Stevenson Calls for New Look at Speed Limits

Stewart Stevenson, SNP MSP for Banffshire & Buchan Coast, has called for consideration of a 10mph reduction in speed limits across Scotland as a way to combat climate change.

In a debate yesterday (Wednesday) supporting WWF’s Earth Hour 2015, Mr Stevenson said:

“The big thing that we should and could contemplate is reducing the speed limits in Scotland, wherever they are, by 10mph. It would cost almost nothing to do. It would not be popular, but it is one of the proposals that we must get on the agenda, and I encourage people to think about it seriously.”

WWF Earth Hour takes place for an hour at 8.30pm on Saturday 28th March where many public buildings will switch off their lights to highlight the need for action on climate change.

In Mr Stevenson’s constituency, town clocks in Buckie and in Cullen are taking part as well as Aberdeenshire and Moray Councils.

He added:

“Climate change causes very significant problems for real people. It will lead to mass migration and deaths. It is not simply an academic argument.

“There is greater variability in our climate, which will not be good news for the long-term health of our planet. We have seen shrinking of the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps, and we are seeing increased aridification in Africa in particular. As I have said in many debates before, that is a gender issue because the majority of subsistence farmers in rural Africa are female. They are having to go further for water and will have to go further for the wood that they burn in their stoves.”

Mr Stevenson will promote WWF’s Earth Hour this Saturday as quizmaster of the WWF Candlelit Quiz at the Crowne Plaza Hotel next to the SECC in Glasgow at 8.30pm.