Speeding is normal, says Safe Speed
Group hits back at 'misleading' RAC report
Drivers' group the Safe Speed has hit back at the RAC's latest report, which launched today with the headline: "Speeding epidemic spreads as 15 million break limits 'most days', reveals RAC".
Safe Speed claims that this is "highly misleading", claiming that routine speeding is actually "a perfectly normal and acceptable - even vital - road user behaviour."
The group continues, "We need to know why drivers speed. Without a clear and accurate answer to this question conclusions are ill-founded. Yet neither government nor the RAC have any useful illumination to offer.
"Drivers' speeding behaviour is clearly a complete mystery to the government, the RAC and much of the road safety community. On the one hand most drivers exceed the speed limit much of the time, yet it's difficult to understand why they do it. They don't save much time, they risk fines and licence suspensions and the government tells us that they are risking their lives. And why hasn't drivers' speeding behaviour changed at all after a decade of speed camera programme expansion?"
Safe Speed reckons that "routine speeding is, for the majority of responsible motorists, nothing more than a side effect of a vital safety-oriented driver behaviour. Of course there are people who drive like maniacs and deserve the attentions of the police, but these people are a tiny minority.
What about the rest of us? Why do we speed?"
Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign said, "Actually it's very simple. As drivers we constantly have to adjust our speed to the immediate conditions. In fact, one of the primary tasks of driving is to set an appropriate speed that enables us to slow down or stop if the situation ahead demands it. We do it constantly. We do it almost subconsciously and in almost every case we do it very well indeed. The message from the conditions ahead is powerful and accurate. In order to be safe a driver must respond to them.
"We become so attuned to driving to the conditions that any other behaviour feels wrong. When there are hazards ahead we slow down. When there are no hazards ahead we speed up. And that's exactly what we must do for safety. We don't even need a speedometer to do it. When conditions are suitable we speed because we know we are setting the right speed.
"If we replace this behaviour with rigid speed limit compliance, drivers will become less effective at slowing down when necessary. Crashes and deaths will then increase.
"In fact it's already happening. So far the government has managed to persuade a few per cent of drivers to drive rigidly to the number on the speedo instead of the conditions ahead.
"Our reward for this grossly mistaken policy is an increase in deaths, typified by the known increase in single vehicle crashes where a vehicle leaves the road. These crashes happen when a driver fails to adjust speed to suit the conditions."
Safe Speed has issued a demand that speed cameras be scrapped and that "the policies that gave us the safest roads in the world are restored. We do not need to eliminate routine speeding by responsible motorists - instead we need to emphasise the importance of responsible speed choice according to the conditions."
Speed limits should be advisory with much stiffer penalties for dangerous or careless driving to tackle the idiots. Your defense would be much stronger if you were within the advised limit.
Sadly, speeding is an absolute offence which is somewhat ludicrous in a sophisticated legal system, with regards to an activity that has so many inherent variables. The generally law-abiding middle classes who 'speed' at 85mph on the motorway are becoming criminalised, whilst the burglars, muggers etc. get away with their anti-social behaviour because it is more difficult to detect.
As Paul says, mild speeding is normal and the roads would be no safer with draconian enforcement; but quality of life, mistrust of the police by the middle classes and resentment of the law would increase.
Everyone on this forum is against the idiots, we'd be the first to admit, so penalties for dangerous driving and CCTV coverage of roads for playback later could be a solution. But saying we need harsher penalties for the absolute offence of speeding because the cameras aren't working is b*llocks. They aren't working because people don't follow laws that are fundamentally unreasonable.
Monday morning rant over, and yes I have got a crap day at work ahead of me
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