The winds of the past return in the form of speed reduction to circulate on highways. The measure, which already had its moment in 2011 under the ministry of Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba and the presidency of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, returns stronger and more restrictive than in its first version. If 10 years ago it was forced to go down to 110 km/h, the current proposal is to reduce the maximum speed of circulation on highways to 100 km/h.
The first indications of the measure, which could be approved during the next few days in the Council of Ministers, according to advances the Economist, is part of a package of decisions to alleviate the Russian oil and gas crisis. Between the incentives for public transport – under the program RepowerEU– or the best management of air conditioners and boilers, the reduction of the maximum circulation speed has also been put on the table.
This measure is one of the consequences of the decision of the European Union last week in which it vetoed the entry into the community zone of oil and gas of Russian origin. One more of the points to sanction the country for the Ukraine War. And a decision that already pointed to having clear consequences in several of the European countries that depend, to a large extent, on the country’s raw materials.
The international crises, after the speed control on the highway
The first consequence of any international crisis in oil-exporting countries is, of course, the increase in the price of a liter of gasoline or diesel. Already in 2011, when the decision was made to reduce the speed of traffic on the roads, the price of a barrel of Brent reached 115 dollars. The crisis with the Arab countries forced Spain to make decisions to reduce national gasoline consumption. Now, and with the Russian crisis affecting the entire continent, the barrel is close to 112.11 dollars.
And it is that in 2011, Spain was one of the most affected by the crisis. While the rest of the member countries increased, on average, road traffic speeds – there was a lot of Russian fuel in circulation – Spain depended on North Africa. Poland rose from 130 to 140 km/h. Germany, for its part, maintained its high-speed highways. The United Kingdom, and during the same Arab crisis, decided to go the opposite way to Spain: it went from 112 km/h to 128 km/h. His motivation? If people spend less time on the roads, economic activity improves. A point that the Netherlands copied shortly after.
Does it work to reduce the maximum speed of circulation?
The 2011 measure was announced in March of that same year as a temporary measure. The June 24 of that same year, the Zapatero government decided not to extend the measure. On July 1 of that same year, the maximum speed in Spain rose to 120 km/h again. Did the controversial measure work? At that time, 450 million euros were targeted – with a cost of between 100,000 and 600,000 euros to change traffic signals – the total savings resulting from the reduction in traffic speed.
In the words of the Treasury and Ecological Transition executive in 2011, led by Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, “it had been a complete success.” He immediately announced that they were rescinding the measure. However, if it had worked so well, why not keep it permanently? After all, not only had gasoline consumption been reduced, road accidents had also been reduced by 15%. Likewise, greenhouse gas emissions had also been reduced.
“It is a transitory measure”, explained Rubalcaba at that time, “and it has contributed to reflection”. The reality is that with the reduction of the maximum speed of circulation also stopped collecting VAT of the reduction of fuel consumption; one that from the Spanish Confederation of Service Stations pointed out that he was not so accused. Nor did they consider that it was not the best measure to take in the circumstances that arose. And it was also a decision not without controversy – for the opposition and the citizens. There are many voices at the time that the measure was rescinded to avoid the anger of the voters of the moment.
Be that as it may, it is now slowing down our lives again and under the wing of the European Union. Or at least, they are testing this controversial bet.