Safe Speed Forums

A £490m project to upgrade driver information systems on England's motorways was announced today by the Government.
The new deal will provide a national digital system linking more that 14,000 message signs, emergency telephones, CCTV cameras and traffic monitoring systems to the Highway Agency's network of traffic control centres.
Roads Minister Stephen Ladyman said: "This is good news for the thousands of drivers who use our motorway network every day."
He went on: "The £490m upgrade, together with initiatives such as motorway traffic officers and traffic control centres, will give drivers the real-time information they need to plan their journeys more effectively, avoiding congested stretches of the network, reducing the costs to business and the levels of driver stress that delays can cause."
The upgrade will also enable the agency to develop new initiatives, such as access to real-time CCTV pictures of traffic conditions via the internet.
The first phase of the project will involve work on the M3, M4 and M62.
The contract for the work has been won by a consortium led by engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance services organisation Fluor.
The consortium will be known as GeneSYS Telecommunications.
The new organisation's contract replaces the current arrangements, which involve a large number of different telecommunication contracts.
This comes as a report out today recommends speed limits should be displayed to drivers in their vehicles through the setting-up of a electronic database.
This Government-established database could then enable a voluntary driver-operated system to be introduced that slows vehicles down if they exceed the speed limit, the report from The Motorists' Forum added.
The forum - an independent body including the AA, RAC and car manufacturers - said installing aircraft-style accident "black boxes" in cars would also help provide crucial information about the cause of crashes.
The forum's report concluded that speed is a contributory factor in road accidents.
Managing speed is therefore essential if a real reduction in casualties is to be achieved, the forum said.
Forum chairman Sir Trevor Chinn said: "Today's launch is a strong message from the motoring world that more needs to be done to tackle the problem of speeding and to make our roads safer. That means all of us playing our part."

enable a voluntary driver-operated system to be introduced that slows vehicles down

enable a voluntary driver-operated system to be introduced that slows vehicles down

The Motorists Forum:

http://www.cfit.gov.uk/mf/

Independent?

" The forum's report concluded that speed is a contributory factor in road accidents. "

Why on earth are people who come to these sort of conclusions still employed?

And don't forget that the person that issues the minutes is one of the most important people there - after the event it doesn't matter what was said, the minutes are easily slanted to give whatever conclusions are wanted.

Well.. It is... Not heard of many parked cars shunting into each other..

It's just that one would expect a tad more intellectual rigour from the self-styled advisory bodies.