22 December 1965: 70mph speed limit introduced

On this day in 1965, a “temporary” 70mph speed limit was introduced on all unregulated roads in Britain by the Minister of Transport. The limit was soon made permanent.

When motoring was in its infancy, Britain's speed limits were, to say the least, overly cautious. In 1865 we had the notorious “Red Flag Act”, which limited motor vehicles to 4mph (2mph in town) and insisted on having a chap walk ahead warning the general populace of their approach. The limit was raised to 20mph in 1903, and in 1931 it was abolished all together. In 1935, a 30mph limit was introduced in built-up areas by that beacon of road safety, Leslie Hore-Belisha, Minister of Transport.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.