Australians kept in slow lane: Leyonhjelm

Speed limits around Australia should be increased given improvements in vehicle safety and roads, Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm believes.

"Just like our grandparents, we continue to trundle around our huge continent subject to a speed limit devised by some anonymous genius at a time when Ford Zephyrs and FJ Holdens were all the rage," he writes in The Daily Telegraph on Thursday.

Senator Leyonhjelm says setting speed limits according to what the community would consider appropriate would improve the experience of driving, reduce tedium on long trips and restore relations with police.