With the global financial crisis causing economic turmoil in the United Kingdom, and the national deficit being in double digits, the government is beginning to formulate unconventional plans to decrease the deficit in any way possible. Strangely enough, one of the latest ideas to help reduce the deficit is to simply “drive faster.”
At the moment, Britain’s motorway speed limit is 50 years outdated, and is slower than the speed limits of most other countries within continental Europe, at only 70 miles per hour. Transport Secretary Philip Hammond believes that increasing the motorway speed limit just 10 mph (up to 80 mph) could significantly reduce journey times, thereby saving hundreds of millions of pounds by saving the time of UK citizens.
Anyone that is familiar with the old saying “time is money,” could agree with the fact that getting to your destination faster could indeed save you money, especially if your travel is business related. For example, if you are a service technician that stands to earn 60 pounds per hour while working, for every 60 miles that you travel you will have eliminated about 5 to 10 minutes travel time (depending on traffic conditions), which could be equated to 5 to 10 pounds saved per 60 miles traveled.
Obviously, this number would be much lower for someone that has an average income, but accumulatively as the entire population begins to save money every day by traveling faster, it could have a beneficial effect on the economy. Skeptics argue that raising the speed limit by 10 mph would not save enough travel time for each individual to have a notable impact on the economy.
In fact, environmentalists are condemning the proposed idea, stating that it would inevitably lead to heightened oil consumption and higher carbon emissions. Other skeptics are concerned about the safety risks of increasing the speed limit, however Hammond believes that slightly increased speeds would not cause any real threat to UK drivers, as many of them are already accustomed to driving at higher speeds in nearby European countries.
