Higher standards not lower limits

The fallacy that we can make roads safe simply by making people drive at a number chosen by politicians was again exposed by recent news backing up something I’ve highlighted before – namely that some roads with ‘a history of speeding’ also had a good safety record until speed cameras were installed, after which the fatalities started. Consider also that we’ve seen accidents reduced after speed cameras have been switched off, that accidents in the US went down after rural speed limits went up while the Spanish accident rate went up after speed limits went down, and it shows that this simplistic ‘slower is safer’ policy isn’t fit for the real world.

Reduced traffic speeds also harm the economy, and it’s rather ironic that while some politicians seem hell-bent on reducing Britain’s established road network to a crawl with a flawed safety policy, others are advocating spending billions on a new high speed railway on the grounds that reduced travel times are vital to boost the economy!

Regarding dawdling drivers, many of them certainly appear to have their brains in neutral judging by some of their driving, and statistics show that slow drivers are some of the most dangerous on the roads (recent research also shows them to be the most unpopular). But reducing speed limits to 50mph or even 40mph does nothing to reduce the dangers of these drivers because they never exceed 40mph anyway!

Andy mentions the ‘woonerfs’ in Holland, and as he points out, these (like similar ‘shared space’ schemes) work because they force people to be alert, pay attention to what’s going on around them and proceed accordingly. They also credit people with having sense, unlike the lower speed limits and speed cameras approach which treats people like idiots who have to be told how fast to drive because they’re too stupid to think for themselves. Maybe some drivers are that stupid, but it’s been shown that speed limits based on the ‘sensible speed’ that around 85 per cent of drivers will automatically adopt along any road are better than the artificially low limits increasingly set by politicians.

As I keep saying, real improvements in road safety won’t come from lower speed limits (except were genuinely justified) but from higher driving standards – something much of what Andy writes tries to promote. Of course improving driving standards is easier said than done. But maybe things like driving simulators that can be used in secondary schools to give teenagers practical lessons on things like hazard perception and the dangers of drink driving etc. well before they’re old enough to start driving will help ‘tomorrow’s drivers’. Regarding today’s drivers, one suggestion has been regular retests. As a driving instructor it would be interesting to know what Andy thinks of that one. - Graham Bell, via email.