  5. Government is obliged to follow air pollution directives in order to protect public health. The smart approach is to measure pollution risk objectively – concerns will be urban centres or existing industrial zones. Whilst emmissions of some pollutants are clearly down some exhaust particles can exceed limits. Pollution measurement and assessment is critical to a smart solution. Drivers are unlikley to appreciate risks of invisible but harmful emissions so the response is no surprise!