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Road Safety Bill [HL]

Local authorities currently have no choice about the 60 mph speed limit, which is the default speed limit. We are not suggesting taking away local authorities’ choice, but if the default were reduced to 30 mph in villages and 40 mph on rural roads without white lines, local authorities could if they wished keep it at 60 mph. Their choice will not be removed; it is the default position that will be altered. The problem at present is that many communities and local authorities want to reduce the speed limit but   the process is bureaucratic, expensive and time-consuming. It is one thing for a village to make a choice not to have a speed limit and quite another for it to be told when it wants one that, because of the bureaucracy, the council cannot afford it and it must wait. Leaving the matter to local choice addresses the point made by the noble Lord earlier. In country lanes where 60 mph is a perfectly reasonable speed limit, it can be left at that. The local authority could change the regulation in its own area, but the default for many roads that are not suitable would then be 40 mph. That is a much more sensible way forward in the eyes of the great coalition of people.