Motorways (Hansard, 28 March 1991)

§ Mr. Day
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the current average speed of cars on motorways in Great Britain.

§ Mr. Chope
Data on vehicle speeds are collected by automatic counters as a by-product of the national traffic census. The counters are not placed near bends, hills or junctions and so can measure vehicle speeds only in uncongested conditions. The results do not, therefore, give any indication of overall average journey speeds.
At present, only a limited number of counters are in operation on motorways, but the data so far available suggest that the average speed of cars in 1990 was 73 mph.

§ Mr. Day
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effect on(a) the fatality rate, in terms of distance travelled, and (b) the average speed of cars on motorways in Great Britain if the motorway speed limit were to be raised to 80 mph.

§ Mr. Chope
The relationship between speed, speed limits, accident risk and accident severity are complex and, in the absence of recent experience in the United Kingdom of changing speed limits, difficult to predict. On the basis of overseas experience and, in particular recent changes in speed limits in the United States and Switzerland, an increase in the motorway speed limit to 80 mph might result in an increase in the average free-flow speed of cars and a consequent increase in motorway fatalities.

§ Mr. Day
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was the fatality rate, in terms of distance travelled, on motorways in Great Britain for the latest 12-month period available.

§ Mr. Chope
The most recent data available are for 1989, when there were 228 fatalities on motorways and A(M) roads at an estimated rate of 3.8 fatalities per billion vehicle kilometres.