Speed Limits: Rural Areas
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the national speed limit of 60 mph on unlit single-track rural lanes.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood
The Department has not made an assessment of the adequacy of the national speed limit of 60mph on unlit single-track rural lanes.
On many rural lanes their width and sinuosity lead to speeds that are already far lower than the national limit. Lowering limits does not always result in significantly slower speeds and general compliance would need to be achievable without too heavy a reliance on police enforcement.
Traffic authorities are best placed to decide where lower limits will be effective on the roads for which they are responsible. In doing so, they are asked to consider important factors including the history of collisions, the road function, the composition of road users including vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists, and the geometry and environment of the road.
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