Higher speed limit bad for health

The government's plan to raise the highway speed limit in England and Wales will hurt health, outweighing any economic benefits, researchers say. In an editorial in the British Medical Journal, researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, criticize government proposals to raise the speed limit on all highways in England and Wales from 70 mph to 80 mph by 2013. Government officials said British highway fatalities fell 75 percent in the past 55 years as a result of advances in car safety and "almost half of all drivers break the current limit anyway." The editorial authors question the basis of the suggested economic benefits, given that the higher limit will not extend to heavy vehicles. The researchers said following higher speed limits introduced in the United States in 1995 there was a 16.6 percent increase in deaths due to vehicle crashes. The researchers said other health-related reasons for keeping the current limit, include increased gas emissions, air pollution and potential rise in obesity due to more people driving instead of walking or taking mass transportation.