British speed limit stays at 112km/h

Press, 26 July 1984, Page 31

British speed limit stays at 112km/h

Britain’s motorway speed limit will remain at 112 km/h and will not be raised to 128 km/h, the Transport Minister, Mrs Lynda Chalker, has announced. The British Government seemed set to raise the limit and leading British motoring organisations, gParliamentarians and even some county police forces have been pressing for the increase to 128 km/h. The 112 km/h limit was set as an experiment in 1965. An argument in favour of increasing the limit was that police had difficulty in enforcing the 112 km/h maximum, which was widely disregarded by many motorists, and that the comparatively low accident level on motorways and improved safety of modem

vehicles justified a revision. However, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, advancing a case for the retention of the 112 km/h limit, claimed that the number of car accident victims kept in hospital had been reduced 35 per cent since 1965 and warned that a higher limit could raise accident levels at a time when injuries were being substantially reduced by the compulsory wearing of seat belts. The British Government’s decision'has met a storm of criticism. Motoring organisations have expressed great disappointment and one Conservative member of Parliament has described the decision as silly.