§ Sir Hector Monroasked the Secretary of State for Transport what account he took of the length of road required to overtake when fixing the speed limits on single carriageway trunk roads for private cars and heavy goods vehicles in the case of vehicles in each category travelling on clear roads, at the maximum permitted speeds for each class of vehicle.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe national speed limit for cars travelling on unrestricted single carriageway roads is 60 mph and the vehicle speed limit for heavy lorries on these roads is 40 mph. These limits were set in 1977 and 1963 respectively and are unaffected by the Motor Vehicles (Variation of Speed Limits) Regulations 1984, which my right hon. Friend laid before Parliament for approval on 8 February. I am satisfied that these speeds are safe in normal conditions on well engineered roads, but it is always the responsibility of the driver to ensure that it is safe to overtake before doing so.