Plans underway for speed reduction trials in Surrey for 60mph roads
The pilot is thought to be one of the first for rural roads in the country.
Surrey County Council have announced plans for a new pilot of reducing speed limits on roads that have been 60mph.
The reduction to 20mph up to 50mph rural roads will be dependent on each requirement of the areas selected for the pilot.
South of a line from Guildford to Dorking are to be included within the 80 square miles covered by the scheme.
Matt Furniss, Surrey County Council cabinet member for transport, infrastructure and economy said:
"We've been looking for some time on how to reduce incidents on the rural roads where actually we do have a high number of traffic incidents still occurring.
"And like with most rural roads in south and southwest of Surrey, they they still have the unrestricted 60 mile an hour speed limit."
The county council have been working with Surrey Police through the Drive Smart Road Safety Partnership to review and implement lower speed limits on some of the roads.
Councillor Furniss said:
"Lower speed limits do result in successful reductions in speeds, but also the number and the severity of road collisions.
"And with our drive to be more sustainable in transport terms, it does support the walking and cycling, improves air quality as well, and it does address an issue that we do get recurring on not all, but a few of our frequent roads about excessive vehicle noise as well.
"Because if you're not allowed to travel as excessive speeds, the noise will also be reduced.
"So we're looking at making sure that these roads have the appropriate speed limit, so we're not proposing a blanket change all the way down to 30 mph, for example. It will be anything from 20 mph up to up to 50."
The council are currently assessing the roads that will be involved with the speed reduction which will be followed up by going out on a public consultation.
The areas involved are the A25 in the North, the A24 in the East and in between Cranleigh and Sheer in the West.