Monday 16th May 2005

Pro-scamera group issues counter-blast

Road safety is all about speed, says group

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While speed should be restrained here... ...it makes little sense here, on the M4, now undergoing a motorway camera experiment

Road safety campaign Roadsafe has launched a counter-attack against those who believe, like PistonHeads and many road safety campaigns, that concentration on speed alone over-simplifies the road safety message, and can make roads more dangerous.

The group, formed by industry and Government, said it believes that "eliminating excessive speed will save lives and has outlined some of the potential solutions, their benefits and the rationale behind enforcement methodologies that will significantly contribute to road safety."

The group has issued a briefing document whose key points are that:

• Studies of individual drivers show that when exceeding the average speed by 25 per cent a driver is about six times as likely to be involved in an incident in comparison with a driver adopting the average speed. This is similar to the risk associated with alcohol at the legal limit of 80mg/100ml blood alcohol content. [This would appear to be conflating two entirely separate issues -- PH].
• Studies of road sections show that for roads of each type, the number of crashes and collisions increases with increasing average speed – the effect varies on different road types and is strongest for the slowest roads. A ball-park figure is that each 1mph reduction in average speed is accompanied by a five per cent reduction in accidents. [If this were true, we find it hard to explain why motorways  are simultaneously both Britain's safest and fastest roads -- PH].
• Before and after studies of intervention measures. Traffic calming measures (such as road humps and chicanes) in 20mph zones have reduced average speeds by about 10mph and resulted in a 50 per cent reduction in collisions. Measures adopted in rural villages have reduced average speeds by about 5mph and resulted in at least 20 per cent fewer collisions. [Few argue for higher speeds through towns and villages and, although most drivers appear to do it, PistonHeads would argue that stricter controls in such areas are, in many cases, appropriate -- PH].
• Research at Napier University shows that individuals are aware that speeds they normally adopt when alone are actually unsafe. For example, participants described situations in which they would slow down such as the presence of a speed camera or child in the car. This suggests that individuals know that if they see a camera they would need to slow down because they would be exceeding the limit. [Surely this shows awareness of the circumstances, and bolsters the road anti-camera campaigners' arguments that drivers are capable of regulating their speed according to circumstances -- PH].

Groups campaigning for more comprehensive methods of road safety enforcement than just revenue-raising speed cameras include the Association of British Drivers and SafeSpeed -- links below).

Links

• Roadsafe
• Association of British Drivers
• SafeSpeed

[shot2bits]

I cover a fair few miles a year and mostly come across police on dual carriageways and faster B roads rather than in towns and outside of schools - which is where they should be residing. An example is my daughter’s school which is situated on a busy road - there is no camera, never any police presence, no road humps etc. I agree that breaking the speed limit in excess on any road does increase the risk of accident as your ability to slow down to avoid an issue is vastly reduced. However, the German autobahns work well as their public realise that unless they're going to drive fast, they'd better stay in the correct lane - they're taught better awareness. In the UK, I'm constantly coming across people driving at 65 in the middle lane of a motorway - I drive up behind and they do not react because they are not checking their mirrors. It's these people who represent the risk rather than the millions of business drivers cruising at 90mph in the fast lane. I also think that the basic driving test is far too easy – not teaching how to react to an out of control car. I have a bike licence and I was taught to drive fast safely by knowing your road and potential problems such as blind corners, junctions etc. Therefore you nail the bike when the road is free of traffic and potential cars pulling out but slow again when the traffic could cause a problem – this way you enjoy yourself on public roads but only risk your own life. In addition, I also think that the test age should increase to 21 rather than 17 – how many times have I come across boy racers in their neon cars nailing it through town past all the pedestrians and pushchairs? I would have hated this kind of law when I was 17 but I DID drive way too fast without the necessary experience which is essential to avoid potential accidents.