Fuel prices hiked? Cut down speed limits!

Workers from the Spanish public works department had a busy night, as thousands of speed limit boards across the country had stickers pasted them over them overnight to implement the introduction of a new speed national speed limit. The move to reduce the limit from 120 km/h to 110 km/h comes as a consequence of rising oil prices, and the ongoing tussle in Libya from where Spain is reported to import 13 percent of its oil for fuel.

“We are going to go a bit slower and in exchange we will consume less petrol and pay less money.” Deputy prime minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said. Other panic moves to reduce national oil bills includes a cut in train ticket prices to encourage their use, and larger subsidies on CFL lights and low-rolling-resistance tyres.

Voices of opposition have already begun to rise in the country however. While most would not be disturbed greatly by the minor reduction in the speed limit, members of the opposition are questioning its real-world benefits, which most think will be too minor to make a sizeable difference. Vehicle experts maintain that the difference in the fuel consumed by a typical modern car capable of top speeds of 160 km/h is negligible between 110 km/h and 120 km/h. While the government has justified the move saying that it is expecting a drop of 15 percent in the national fuel bills, experts pin the figure barely at 5 percent.

The question of “telling people what to do” is a different issue altogether. “What next? Will the government make people go to sleep earlier to reduce their consumption of light?" asked a member of the opposition. The limits are expected to last until April, by when the situation in the Middle East is expected to stabilize.