Spain Cuts Speed Limit Due to Oil Crisis

The oil crisis in Lybia and in the Arab region not only that raised petrol prices in most countries across the globe, but also made authorities take at least curious decision. The Spanish government has recently decided to cut the speed limit from 120 km/h (75 mph) to 110 km/h (68 mph) because of the booming oil prices in Arabia, in an effort to reduce fuel consumption and thus save some money usually spent on gasoline and diesel.

“We are going to go a bit slower and in exchange we will consume less petrol and pay less money," deputy prime minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said in a statement.

But Spain residents are not at all pleased with the decision and claim that this is actually a method to fine drivers and thus raise more money from penalties. Furthermore, the Popular Party claims the decision to reduce the national speed limit is just "absurd and improvised", pointing to the period dictator Gen Franco was in power, BBC News reports.

"This measure is restricting the freedom of people who are not harming others," said Ismael Sanz, economist at King Juan Carlos University in Madrid, according to the aforementioned source. "We could ask: what next? Will the government make people go to sleep earlier to reduce their consumption of light?"

"If people are devoting a higher share of their income to imported fuel, then they're spending less buying Spanish products, going for tapas. That ends up costing jobs; everything is affected."