Safe Speed Forums

Daily Mail Online Here

_________________
Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

Heaven forbid that these families should have to teach their young how to cross the road safely, no, they should have the god-given right to step out and be hit at a speed that is below that at which the majority will be killed!

The really worrying thing is that, to the best of my knowledge, there are no requirements for marking a re-graded 30mph limit where street-lighting is already in place, just take down the signage and bob's-your-uncle, catch all those who thought they knew the speed limit and haven't noticed those signs for weeks/months/years because they have been busy watching for hazards!

_________________
Regulation without education merely creates more criminals.

Nice to see, in the Mail, that the majority of comments are AGAINST lower speed limits and people realise that lower speeds don't mean safer roads.... now if only the governemnt and local authority robots would get out of their little offices and actually listen to the MAJORITY!!!

_________________
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.

And of course the article is illustrated by a picture of a village that would never have had a 40 limit anyway, and where it's unlikely that traffic would even be doing 30 mph.

But very good to see the issue of speed limit reductions getting an airing at last in the national press.

_________________
"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

Strangely enough , had a similar conversation with teacher at my Gran daughter's school the other day ,when I commented on the pupils( in general) lack of road safety awareness and no sign of Green cross code to be told that alas very few seem to have been taught it by the time they reach secondary school and of those who practice it ,it was only due to parental skills .I also noticed that this school had a resident PCSO - BUT NO ROAD SAFETY PROGRAM .

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Children aren't expected to be responsible for their own safety these days...it's always someone elses responsibility....

_________________
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.

[quote=DfT]ANNEX E TO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT CIRCULAR ROADS 1/80

THE EFFECT OF ALTERING LEVELS OF SPEED LIMITS: SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCE
1. It is a common but mistaken belief that drivers allow themselves a set margin over the prevailing speed limit, and that if a limit is raised by 10 mph, they will travel 10 mph faster. In fact, an increase in an unrealistic speed limit rarely brings an increase in traffic speeds. (“Unrealistic” is here used to mean “substantially below the 85 percentile speed”). It is much more likely that there will be no change, or even a fall. It seems that drivers relieved of the frustrations of too low a limit rarely abuse the higher one. Indeed it is not unusual for the accident rate to fall when a poorly-observed limit is raised. This may mean that reduced frustration leads to changes in driving behaviour conducive to accident reduction.
2. The evidence for asserting that speeds and accidents do not increase in proportion to an increase in speed limit comes from studies made before and after unrealistic local limits have been raised. Some of the main evidence is summarised in paragraphs 3-9 below.
3. In 1960, a Departmental Road Safety Committee reporting on the results of the experimental introduction of 40 mph speed limits in the London area concluded that the raising of the limit had resulted in no appreciable change in speeds, while the accident rate remained substantially the same. The committee considered that the higher limit had achieved its purpose of removing unjustifiably low speed limits, and encouraging a proper standard of enforcement.
4. A before and after study carried out at 20 locations through Kent, where the limit had been raised from 30 mph to 40 mph, showed a fall in speed, or no change, in 80% of the measurements taken, and a small increase in the others. The total number of accidents fell by almost 20%.
5. In 1973 the Metropolitan Police produced the results of a study on six sections of trunk road where - in accordance with the Department’s criteria - speed limits had been raised from 40 to 50 mph, or from 30 mph to 40 mph. At four locations the 85 percentile went up by less than 2 mph and at two locations it went down. Allowing for a general decrease in accidents, the reduction in the number of accidents at these places was 15%.
6. When the speed limit in Park Lane, London W1, was increased from 30 mph to 40 mph in 1970, the 85 percentile speed fell from 43.6 mph (measured in 1970) to 39.2 mph (measured in 1974).
7. In 1974, the Midland Road Safety Unit reported the results of a study of a large number of speed limit changes from 30 mph to 40 mph. Their conclusion that there had been no significant increase in either speeds or accidents was in line with the conclusions from a similar exercise for cases in other parts of the country carried out within the Department.
8. The Department has recently conducted a survey of the effects of changing the levels of speed limits in various parts of the country. The results indicate that raising speed limits has little effect either on the speeds of vehicles or the rates of accidents.

9. The following examples of local speed limit changes from 30 mph to 40 mph illustrate this point.
85%ILE SPEED ACCIDENT RATE
COUNTY ROAD BEFORE AFTER BEFORE AFTER
Cheshire A41 44 43 1.06 0.6
Lancashire B5253 43 37 0.78 0.85
West Yorkshire A58 40/43 47/52 1.45 0.65
Warwickshire A34 42/42 40/42 0.5 0.65
Warwickshire B4453 42/44 43/43 3.2 1
(40/42 41/41)
Surrey (47/40 45/37)

The table above shows that, in the one instance in which speeds rose, the accident rate went down.

10. With the removal of the energy conservation speed limits in June 1977, the national speed limit went up from 50 to 60 mph on single carriageway roads and from 60 to 70 mph on dual carriageway roads. This afforded an ideal opportunity to judge if traffic responds to national speed limit changes in the same way as it does to local changes. A survey of speeds at 49 points throughout the country made in July 1977, compared with a similar survey in July 1976, showed that for cars and motorcycles with a headway of at least 5 seconds there was no change in the mean speed on single carriageway roads and a 1 mph on single carriageway roads and 2 mph on dual carriageway roads (sic). An analysis of national accident rates in the months following the changes shows no evidence that raising the limits caused any increase in the number of accidents.[/quote]

_________________
Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

Like their parents. If a young kid was allowed into a room where large sharp knives were available ,without some sort of supervision - all hell would break loose , yet let the same kids loose on the public highway and who's responsible for their safety - yep the blogs driving down the road unaware of when the little horrors will decide to jump out .As seen on one army estate "DANGER CHILDREN " - TO WHICH MY DAUGHTER ( RESIDENT ) replied - "yep ,it's the cars that are in danger "

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

This whole situation is utterly appalling, and needs to be withdrawn before more people die through bad policies.
It is inappropriate speed that is the problem. Making bad motorists behaviours better should be the aim not reduce everyone down to the lowest common denominator !
That 85th%ile of motorists is an important factor that must not be dismissed.

_________________
Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.