UK speed limit could be raised to 80mph

Speed limits of up to 80mph could be introduced to Britain's motorways.

New motorways would allow drivers to use the hard shoulder as an extra lane at peak times and employ variable speed limits to improve traffic flow.

Speaking to The Times, transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: "We will look at [80mph limits] in a couple of years' time when there's more smart motorways.

"Once we get smart motorways up and running and we get the free-flow through, and we get better running on motorways, I think it is something that's there."

While president of the AA, Edmund Kind, said that 80mph could be a safe speed, Ed Morrow, the campaigns officer at road safety charity Brake, said raising the speed limit from 70mph "would needlessly risk causing more devastating motorway crashes."

Earlier in January, police clocked 22,000 drivers speeding through a village in just 16 days.

Local residents in Ticknall, Derbyshire, had complained to police about drivers speeding through their village.

So officers stepped into conduct a speed survey, and found that one in six motorists, 22,14 out of 118,107, were breaking the 30mph speed limit.

Villagers had been using their own speed guns to catch drivers breaking the speed limit on the A514. Offenders were then sent letters from the police telling them they risked prosecution if they did it again.