Safe Speed Forums

http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/07/2 ... ave-lives/

It's started...Shropshire council in it's infinite wisdom to "save lives" is going to slash the NSL on approx. HALF it's rural roads. This is despite the A/100mvkm figures being less than the national average.

Now what I find really confusing is that the full newspaper article states that Shropshire's rural A roads have a A/100mvkm figure of 19.1 against the national average of 23 for A roads and the same figure for B roads is 22.6 against the national average of 40 BUT I also have a report from a Highways engineering firm which says that the National Average (2004) for other urban roads is 60 A/100mvkms.

So where do all these "lies" come from that Rural roads are the most unsafe in the country?
If other Urban roads are 60A/100mvkms(2004) and the national average for rural A and B roads is 23 and 40 A/mvkms respectively then who is pulling the wool over our eyes?

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Be thankful for small mercies - half its rural roads staying at NSL is twice as much as Derbyshire or Warwickshire

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

page 53 of this report makes interesting reading..... http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/da ... in2004.pdf


Casualty rate all urban roads......67

Casualty rate all rural roads.......32

LESS THAN HALF....how do the government explain this one then?

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Erm, urban roads are more busy than rural roads?

you obviously don't understand what A/100mvkms mean do you , Weepej. That's accidents / 100 million vehicles times the kilometers travelled.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Can you compare urban and rural roads like that?

That's the whole idea of A/100mvkm figures it allows you to compare all roads and their safety levels for the amount of traffic using them.Thats why A/mvkm figures are used by the Dept for Transport to judge if a road needs work doing to it to make it safer.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Not if you want the answer "speed kills". But it works very well for sensible analysis!

Just traffic, or people as well?

Its ACCIDENTS, not casualties.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Oddly enough traffic is caused by people, though you obviously do not see drivers as people, which explains a lot.

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

I meant pedestrians.

Traffic is people in cars, on bikes, on horses, anything going along the road, even pedestrians I guess.

What they actually say is:

"62 per cent of all road fatalities in 2007 occurred on rural roads, which carry only 42 per cent of traffic".

Quite what they define as a "rural road" is unclear. The M6 over Shap is pretty "rural" to my mind!

Epic fail graball.

Whereas many drivers do not see individuals on foot or on bicycles as people.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

BUT the truth is ....You are twice as likely to be involved in an accident on an urban road than a rural road....to me that means that uraban roads are TWICE AS DANGEROUS as rural roads

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

So then you have to ask WHY are urban roads twice as dangerous? Could it be because speeds are lower and people don't concentrate as much? If this is the case, lowering speeds on rural roads will lead to MORE accidents.

This has been bourne out on one of our local duals where they reduced the speed limit and the casualty rate went UP.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

The other FACT from the tables is that although Deaths are higher on rural roads, Total casualties are DOUBLE on Urban roads.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

I think it is quite the opposite, it is far easier to see just cars and trucks etc. as objects without seeing the person inside, pedestrians and cyclists are obviously people.

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

The other interesting fact is that during the petrol crisis of 1975-1976 when we had a blanket restriction on ALL roads to 50MPH(including motorways), deaths didn't really fall (you also have to remember that fuel was being rationed then and people were doing far fewer journeys.) and when the speed limit went back up to 60MPH on Rural roads, the death figure actually dropped.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.