With the current sub zero temperatures and snow coverings prevalent across the UK my CGTS 4.0 is currently resting in my garage. The Honda Civic hybrid is doing the necessary daily driving whilst this wintry weather prevails.
Meanwhile, another interest has taken up my time and exercised my thoughts recently. I must stress the following is not intended as a political statement. It is more a plea for common sense. This is based on my past experiences over period of more than 60 years driving in every region of Scotland and the western isles.
The Scottish government is currently embarking on a ridiculous proposal to legislate for a blanket 50mph speed limit on all single carriageway rural roads in Scotland. I am fully aware from the many contributions to my PCGB Cayman and Macan forum posts over the years, that more than a few PCGB members enjoy touring in Scotland. Appreciating, if choosing the location and timing correctly, the wonderful traffic-free rural roads in the Highlands and Borders regions. Motorways are non-existent in these parts, and dual carriageways precious few in number. If you know where to go, these single carriageway roads offer some of the best driver’s roads in the UK with eye popping scenery as an added bonus.
You will understand my interest in this mis-guided proposal. Imposing a blanket 50mph speed limit as a government policy on all single carriageway rural roads will adversely affect all communities as well as visiting tourists in the north and south of Scotland. If this proposal becomes law, seasonal tourist traffic may not be aware of the speed limit reduction from 60mph to 50mph, as national speed limit signage will more than likely remain as at present to reduce implementation costs. With the thousands of rural road miles in the Highlands and Borders, introducing new 50mph signage across this extensive geographical area would be cost prohibitive. This is certainly the case with cash strapped local authorities. The same goes for enforcement of this new speed limit. There are insufficient safety camera vans and traffic police resources to enforce compliance across such a huge geographical area. Currently safety camera van deployment and police traffic patrols are already stretched on main inter-city trunk routes. To cover all the rural road network in Scotland would require a massive investment of manpower, vehicles, and the associated hardware.
I am in the process of lodging a robust, and concise objection to the Scottish government’s proposal to introduce this blanket 50mph speed limit on all single carriageway trunk and rural roads in Scotland. The official consultative website for comments is;
https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/national-speed-management-review
The consultation process closes on March 5th 2025. Apathy to this consultative process by the motoring public will play right into the hands of the Scottish government by being implemented without meaningful objection.
The online questionnaire on the Transport Scotland website is both detailed and complex. This involves a list of multiple choice responses to a wide range of questions. Like any government consultation it requires a substantial amount of time and resilience on the part of the contributor.
The Scottish government are promoting this blanket 50mph rural road speed limit purportedly for reasons of road safety and reducing RTC fatalities. Alongside this blanket 50mph speed limit for cars and vans, also proposed is to increase the rural road speed limit for vehicles over 7.5 tonnes, ie HGV’s, from the present 40mph to 50mph. This makes sense to me, as it brings Scotland into line with the current HGV 50mph limit in England and Wales. Other reasons given to justify the HGV speed limit increase to 50mph, include reducing the speed differential with other vehicles, and acknowledging that current HGV’s engine and gearbox technologies produce less harmful emissions at 50mph than when restricted to 40mph. I shall be stressing that the latter point also applies to cars, whereby 6 and 7 speed gearing, in concert with engine management software, reduces emissions on many cars at the current 60mph limit compared to 50mph, by deploying a higher gear thereby engaging a lower engine RPM.
Two final points. If implemented, this speed limit reduction will subject many drivers to a lack of focus and concentration lapses when driving long distances on inter-city routes. It is incredibly boring driving at 50mph for say, 100 miles or more between cities in the north and south of Scotland. Also driver frustration will increase with a 50mph limit resulting in more overtaking. Itself a skill which many drivers do not have according to my experiences on the A96 Inverness to Aberdeen route for example.
Consequently, I am urging all interested drivers to lodge their objections against this ill-judged and impracticable proposal by completing the Transport Scotland questionnaire before the March 5th deadline. To ignore this relatively short opportunity to object, will undoubtably encourage further speed limit reductions across the UK extending to motorways and dual carriageways. The anti-car and speed reduction pressure groups are already lobbying for a reduction of the current 70mph speed limit on these roads.
We Porsche owners enjoy driving our cars responsibly. We do not need misinformed, unnecessary speed limit reductions based upon the spurious reasons of road safety and RTC fatality reduction.
Thank you for your patience reading this extended post.
Brian.
This year Classic Le Mans and then south for a few weeks.
