Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Britain wants drivers to slow down

|
|
 
  
Published: April 21, 2009 at 11:16 PM

LONDON, April 21 (UPI) -- The British government plans to cut speed limits on rural highways and give lower governments more power to reduce limits on other roads to cut traffic deaths.

The aim is to reduce the number of people killed in car crashes by 1,000 a year, The Times of London reported.

One of the major steps is reducing maximum speed on A roads from 60 mph to 50 mph. A roads are single-carriageway trunk roads with the most famous being those radiating from London like the A1 to Edinburgh and the A2 to Dover.

Local councils wanting to maintain a higher speed limit on a rural road would have to justify it.

Other steps include greater use of cameras to monitor speed and stiffer penalties for speeding and for driving without a seat belt. Police would be able to stop suspected drunken drivers who have not committed any traffic violation.

Driving tests would also become harder.

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 25
Meryl Streep and Colin Firth attend the "BAFTA" ceremony in London
View Caption
fark
McDonald's pushing farmers for a kinder McRib. Nope, you read that right
Nancy Grace screeches the appropriate question, "Who pushed Whitney Houston under water?"
Photoshop theme: Valentine's Day gifts, it's the thought that counts
Valentines your Mom got
Expect the Hoverboard to be in stores around October 21, 2015
If you say "I do not favor women wearing provocative clothes and always feel they need to be dignified...