Mr. G. Wilsonasked the Minister of Transport what proposals he has for bringing special speed limits into operation over the Whitsun week-end.
§ Mr. MarplesYes. I intend to introduce experimentally a speed limit of 50 m.p.h. from 6.0 a.m. on the Friday before Whitsun until 6.0 a.m. on the following Tuesday on about 150 miles of trunk routes which carry a heavy volume of holiday traffic and where the liability to accidents at these times is high. The appended table shows the routes which are being considered. I am consulting the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee about the stretches within the London Traffic Area.
List of Roads proposed for a 50 m.p.h. speed limit experiment miles 1. London-Southend (A.12 and A. 127) (Gallows Corner to Southend) 21 2. London-Maidstone (A.20) (Foots Cray to Maidstone) 18 3. Great North Road (A.I) (a)Finchley Lane to Apex Corner 4 (b)South Mimms to Hatfield 5 4. Western Avenue and London-Oxford (A .40) (Perivale to High Wycombe) 18 5. London-Brighton (A.23) (Northernend of Crawley By-pass to Brighton) 19 6. Leeds-Scarborough (A.64) (a)Leeds to Tadcaster 9 (b) York to Malton 18 7. Manchester-Chester (A.56 and A.556) (Altrincham to Lostock Gralam) 9 8. Blackpool-Preston (A.583) (whole length) 9 9. Penrith-Carlisle (A.6) 13 10. Gloucester-Bristol (A.38) (Newport (Glos.) to Gloucester) 13 Note: All lengths will be exclusive of portions already subject to general speed limits of 30 m.p.h. or 40 m.p.h. which will be unaltered.