Overview
- Media coverage on Thursday highlighted GOV.UK’s 'Request a speed limit change' page that routes postcode-based requests to the council responsible for roads in England and Wales.
- To use the service you enter your postcode and follow guidance but submitting a request does not guarantee any change and simply alerts local decision-makers to a reported hazard.
- GOV.UK reminds drivers that speed limits are absolute maxima that may still be unsafe in some conditions and sets minimum penalties of £100 and three penalty points for speeding.
- Local highway and county councils weigh safety gains from lower limits against journey-time needs and the role of the road in the authority’s strategic network, a trade-off Surrey County Council highlights when explaining why limits are not always cut.
- The push to spotlight the tool follows provisional figures from road safety charity Brake showing 29,911 people killed or seriously injured last year, a 4% rise and the highest since 2018, which experts say and government data link to speed in about a third of fatal crashes.