UK: Some Motorways Will Have 60 MPH Limits

The UK government is planning a new traffic restriction, named “controlled motorways”: a permanent 60 mph limit could be imposed on up to 250 miles of the national motorway network, autocar wrote.

This scheme is to be implemented over the following 5 years, and controlled motorways speed limits could be lowered to 50 mph and even 40 mph when the traffic is congested.

The new law will be enforced by a technological army of average speed cameras and road sensors and will usually be introduced alongside "hard shoulder" running, in places where the hard shoulder is used as a fourth lane on heavily congested areas of the motorway. The Highways Agency now has its own Digital Enforcement Camera System (HADECS), which transmits information about speed exceeding vehicles directly to "a secure police office".

“The controlled motorway (CM) system is designed to minimize the risk of flow breakdown and reduce accidents, thereby producing more reliable journey times,” according to a Department for Transport (DfT) report for the Secretary of State for Transport.

“Mandatory speed limits are set automatically… 60mph and 50mph speed limits are displayed on the overhead gantries to address congestion. When necessary to protect traffic from queues, 40mph limits can also be set.” the report continues to say.

The DfT has set these speed limits as the institution considers that speeds between 40 mph and 60 mph are optimal for reducing CO2 emissions. This is based on research which has been conducted on the M42.

“Emissions per mile fall as average speed increases to 40-50mph, where the fuel efficiency of the engine is greatest, and then rises as the average speed increases towards 70mph and fuel efficiency falls,” the report states.

The DfT intends to implement the controlled motorways system over a large area, covering the whole of the M25, stretches of the M40, M3, M4 and M23, as well as most of the roads around Birmingham.

The M1 into Yorkshire and the M6 between Birmingham and Manchester are earmarked, as is the Manchester ring road and M6 north of Preston. Hard-shoulder running was tested on the M42 near Solihull, and is now applied on the M6.

Because this CM system would also be suitable for tolling and the DfT has been considering charging motorists since a long time ago, a conspiracy theory has spread, stating that the government may plan local road charging in the future.

Considering the ever increasing amount of traffic law induced stress British motorists have to endure, we think it would be fair if the government built a national network of track-day facilities and granted people free access to it.