Motorways to trial 60mph limits to cut pollution

[GrumpyManUK]

Motorways to trial 60mph limits to cut pollution
(Apologies if this has already been posted!)

So would EV's be exempt?

"The speed limit will be cut on parts of four motorways before October in a trial to reduce pollution, Highways England has said.

It will be reduced from 70mph to 60mph in areas that have seen higher than recommended levels of nitrogen dioxide.
The trial will take place on stretches of nearly five miles.

It will be on M6 junctions 6 to 7 by Witton, M1 junctions 33 to 34 by Rotherham, M602 junctions 1 to 3 by Eccles and M5 1 to 2 by Oldbury."

 

[Mr H]

Won't make any difference as you're lucky to get over 50 there anyway

 

[Dilly]

Make it a 30 limit for ICE’s and 70 for EV’s.
That should voluntarily bring forward the Government’s climate plan to ditch ICE’s by about a decade!

 

[Masklin]

Time for an EV lane

 

[nxsynjs]

Was having a socially distanced chat to a friend of mine on this today. I cheekily suggested that EV's should have the limit at 70 and everyone else at 60. They replied, well enforcement would be the issue, how would the police tell? My reply was, "what do you think the green number plates are for"

In all seriousness If there was a split I can see a new bout of EV envy and harassment forming, esp if combined with EV parking spaces and all the other fringe benefits of EV ownership

 

[kevuwk]

The 50mph limit on the M4 need Cardiff for air pollution is the most annoying. Don’t use it very often but generally only drive on it late at night with hardly any cars on it and still have to drive at 50 in an EV

 

[TonyP_UK]

No need for the trial. There are long stretches of the M1 and M6 with speed restrictions due to roadworks. They just need to go measure there.

 

[Fraank]

The 50mph limit on the M4 need Cardiff for air pollution is the most annoying. Don’t use it very often but generally only drive on it late at night with hardly any cars on it and still have to drive at 50 in an EV

The only speeding fine I've had in last 15 years or so was doing 66mph in a temporary 60mph on M25. An empty M25 at 1am. Was clearly a pollution related speed limit (I'm told the pollution settles to the floor late at night raising the readings). And, I was driving the Tesla

As for OP, I actually wouldn't mind being limited to 60 everywhere. Lower pollution, lower congestion, lower fatalities. The smart motorway gods will one day dictate our every speed, I'm sure.

 

[kuruma]

So would EV's be exempt?

Why? The faster we go, the more energy we consume and therefore the more we need to charge.

The energy we put into our car isn't produced with zero impact on the environment.

 

[Plagued]

Why? The faster we go, the more energy we consume and therefore the more we need to charge.
The energy we put into our car isn't produced with zero impact on the environment.

It's not zero, but compared to petrol/diesel in the UK it's substantially lower. The biggest carbon offset is the battery, which should (by the time it's life is over) get recycled.
It would be like addressing the power used by filament light bulbs by saying all light bulbs must cut their power consumption by 30% which would be unfair and unnecessary for the LED bulbs already on the market. Instead they chose to just ban the sale of filament bulbs.
There will probably need to be efficiency restrictions and ratings on electric cars in the future when everything else is brought inline, but not yet. At the moment if I turn sentry mode on it will use almost as much battery as me driving in a week, and far more than the difference in me doing 70 over 60 on the motorway.

 

[m-i-l]

Why? The faster we go, the more energy we consume and therefore the more we need to charge.

The energy we put into our car isn't produced with zero impact on the environment.

This measure is specifically to address localised pollution. Fossil fuel cars tend to pump their poison into the most heavily populated areas, which is why they're connected to around 30,000 excess UK deaths per year, whereas even if you charge your electric car with non-renewable sources any associated pollution would be much further away from the air that large populations breathe.

 

[CMc1]

Why? The faster we go, the more energy we consume and therefore the more we need to charge.

The energy we put into our car isn't produced with zero impact on the environment.

If my car runs on 100% solar, can I have a yellow sticker on my number plate and have my own lane?

On a separate note, wasn’t the government trying to increase NSL to 80mph for motorways, 2-3 years back?

 

[kuruma]

you can't have your own lane for 100% solar cos I'll be in it too... at least at the moment.

Thanks for answering my question everyone.

Since buying the M3 last year, we've found that we actually prefer to drive at 60 on the motorway or, even better, sit behind a tall lorry at a reasonable TACC distance. We started with the idea of economising our charge as we didn't buy it when solar was enabling us to fill the car much. However, we quickly realised that it was so much more relaxing and less stressful than driving at 70. Not having to think about overtaking anywhere near as often, which lane to be in, how long to purposefully sit in front of the guy who just can't help doing 95 etc.

It's not for everyone of course, but taking off that 10mph has actually made driving on motorways a much more pleasurable experience.

 

[MrBadger]

Having a lower speed also potentially reduces traffic throughput and allows drivers to achieve smoother traffic flow to reduce ripple. Stop start traffic is a major contributor to traffic emissions. It makes no sense to make EV's exempt as travelling at different speeds in non dedicated lanes is a non starter and introducing dedicated lanes will (currently) cause more congestion in the non dedicated lanes.

 

[BlueJam]

I'd compromise at 65mph, I'd be fine with that.

 

[Dilly]

Will reducing the limit on the M25 actually make reaching 60mph attainable?
It’s normally a car park