250,000 drivers don’t know motorway speed limit

A staggering 250,000 drivers in the UK do not know the legal 70mph motorway speed limit, a new study by the AA breakdown service has revealed.

It found that overall, 8% of motorists in Britain were completely clueless as to how fast you can travel on the nation’s fastest roads, with 7% wrongly thinking it was 80mph and 1% believing it was 60mph.

It’s time our speed limits are brought into the 21st century

Speed limits in Europe – how does the UK compare?

The survey also found that male drivers were twice as likely to be unaware of the 70mph motorway limit than female motorists, with 9% of men wrongly stating the maximum permitted speed as 80mph compared to only 4% of women.

The data also showed that older, more experienced drivers are more likely to be unaware of the UK’s highest limit. 89% of drivers aged over 65 correctly stated the restriction, with 95% of motorists aged between 18 and 24-years-old identifying the same speed.

Conversely, the over-65 age group was more aware of 30mph restrictions in built-up environments lit by street lights.

Although fewer 18 to 24-year-olds identified this correctly (93%), they chose to err on the side of caution, with one in 20 assuming the speed limit was 20mph.

Furthermoe, a massive 4 out of 10 drivers could not identify the correct 70mph maximum on a dual carriageway with a central reservation.

Director of the AA Charitable Trust, Edmund King:

“It is astonishing that 250,000 qualified drivers don’t seem to know the motorway speed limit is 70mph.

“Some confusion about the motorway speed limit for cars could well be down to the previous Transport Secretary floating the idea of raising the limit to 80mph.

“There is no reason why drivers shouldn’t be able to correctly identify the speed limit of dual carriageways and single carriageways.”

With many drivers already unaware of the 70mph speed limit, a change to an 80mph maximum blanket threshold could give the Government the opportunity it needs to increase awareness of speed, and in particular, motorway limits in the UK.

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It’s time our speed limits are brought into the 21st century

Speed limits in Europe – how does the UK compare?