In early March 2009, the Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick announced that the Government is considering cutting the national speed limit on single carriageway rural roads to 50 mph. A consultation will be launched by the Department of Transport in early summer 2009 and the change could come into effect in early 2010.

Mr Fitzpatrick has considered the almost 3000 deaths and 30,000 serious injuries on British roads in 2007 to be unacceptable and hopes that this reduction in the speed limit on rural roads will save 200-250 lives per year. Interestingly, in 2007 over two-thirds of car crash fatalities occurred on rural roads.

The national speed limit would be reduced on every single rural road. However, the respective local authority would have the power to increase the speed limit back to 60 mph if justified.

Worryingly, it seems that the Department for Transport wishes to introduce numerous average speed cameras, also known as SPECS, across the country to enforce a new 50 mph general speed limit. The company behind the speed cameras claim that there is a 60% reduction in deaths or serious injuries on stretches covered by the speed cameras. We are sure there will also be a rise in the number of speeding tickets issued on rural roads too.

Mr Fitzpatrick highlights the unsuitability of rural roads with bends, dips and difficult conditions for 60 mph driving. We have to question why a blanket reduction to 50 mph is therefore necessary when the Road Safety Minister seems to only be concerned with roads with hazards on.

There is also a risk of alienating a significant proportion of motorists. In 2008, the AA surveyed over 17,000 motorists. In that survey, less than half the motorists backed the 50 mph speed limit and nearly two-fifths opposed it. The fear that almost 2 out of every 5 drivers will not agree with the speed limit and therefore some will not follow it, bringing about more overtaking, which inevitably leads to high risk of collisions and therefore deaths or serious injuries, is not to be ignored.

Here at roadtrafficlawdirect.com, we urge the Road Safety Minister to reconsider the proposed 50 mph blanket speed limit for rural roads. Instead, we suggest that a survey is undertaken of all the rural roads, including their junctions. From this survey, roads and junctions that are either proven to be dangerous due to collisions, deaths and serious injuries over the years can be adapted to make them safer. Roads might be adapted by imposing a speed limit below 60 mph, which may be as low as 30 or 40 mph, improving road markings and signs, and altering junctions so that they are safer. However, our fear is that this suggestion will not be welcomed by the Road Safety Minister because it would cost money whereas average speed cameras earn money through speeding tickets.