Speed measure will make no difference to pollution
I take a slightly different viewpoint. Firstly I don’t believe that this measure will make a large difference to pollution in South Yorkshire, it will barely register across the country and will be totally negligible worldwide (although I appreciate that worldwide change is not the goal of this scheme).
Secondly, if you travel like I do as part of my daily 100 mile round trip, you will find a lot of commuters don’t travel at 70mph at all, more like 80 to 85mph so the impact of dropping to 60mph on the driver is higher than suggested. When assessing impact, there is absolutely no point whatsoever making an assertion unless one is going to be realistic about it, regardless of what the traffic law is.
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Hide AdFinally, I cannot comment on the congestion relief proposed by the scheme but in all honesty, I rarely encounter congestion on the M1. Admittedly, I do avoid J33 to J34 which is probably the local pinch point. I am not completely opposed to the scheme, let’s just say I am very dubious as to its benefits but I will reserve judgement for if or when this happens.
I would be interested to know though, that of the people who are fully supportive of this scheme, how many are daily commuters. The impact assessment should reach out first and foremost to the people it affects the most, who in my view are those who give up their time to spend many hours a day stuck on the road.
I have no clue why this scheme should be implemented at 7am on a Sunday morning, or across the weekend full stop. I absolutely dread the day that the motorway network becomes a patchwork of such traffic solutions, which it will. I spend way too little time with my young family as it is, thanks very much.