New UK Prime Minister is open to raising motorway speed limits

Britain's new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, is open to the idea of a fresh assessment of the 70 miles-an-hour (112km/h) mandatory speed limit on the country's major freeways.

The British Prime Minister originally touted the idea of a higher limit at a conference in Birmingham in 2018, when she was serving as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. 

Then, earlier this year, in a debate before succeeding Boris Johnson as the country's Prime Minister, one of her party members asked about speed limits.

She was quizzed on whether limits should be removed, allowing drivers to decide their own safe speed — similar to the situation on unrestricted sections of German autobahn — according to Auto Express magazine in the UK.

“On speed limits, we need to be prepared to look at that," Ms Truss reportedly said.

Even so, she stopped short of endorsing a blanket removal of speed limits or any timing for an assessment of safe speeds on British roads, even though there is little enforcement of drivers who regularly travel at 80mph (129km/h) in good weather conditions on motorways.

“I can’t give you a precise answer,” Ms Truss said.

There has been discussion about Britain's speed limits for more than a decade, with local authorities consistently moving to reduce limits in urban areas — coinciding with the rollout of highly-visible fixed speed cameras — and several suggestions to lift the motorway limit to improve traffic flow and reduce travel times.

The British government proposed an increase to 80mph in 2011, although plans were abandoned for fear of increasing emissions.

The idea for an 80mph limit was raised again in 2019 by the UK's Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, who suggested the widespread adoption of electric vehicles and the lowering of emissions to follow could make it feasible to increase the limit.

But Mr Shapps was sacked by Prime Minister Truss within hours of her taking the top job, although she has yet to appoint a new Transport Secretary.

Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson was a high-profile cyclist during his time as the Lord Mayor of London — even though he was once the motoring editor of GQ Magazine in the UK, and infamous for the number of parking tickets he racked up while driving media evaluation vehicles owned by car companies.

The motoring discussion at Ms Truss's debate also focussed on the country's 'smart motorways' network, which she had pledged to scrap.

The experimental system was intended to increase road capacity at peak times by allowing drivers to drive on the hard shoulder, (or breakdown lane) and improving traffic flow with variable speed limits.

The UK government has already paused the rollout of smart motorways for five years.

“I do believe that the smart motorway network experiment hasn’t worked,” Ms Truss said. 

“I absolutely think that we need to review them and stop them, if they are not working, as soon as possible. All the evidence I have suggests they're not working,” She said.