Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Kramer on 24 July (WS 137), whether they intend to apply the reasoning that the "current speed limit just does not work—it is broken by about three quarters of HGV drivers at any particular time" in considering alterations to speed limits for other types of vehicle.

The Government is not reviewing national speed limits for the other main vehicle classes (ie light goods vehicles, cars towing trailers and caravans and buses and coaches). The table below summarises the 2013 data the Department for Transport holds about speeds in free flow conditions (ie when they are not constrained by congestion) for the main vehicle types. However,

the Department is considering the responses to a consultation about changing the speed restriction on agricultural tractors and trailers from 20 mph to 25 mph.

There are a variety of reasons why it is appropriate to change the national HGV speed limits on single and dual carriageways. One is that the low level of compliance with them is symptomatic of their being set at the wrong level compared to other limits. So on single carriageways the non-compliance level for cars is 7% and buses and coaches 26%, compared to 73% for articulated lorries.

Table

For the main categories of vehicles the percentage breaking the main speed limits in free flow conditions in 2013 are: