UK Government Says No To 100mph Motorway Speed Limit

Well, file this one under ‘wow, shock horror.’ In the least surprising move ever, the Government has responded unequivocally to a parliamentary petition to raise the nation’s motorway speed limit 100mph, and 80mph for dual carriageways.

Currently, both types of road are subject to the national speed limit of 70mph, unless a lower limit is specifically put in place. This was introduced in late 1965 for motorways – before that, Britain’s then-new motorway network had no speed limit at all.

A British motorway in the 1960s

The petition argues that modern vehicles offer better stopping distances and improved active safety technology, such as adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance systems, and that the now 58-year-old limit is outdated. It also reckons that a higher speed limit will improve traffic flow, reducing congestion and therefore speeding up the UK’s supply chain and massaging its economy.

In the UK, a petition aimed at the Government has to be considered for debate in Parliament when it reaches 100,000 signatures, but a written response must be provided at 10,000. Westminster’s response to this one, which has just over 40,000 names on it at the time of writing, is as follows:  “The Government has undertaken no recent assessment on increasing national speed limits and we have no current plans to undertake such an assessment on the basis of traffic flow or other factors.”

The M1 motorway, with the usual amount of traffic

It goes on to argue that it would be too complex to model any potential economic benefits of the change, given that it would lead to a higher risk of collisions and greater fuel consumption, potentially cancelling out the shorter journey times.

This isn’t at all a surprising response: while the prospect of raising the motorway limit to 80mph has been floated a number of times in the past, most recently in 2022 by Britain’s shortest-serving Prime Minister, Liz Truss, a focus on reducing transport emissions and road deaths mean any dramatic jump like this is unlikely to ever happen.

A British dual carriageway

If you do want to see it debated in Parliament, then the petition is still signable online despite the Government’s response. You’ll have to be quick to get it to 100,000 signatures, though: all petitions are being closed on 30 May so Parliament can be dissolved ahead of the 4 July general election.