DRIFFIELD’S MP Greg Knight is calling on the Government to make greater use of variable speed limits.
Currently, in built-up areas such as those around Driffield, most speed limits are permanent and in operation for 24 hours a day.
But Mr Knight says that this does not reflect the fact that the dangers which justify lower speed limits are often ‘transient’.
The MP says that speed limits “should always be justifiable by the road conditions” and believes that there is an overwhelming case for introducing variable speed limits in villages and towns.
“Some well-meaning campaigners say that all villages and town centres should have permanent 20 mph limits, but this blanket approach is misguided and wrong,” said the MP.
During Transport Questions Mr Knight told the House of Commons: “Is the Minister aware that often the danger that justifies a 20 mph limit is transient, such as outside a school, where the danger is present only briefly during the school day—in the morning, at lunch time and in the afternoon?
“As we already have the lowest speed limits in Europe, will the Minister encourage local authorities to make greater use of variable 20 mph limits so that once the danger has passed the limit will default to 30?”
Replying, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Mr Mike Penning, said that the government was looking at Mr Knight’s suggestion. He also confirmed that mandatory variable speed limits ‘will continue to be used as part of the management of traffic on controlled and managed motorways on the strategic road network.’
l What do you think of Mr Knight’s views? Write to the Times & Post at Times House, Mill Street, Driffield. YO25 6TN or email editorial@driffieldtoday.co.uk