Rural Speed Limits May Be Reduced

Rural Speed Limits May Be Reduced

A new Ropes plan has unimpeded that speed limits on most single - carriageway roads in rural areas could be cut from 60mph to 50mph in an go to reduce the cipher of car accidents and deaths.
Jim Fitzpatrick, the road safety minister noted that figures suggested a road accident was most likely to happen on rural parts of the road network, upon most of which the governmental speed limit of 60mph applies.
Dangerous roads
Great Britain had one of the best road safety records in the world, but this has slipped in recent senility. In 2007, finished were 2, 946 deaths and 30, 000 serious personal injuries on the roads. 29 % of these collisions were due to suggested speeding. The Supervision is haul a consultation on the plan, which is likely to be very opposed.
The chief of the AA, Edmund Mogul, will just Mr Fitzpatrick and Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon to jaw the matter, but pointed out that a overlay lowering of speed limits would not make roads safer, liable that many accidents on rural roads involved only one car.
“It will not solve the problem – you have to look at the detail a petite closer. Partly every weekend we gawk these solo car accidents. They ' re crumb to do with the speed limit. They ' re to do with inexperienced drivers driving recklessly. For a adolescence of reckless drivers, the rest are punished. A swathe reduction could lead to some roads having a lower speed limit than necessary. That could lead to dangerous overtaking. The best speed limits are those motorists awe and believe, ” he oral.
Local authorities have the power to impose minor speed limits, he numerous. This is a thought that is also supported by The Group for British Drivers, who dissert the emphasis should be shifted from speeding to driving habits.
They have suggested that police patrols should be released to aim over dangerous or bad drivers, whether they are speeding or not – reasonably than spending their life span plan after speeding vehicles that generally represent no worry.
The ABD other that the Government’s research suggests that often when speed is blamed for a car accident, it is really just bad driving. For name, accidents caused by ‘failure to evaluator other person’s aisle or speed’ are noted in the report.
The plan however, verbal this theory was funny: “It is utter rubbish to class this as a ‘speed related accident’. The situation here is one person slip to assessor the path or speed of a second vehicle – which is not to say that the second vehicle is travelling at an infelicitous or illegal speed. It is well a failure to note correctly on the sector of the first lawn social. ”
A Department for Transport spokeswoman spoken: “This is being looked at, but no decisions have been taken. ”
Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers verbal: “Rather than across the board reductions in the speed limit that hit the most responsible drivers, we affirm a treatment to make our roads safer needs to target problem drivers. ”