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Road Safety Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 17:"After Clause 42, insert the following new clause—" ““SPEED LIMIT FOR COUNTRY LANES (1) In Part 1 of Schedule 6 to the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (c. 27) (which sets out speed limits in miles per hour for different classes of road in respect of certain classes of vehicles) the third column of the Table is amended as follows. (2) In the heading and in respect of each item as shown, after column (b), insert—

The noble Baroness said: My Lords, Amendment No. 17 is similar to Amendment No. 3 which had a full debate earlier. It seeks to reduce the default speed limit on single carriageway rural roads to 40 mph from the current 60 mph. Department for Transport figures show that 63 per cent of fatal collisions occur on rural roads and also demonstrate that progress in reducing casualty rates in the countryside has been half that of urban roads. On the Friday between Christmas and New Year, in my home town of Needham Market, an 18 year-old friend of my son was buried. He had been in an accident the previous week. I watched his young friends stand by in horror. For most of them, it was their first experience of the death of a contemporary. All too often, young people are the victims of road traffic accidents in rural areas, many of which are, of course, because there is no alternative in such an area but to use a private car. Most young people get to 17 years of age and the first thing that they want to do is to drive. The amendment seeks to define a country lane as a road without a centre white line, which means that it is a narrow road on which for most of its length two cars cannot pass. It will establish a convention that on this sort of road a 40 mph speed limit will apply. I accept the proposition that the legal speed limit is not the same as the appropriate speed limit. Clearly, currently, on that type of road, 60 mph is the legal speed limit. It is almost certainly never the appropriate speed limit. I would suggest that, on a narrow lane where two vehicles cannot pass, no one thinks that approaching each other at 60 mph is right. I do not think that anyone would accept that. It therefore seems an odd signal to send out that 60 mph is legal, but not appropriate. I hope that the Government will give some thought to that. The Government’s advisory body, the Motorists’ Forum, has said that we need a completely new approach to rural speed limits. As far back as 2000, the Transport Act included a government commitment on a review of rural speed limits, which has not been forthcoming. I emphasise that this measure would in no way remove local discretion. Local choice remains in place. It would simply move the burden of proof away from the default of 60 mph to 40 mph, which would facilitate government policy in terms of their road safety objectives. It would certainly respond to the wishes of people living in rural areas and would ultimately save many lives. The Road Safety Bill provides the best opportunity that we will have for many years to achieve those ends. I beg to move.