Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has indicated that speed limits on the motorway may be boosted to 80mph in an attempt to shorten journey times in addition to boosting the economy.
The Daily Mail claims that he has become concerned that anti-car campaigners have been over-using the road safety reason for not having a rise in speed limits on motorways and forcing through the introduction of apparently unneeded 20mph zones.
Currently Britain's motorways are amongst the safest roads in Europe, however Mr Hammond claims a full cost-benefit analysis which takes economic factors into account must be conducted before speed limits can be defined.
After all what's a few saved lives when there's money to be made right...?
Mr Hammond, who owns and drives a Jaguar XJ saloon said "We need to do this on a pretty rigorous cost-benefit analysis basis. At the moment there are a clear set of criteria for making these decisions. Perhaps we ought to ask if we are using the right set of criteria."