THE AA has welcomed a Government decision to raise the speed limit for lorries on rural roads from 40mph to 50mph.

AA president Edmund King said: "This seems like a common sense move. Every driver has probably experienced being stuck behind a lorry travelling at their legal 40mph limit on a single carriageway main road with a national default speed limit of 60mph for cars."

He went on: "This 20mph speed differential can lead to bunching and dangerous overtaking manoeuvres. So we welcome the plans to allow trucks to legally travel at 50mph on these roads to end this frustrating, dangerous, historic anomaly."

The Government is also consulting on increasing the speed limit for lorries on dual carriageways from 50mph to 60mph.

Mr King said an AA/Populus survey showed that 81% of drivers did not know the legal national speed limit for lorries on single carriageway main roads.

He went on: "So it is no wonder other drivers get frustrated, perhaps thinking the lorry driver was just being awkward, lost or was trying to save fuel.

"Smoother traffic flow also provides some economic benefit by improving journey times. We do appreciate that some have concerns about letting lorries travel faster but a more realistic limit should lead to better compliance by all."

Mr King said the AA would study the dual carriageway lorry proposal. He went on: "Lorries today are much safer than they were many decades ago and so it should be feasible for them to travel faster to help the economy and smooth traffic flow as well as reducing tailgating and crashes."

RAC Foundation director Professor Stephen Glaister said: "For drivers there is nothing more dangerous than single carriageway rural roads, with two-thirds of car occupants dying on these types of route.

"The hope is that the raising of the limit will bring vehicle speeds closer together and reduce the temptation for people to overtake where they should not.

"We would expect the Department for Transport to closely monitor the change to make sure this is the case."

Announcing the change, which effects England and Wales, transport minister Claire Perry said: "We're are doing all we can to get Britain moving and boost growth.

"This change will do exactly that and save our haulage industry £11 million a year.

"Britain has one of the world's best road safety records and yet speed limits for lorries have been stuck in the 1960s.

"This change will remove a 20mph difference between lorry and car speed limits, cutting dangerous overtaking and bringing permitted lorry speeds into line with other large vehicles like coaches and caravans.

"Current speed limits for HGVs were introduced around 50 years ago and need to be updated given improved vehicle technology."

Geoff Dunning, from the Road Haulage Association, said: "This evidence-based decision by ministers, to increase the limit to 50mph will be strongly welcomed by hauliers and their drivers.

"The current limit is long out-of-date and the frustration it generates causes unnecessary road safety risks."

The change in speed limits for HGVs on single carriageways will come into force in early 2015 and will bring England and Wales in line with other European road safety leaders, such as Denmark and Norway.

Depending on the consultation responses, the increase for dual carriageways will come in at the same time. The existing limits continue to apply until the change has been put into effect.

© Press Association 2014