This petition aims to oppose the unnecessary reduction of speed limits, primarily in and around the Wiltshire area.  By signing this petition you are indicating your support for the fact that many of the newly introduced 50mph limits are too low and should remain at 60mph.

The aim is to get as many signatures on this petition as possible to present to Claire Perry MP.  We would like to demonstrate that her constituents support safe, responsible driving but do not support the unnecessary reduction of speed limits.

Wiltshire council have conducted a speed limit review which has made recommendations that many speed limits be reduced.

Whilst some of these do appear to be sensible, such as on dangerous sections of road.  Many of them appear to be ridiculous or arbitrarily decided at best.

To be clear, this petition does not advocate high speed or dangerous driving.  It does however oppose the unnecessary reduction of speed limits.

In their own review the Councils documentation clearly states that "Speed limits should not be used to solve isolated hazards; i.e. bends, junctions etc…" but should be used to "Improve consistency across local and national road networks and Improve respect and adherence to speed limits."

This seems completely nonsensical.  Surely a reduced speed limit should specifically be set to improve driver safety such as on roads with isolated hazards?  Most responsible drivers would likely even advocate the reduction of speed limits in built up areas or around significant points such as schools, however it is difficult to support the reduction of 60mph to 50mph on a perfectly reasonable section of road.

Also, the published data only shows correlation between mean speed and collision rate.  There are no other published influencing factors (to be found so far) such as if the driver in the collision was over the legal blood-alcohol limit, or using a mobile phone.

Lets remember that correlation is NOT causation.

The councils own estimates of the cost to the taxpayer for this are circa £1 million.

Details of Wiltshire Councils speed limit review can be found here:

http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/howthecouncilworks/plansstrategiespolicies/transportpoliciesandstrategies/speedlimitreview.htm