The climate group Insulate Britain have announced they have written to National Highways asking for the speed limit on the M25 to be reduced when they protest.
In a statement they say they have written to what they are calling the “Highways Agency” and relevant police forces asking that the speed limit be reduced, but that the request was turned down.
In a statement the group says, “Given that this is a standard safety procedure when hazards occur on the motorway, Insulate Britian [sic] is surprised it has not formed part of the response to the campaign.”
The group has blocked several slip roads onto the M25 in co-ordinated approaches on four separate days. The actions were close to a crash which led to a woman being airlifted to hospital and another woman being paralysed because her journey to hospital after a stroke was delayed for six hours.
National Highways regional director Nicola Bell told the Telegraph, “Our primary concern is always safety, but changing speed limits in advance of any incident creates a far greater risk to the wider travelling public.”
The full letter reads:
“We are writing from the campaign group Insulate Britain. People’s safety during this campaign has always been our primary objective.
Therefore, on the 16th September we passed a request to the police to slow down the traffic on the south west parts of the M25 network, as we were aware that supporters of the Insulate Britain campaign would be participating in acts of civil disobedience on that area.
In the context of the horror of the climate crisis we believe that it is entirely proportionate to create disruption on the motorway network if it means the UK Government fulfils its legal obligation of staying below 2°C which will stop the unimaginable suffering for future generations.
Our request was refused.
We write now to request that you review this decision, as campaign supporters will be on the M25 network on Monday 20th September from 7 am.
Thank you for your time on this matter.
The Insulate Britain campaign”
(Picture – Insulate Britain)
