France U-turns on unpopular cuts to road speed limits

THE French government has watered down unpopular new speed limits on B roads just days before European elections.

The decision last year to cut the speed limit from 55mph (90kph) to 50mph (80kph) on secondary roads is often cited as one of the key factors that sparked the “yellow vest” revolt, with provincial motorists complaining it was a ploy against them.

The cut was championed by Édouard Philippe, the prime minister, but with eight out of 10 French people against the reduction, Emmanuel Macron, the president, rapidly suggested that “something better accepted and more intelligent” should be found.

This week, Mr Philippe partially backtracked by saying that while the cut remained in place nationally, local councils could make the call on whether they thought a speed reduction was a good idea on B roads under their jurisdiction.

“If presidents of departmental [county] councils wish to assume their responsibilities, I see no problem,” he told France Info.

“They could decide to put back the speed limit to 90kph as long as the decision was systematically accompanied by measures guaranteeing the highest road safety possible,” he said.

Hours later, MPS from Mr Macron’s party rushed through an amendment approving the change overnight.

The government and road safety groups have insisted that the new speed limits helped cut road deaths in France by 189 last year.

Patrick Mignola, head of the parliamentary group of the centrist Modem party, said local politicians now faced a tough moral choice. He told AFP: “I wager that at the very first death, they will put [the limit] back down to 80kph.”