§ Lord Stoddart of Swindonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Whitty on 12 July (WA 12) concerning the accident rate on the elevated section of the M.4 motorway, why they reduced the speed limit to 40 miles per hour on the basis of an extra 1.6 personal injury accident per year above the rate for dual two-lane motorways with a 50 miles per hour speed limit; and on what other stretches of motorways or "A" roads has the speed limit been similarly reduced on the basis of such a small variation in the accident statistics. [HL3833]
§ Lord WhittyThe elevated section of the M.4 is unlike most other sections of dual two-lane motorways. It has no hard shoulder and the horizontal alignment is in places below normal full standards. Therefore a direct comparison with average accident rates for other motorways is not appropriate. The key factor here is the high proportion of accidents in which the police have identified excessive speed as a contributory factor and which the lower speed limit will affect. The police fully support the reduced speed limit.
Improving road safety remains one of our key objectives and the forecast reduction is one of many individual schemes and measures that together will make a substantial contribution to our target of reducing the number of casualties by one third by the year 2000.