Will the UK and other countries follow ...
Spain reduces motorway speed limit to save oil
Spain is to cut its motorway speed limit to 110km per hour from 120kph to save petrol following the rise in crude oil prices and fears of a supply crisis caused by upheavals in Libya and other Arab states.
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, deputy prime minister, announced the speed reduction - from March 7 - as one of the energy-saving measures agreed by ministers on Friday.
The Spanish initiative suggests rising oil prices could have a direct impact on consumer behaviour beyond increases in the cost of living.
The move recalls similar measures taken in some countries during the 1970s oil crisis. The US reduced the speed limit on freeways to 55 miles per hour and Britain imposed a maximum of 50mph for a few months at the end of 1973.
Mr Pérez Rubalcaba said the limit was temporary and would be linked to the dur*ation of the "emergency situation" in north Africa. He insisted, however, that it was to save money rather than because of any expected disruption to fuel supplies in Spain.
He said the change would cut consumption of petrol by about 15 per cent and of diesel by 11 per cent, in a country where every $10 rise in oil prices costs an extra €6bn ($8bn) a year.
"We're going to go slower and, in exchange for that, we're going to use less petrol and we're going to pay less money," Mr Pérez Rubalcaba said.
Alongside the lower speed limit, Spain will cut the price of commuter and short-distance rail tickets by 5 per cent and increase the proportion of bio-diesel used in diesel fuel from a minimum of 5.8 per cent to 7 per cent.
"This measure will mean the consumption of less in the way of petroleum products," said the deputy prime minister
Spain has no substantial oil reserves of its own and is almost completely dependent on im*ports for road transport, although a fifth of its electricity is generated by wind power.
About 9 per cent of Libya's oil exports went to Spain before the revolt began against Muammer Gaddafi, the Libyan leader. Repsol, the Spanish oil company, was among the energy groups forced to shut down production in Libya this week.
"There is no risk to supply of oil and gas in the country," Mr Pérez Rubalcaba argued, "but we have found ourselves obliged to take some measures to save energy and lighten the energy bill as a result of the crisis in north Africa."
The socialist government's measures are unlikely to be popular with motorists.
Wealthy Spaniards routinely flout speed limits and often boast large, US-style SUVs, even for urban driving.
