British drivers back speed status quo

MORE than 20,000 Britons have signed a petition that aims to overthrow a UK government proposal to reduce the national speed limit.

Organised by the Association of British Drivers (ABD), the petition is currently the fourth largest petition on the UK prime minister’s website.

“This proposal has nothing to do with road safety, and nothing to do with protecting the environment,” said ABD spokesman Nigel Humphries last week.

“It is born of the anti-mobility ideology of new-age Luddites who don't even drive.” The British government has proposed reducing the national speed limit on single-carriageway rural roads from 60mph to 50mph, but the ABD says that instead of reducing the road toll the plan would prolong travel, reduce driver concentration and “further increase contempt for the law”.

“I call upon all of Britain’s 33 million drivers to sign this petition to allow them to continue to be vigilant when driving, rather than be sent to sleep by these absurdly low speed limits,” said ABD chairman Brian Gregory.