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Rural Speed Limits May Be Reduced
Jim Fitzpatrick, the road safety minister noted that figures suggested a road accident was most likely to occur on rural parts of the road network, upon most of which the national speed limit of 60mph applies. Dangerous roads Great Britain had one of the best road safety records in the world, but this has slipped in recent years. In 2007, there were 2,946 deaths and 30,000 serious personal injuries on the roads. 29% of these collisions were due to suggested speeding. The Government is holding a consultation on the plan, which is likely to be vastly opposed. The president of the AA, Edmund King, will meet Mr Fitzpatrick and Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon to discuss the matter, but pointed out that a blanket reduction of speed limits would not make roads safer, given that many accidents on rural roads involved only one car. “It will not solve the problem – you have to look at the detail a little closer. Almost every weekend we see these solo car accidents. They're nothing to do with the speed limit. They're to do with inexperienced drivers driving recklessly. For a minority of reckless drivers, the rest are punished. A blanket reduction could lead to some roads having a lower speed limit than necessary. That could lead to dangerous overtaking. The best speed limits are those motorists respect and accept,” he said. Local authorities have the power to impose lower speed limits, he added. This is a thought that is also supported by The Association for British Drivers, who argue the emphasis should be shifted from speeding to driving habits. They have suggested that police patrols should be released to pull over dangerous or bad drivers, whether they are speeding or not – rather than spending their time going after speeding vehicles that often represent no danger. The ABD added that the Government’s research suggests that often when speed is blamed for a car accident, it is really just bad driving. For instance, accidents caused by ‘failure to judge other person’s path or speed’ are noted in the report. The organization however, said this theory was ridiculous: “It is utter nonsense to class this as a ‘speed related accident’. The situation here is one person failing to judge the path or speed of a second vehicle – which is not to say that the second vehicle is travelling at an inappropriate or illegal speed. It is purely a failure to observe correctly on the part of the first party.” A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: “This is being looked at, but no decisions have been taken.” Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers said: “Rather than across the board reductions in the speed limit that hit the most responsible drivers, we believe a strategy to make our roads safer needs to target problem drivers.” Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Find out more news abour how the government is working towards reducing the amunt of personal injury claims from car accidents. |
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