Speed limit rise 'will cost lives'
Sunday, 08 January, 2012 11:08:20 AM
The 80mph motorway speed limit could lead to more crashes, causing injury and death, medical experts have warned.
The risks will outweigh the benefits of the Government's plans to push up the limit up by 10mph in England and Wales, claimed a report in the British Medical Journal.
Former Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said that the current limit is 'out of date' and a higher one would bring economic benefits.
He insisted that the fact almost half of drivers were routinely breaking the law showed it was the law that needed to be changed.
But Martin McKee, professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: 'It is difficult to see how any benefits of an 80mph speed limit would outweigh the costs.
'Past evidence shows that speed limit increases lead to substantial rises in road deaths, as well as other potential negative health and economic impacts.'
He said proposal was a 'populist gimmick' from the Coalition Government.
'Given the recent loss of life on the M5 motorway, we challenge the Government to produce the evidence to justify their policy with its attendant risks to life,' added Prof McKee.
The Government pointed out that the road death rate in the UK had fallen by 75 per cent in the past 55 years, to one of the lowest in the world.
This was put down to improvements in car safety.
The speed limit hike is due to be complete by 2013, but researchers are now challenging all of the Government's arguments.
They questioned whether the suggested economic benefits would materialise, given that the higher limit will not extend to heavy goods vehicles.
Their main concern is based on research which links rises in speed limits to 'exponential' increases in crashes resulting in injury and death.
In the U.S., higher speed limits were introduced in 1988 after a reduction in speed back in 1975 as a result of the 1974 oil crisis.
The increase led to a 16.6 per cent rise in accident-related deaths.
Speed limits on highways and freeways only rose from 65mph to 70-75mph and from 55mph to 60-65mph.
The researchers also identified other health-related reasons for keeping the current limit, including the increase of gas emissions, air pollution and potential rise in obesity due to more people taking advantage of shorter car journeys.
According to data published by the BBC, a total of 36,371 people were killed on Britain's roads between 1999 and 2010.
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