DfT statement on possible 60mph limit change on 200k miles of roads | UK | News

The Department for Transport has given an update on calls for lower speed limits on nearly 200,000 miles of British roads. A major plan for the UK’s road network is currently being considered as to how they are categorized and whether changes need to be made.

Latest statistics show people are six times more likely to die or be seriously injured on rural roads compared to motorways. The default speed limit is 60 mph on sometimes very narrow and winding roads; This has led to safety concerns for people on horseback as well as those using cars and bicycles.

Liberal Democrat Dr. submitted a new written question in the parliament. Roz Savage asked Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander: “What assessment has her Department made recently of the adequacy of the national speed limit on rural single-lane roads and whether it has considered introducing a default speed limit of less than 60mph on unclassified rural roads?”

In response, Lilian Greenwood, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Transport, announced yesterday (15 April) that guidance for local authorities had been updated but new national guidance was also being considered. He said: “The Road Safety Strategy, published on 7 January 2026, commits the Government to update the Setting Local Speed ​​Limits best practice guidance, which outlines how local authorities can impose lower limits on rural roads where appropriate. The latest publicly available version of this guidance highlights that local traffic authorities have the power to impose lower speed limits than the national limit where local conditions justify this.

“The Road Safety Strategy also looks at investigating the suitability of proposed rural road categories at a local level and assessing their potential for national implementation. Developing a much clearer and more consistent definition of what constitutes a ‘rural road’ could help safety interventions be targeted more effectively and ensure resources are spent where they can have the greatest impact.”

On rural roads, vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and children remain ‘disproportionately at risk of serious injury and death’, the Road Safety Strategy document said. He adds: “Some of the highest risk roads in the country are rural single carriageways with high speeds and limited infrastructure.”

The Strategic Road Network (SRN) in England refers to the core network of motorways and major “trunk” A-roads managed by National Highways. The SRN has more than 4,500 miles of motorways and A roads, carrying 34% of traffic in the UK, the report said. It was stated that these roads were the safest in 2024, with 1,931 people killed or seriously injured, that is 7% of the total in England. He then adds: “Conversely, the least safe road in terms of deaths is rural roads. There were 959 deaths on rural roads in 2024, accounting for 60% of all deaths but carrying only 45% of traffic.”

“In 2023, the RAC Foundation published Agilizis’ research on the characteristics of ‘rural roads’. This was the first step in dividing rural roads into several subcategories to better understand how to define them. This segmentation helps target safety

It makes interventions more effective by ensuring resources are spent where they can have the greatest impact. “From early 2026, the government will investigate whether the proposed categories of rural roads are locally appropriate and assess their potential for national implementation.”

Dr Savage also asked: “What guidance is being provided to local authorities on setting reduced speed limits in rural areas and whether there are plans to increase the powers available to local authorities to introduce speed limit zones in rural communities.” Ms Greenwood responded this week: “Guidance on setting reduced speed limits for local authorities, including in rural areas, is provided through the Department for Transport’s Setting Local Speed ​​Limits guidance. This makes clear that local traffic authorities may impose speed limits below the national limit where local conditions require it, depending on factors such as road layout, safety considerations and the character of the area.”

“The Road Safety Strategy, published on 7 January 2026, committed to updating existing guidance on local speed limits and speed camera use.”

The RAC Foundation Rural road segmentation report looked at how roads are categorized and how rural roads actually contain a wide variety of types, providing the basis for a change in the categorization of the network and potentially new speed limits. Bruce Walton, technical director at Agiliz and Road Safety Analytics, said: “This study is an opportunity to tackle a long-standing challenge in road safety: how to address road hazards on rural routes that are easily overlooked because they are low-traffic or pass through remote areas.

“The report outlines a mechanism to help engineers and blue light services do this more effectively. It also suggests a practical process by which this can be achieved, creating further research opportunities to develop a coherent national approach that provides valuable insight into our sometimes neglected rural road network.”

RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said: “The question may seem simple: ‘What is a rural route?’ The answer turns out to be more complex than you might think when interpreting road safety statistics. “This report suggests that there are at least ten types of ‘rural’ roads with specific characteristics, and the only thing they have in common is that they pass outside our major towns and cities.”

reading rural road segmentation survey click here.

To read Road Safety Strategy published on January 7, 2026 click here.