§ 69. Mr. L. Thomasasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he has yet received the Report of the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee on the operation of the 30 miles-per-hour speed limit in built-up areas as applied to roads of traffic importance in the London traffic area: and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WatkinsonI have now received this Report and am arranging for it to be published. The Committee recommends that the existing speed limit of 30 m.p.h. should be retained in built-up areas. It also recommended that a new differential speed limit of 40 m.p.h. should be introduced on some lengths of main traffic routes where the 30 m.p.h. 41W speed limit is considered unduly restrictive but where excessive speeds would be dangerous. Four members are opposed to a differential speed limit but think that in view of the conflict of opinion an experiment should be made with a speed limit of 45 m.p.h. The Committee also makes some other recommendations bearing on the question of speed which cannot conveniently be summarised here. I should like to take this opportunity of expressing my warm thanks to Mr. Samuels, the Chairman of the Committee, and to his colleagues for their comprehensive and lucid Report.