Liz Truss signals she will ban smart highways when she becomes next prime minister after string of deaths

Liz Truss pledged to look into whether motorway speed limits should be abolished when she becomes prime minister.

The Foreign Secretary said she was ready to explore the radical idea that could convert Britain’s autobahns into a German autobahn system with no speed limits.

She also said her government would review smart road plans and signaled it would ban the controversial motorways in response to a question at the recent Tory leadership battles at Wembley Arena in London.

Miss Truss was asked by a Conservative member whether, if she became Prime Minister, she would “change the speed limit from mandatory to advisory” and “restore hard shoulders”.

She replied: “With speed limits, we have to be willing to look at that […]. I can’t give you an exact answer.’

Miss Truss has previously touted speed limit increases and announced at a side event at the Conservative Party Convention in September 2018 that she would be considering raising the freeway limit to 80mph.

Liz Truss last night promised to look into whether motorway speed limits should be abolished when she becomes prime minister

She said her government would be reviewing smart street plans in response to a question at the Tory leadership’s recent hustings at Wembley Arena in London

Mr Sunak has already pledged to ban new smart highways and ensure all existing ones are enhanced with additional pull-through zones and technology to identify stopped vehicles. “We shouldn’t rule anything out,” he said yesterday when asked about energy rationing

The M3 intelligent motorway near Longcross in Surrey. The deployment of smart highways is being put on hold due to safety concerns

The smart motorway network so far with the areas that will be completed despite the break

In January, following a campaign by the Daily Mail, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps ordered around 100 miles of smart highway projects to be paused – but many more are still under construction.

And that’s despite a May report revealing roads without hard shoulders are three times deadlier to break than those that keep the safety lane.

Analysis of National Highways also showed that there were 53 fatalities on smart highways in the four years to 2019, with at least 18 blamed to some degree on the roads.

At last night’s hustle and bustle, Miss Truss agreed that the push to build the motorways needed to be reviewed. She said: “I absolutely think we need to check them out as soon as possible and stop them if they don’t work. I think the smart highway experiment didn’t work.”

She also agreed to consider the proposal that speed limits on motorways should be abolished. Removing the 70-mile limit would bring the autobahns in line with certain sections of Germany’s autobahns, where only recommended speeds apply.

However, drivers face increased liability if an accident occurs while driving at high speeds.

In 2018, The Telegraph said Miss Truss told Conservative members when she was Chief Secretary to the Treasury: “I also want us to look again at things like our speed limits on the motorway.

“We’ve often toyed with the idea of ​​bumping it up to 80mph, why don’t we look at that again?”

Miss Truss ruled out energy rationing to deal with the cost of living crisis and stated that there would be no new taxes under her premiership.

Mr Sunak has already pledged to ban new smart highways and ensure all existing ones are enhanced with additional pull-through zones and technology to identify stopped vehicles. “We shouldn’t rule anything out,” he said yesterday when asked about energy rationing.

Michael Gove paid tribute to Boris Johnson last night – just weeks after he was sacked by him and branded a snake by No 10. At the Wembley Hustings, he said the country must never forget the outgoing Prime Minister’s achievements.

“He was the man who brought about Brexit. He was the man who introduced the world’s fastest vaccine. He was the man who stood resolutely with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the brave people of Ukraine when others faltered and shirked the fight,” the former cabinet minister told party members.