A Brief History
On December 22, 1965, a 70 mph speed limit was set on all British rural roads. Prior to this law, there had been no speed limit in Great Britain, a country that had the most cars per mile of road than any other country in the world. Alas, no more unlimited speed and no more bragging rights about car density.
Digging Deeper
Plus, the once mightiest empire on Earth is virtually gone, and the mighty Royal Navy no longer rules the seas (though it is still strong).
But Britain has some great things about it, too! Great Britain has been a democracy since 1707 when the Parliament of Great Britain was founded, and prior to that date England had its own Parliament since the 13th Century!
Modern Britain has a national health service system, unlike the US, and also gets credit for spawning the US, the richest and most powerful country in the world. Plus, the English language is the most useful international language of diplomacy, business, and air traffic control.
Britain, or the UK, is still an important nation, a permanent member of the UN Security Council and the 5th biggest economy of all nations despite being only 22nd in population. And they make some darn nifty cars!
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Strong, Roy. The Story of Britain: A History of the Great Ages: From the Romans to the Present. Pegasus Books, 2019.
Taylor, James. Rolls-Royce. Shire Publications, 2017.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Mjb1981 a 70mph speed limit sign in the UK, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
