Could county council be about to call for lower speed limits on Hertfordshire country lanes?
Hertfordshire County Council could soon place itself at the forefront of calls for speed limits on rural roads across the country to be reduced to a maximum of 40mph, it has emerged.
Currently, the majority of rural roads across Hertfordshire are covered by a national speed limit of 60mph - even where they are single track, have high-sided hedges or have a series of tight bends.
But there are suggestions that this may be “inappropriate for country lanes”.
Speaking at the latest meeting of the council’s environment, transport and growth cabinet panel, Cllr Paul Zukowskyj suggested he may call on the Department for Transport (DfT) to reduce the speed limit nationally.
Cllr Zukowskyj, who is the council’s executive member for environment, transport and growth, said the move was being considered as part of the council’s upcoming speed management strategy.
He told councillors: “When the speed management strategy comes, one of the things that we will be committing to is writing a letter to the DfT saying, ‘actually we think on a single track country lane without footways actually the speed limit should be 40 or lower’.
“And, ‘can you just change it nationally to be that? Because if you do that, every lane becomes 40, without us having to change a single sign’.
“[…] It could literally change overnight. So we are really keen to try and push that.
“And I suspect there will be a lot of other places that will want to do that as well.”
Cllr Zukowskyj (Liberal Democrat, Hatfield South) made the remarks in response to concerns raised by Cllr Caroline Smith Wright (Liberal Democrat, Bridgewater).
She told councillors: “We have a lot of the rural roads at the national speed limit and they are not in great condition.
“And I am concerned with the amount, the huge amount of traffic that is redirected by Sat Nav - particularly HGVs, lorries and vans - now using these rural roads.
“It is very disruptive for the villages, for people who often don’t have footpaths.
“So often people are walking their children to school or cycling, and it has become a bit of a death trap.
“And it has become much less appealing to live in these places because we have become overwhelmed with the amount of traffic that is using these routes.”
During the exchange, Cllr Zukowskyj also revealed that the council was currently consulting on plans that would change the classification of one particular Hertfordshire road, as part of a pilot scheme that could stop traffic being directed along it by Sat Nav technology.
The remarks were made as members of the cabinet panel considered the latest draft of Hertfordshire Road Safety Partnership’s road safety strategy.
The strategy aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries on Hertfordshire roads by 65 per cent by 2035 - and by 70 per cent for children.
It is focused around six areas of action: safe roads and places, safe road users, safe speeds, safe vehicles, post-crash response and community action.
According to the report presented to councillors between 2021 and 2025, there were 1,891 people who were killed or seriously injured on the county’s roads, including 116 deaths.
It adds that the “fatal four” behaviours most associated with fatal and serious injury collisions are not wearing a seatbelt, inappropriate speed, distraction and driving under the influence of drink and drugs.
It says that travelling on any road or street means choosing a speed that “is safe for the environment and the conditions” - with higher speeds reducing the time available to react when mistakes occur.
“One category of road where this is especially important is rural routes,” says the strategy.
“These roads vary widely in layout and purpose, yet most are covered by the national speed limit.
“This means a narrow, twisting single-track lane is signed in exactly the same way as a high-quality rural link road.
“While 60mph may be a safe speed on a trunk road, it is inappropriate for country lanes where farm traffic, animals or people walking their dogs may be present.
“We will make it clear that 60mph is a legal maximum, not a target speed, and that in many rural environments a much lower speed is the only safe and appropriate choice.”
At the meeting, head of implementation and community activation Rory McMullan said they would work with partners to look at how to influence speeds on rural roads.
He told councillors: “National speed limit, of course, doesn’t mean 60. It could be any speed.
“It might be appropriate in some cases to go at 10mph or 15mph on a single track blind bend with higher hedgerows, and it’s for the driver to interpret national speed limits.
“One thing we can do is try to inform drivers that they should be going slowly on rural roads, because there are dangers around each corner.”
The Hertfordshire Road Safety Partnership brings together organisations with statutory responsibilities for road safety.
They include the county council, National Highways, Hertfordshire Constabulary, the fire and rescue service, the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Road Victims Trust.