Safe Speed issued the following PR at 14:17 this afternoon:
PR255: Road Safety Dogma in conflict
news: for immediate release
In this 'Road Safety Week', Brake are calling for 20mph limits and speed
cameras outside schools but speaking on the Jeremy Vine programme on BBC Radio
Two today, Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom said: "In fact, very few people
get killed or injured outside schools, which is very often the reverse of the
public perception."
Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign
(
www.safespeed.org.uk) said: "UK road safety is in a terrible state. The
authorities are chasing imaginary problems with entirely the wrong strategies.
When are they going to admit that they have it wrong? Road safety is founded
on the skills, attitudes and responsibilities of our road users. Most people
need accurate information about road risks in order to perform better. A tiny
percentage of road users with skill or attitude problems must be attended to
by the Police."
"It is absurd to suggest that safety can be delivered by strict and obsessive
adherence to speed limits. There's so much more to safe driving than that."
"Speed limits have been a useful servant, but they make a terrible master. We
must have drivers concentrating on the road ahead, not their speedometers."
"We must get back to an evidence based road safety system. We're mainly
getting knee-jerk policies based on prejudice and dogma but only sound science
and analysis can save lives on our roads."
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