Rural Speed Limits May Be Reduced

Rural Speed Limits May Be Reduced

A new Guidance plan has unbolted that speed limits on most single - carriageway roads in rural areas could be cut from 60mph to 50mph in an undertaking to reduce the number of car accidents and deaths.
Jim Fitzpatrick, the road safety minister noted that figures suggested a road accident was most likely to transpire on rural parts of the road network, upon most of which the national 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 senescence. In 2007, professional were 2, 946 deaths and 30, 000 serious personal injuries on the roads. 29 % of these collisions were due to suggested speeding. The Curb is part a consultation on the plan, which is likely to be surpassingly opposed.
The notable of the AA, Edmund Mogul, will applicable Mr Fitzpatrick and Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon to explain the matter, but pointed out that a cloak lessening 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 bantam closer. Partly every weekend we remark these solo car accidents. They ' re annihilation to do with the speed limit. They ' re to do with inexperienced drivers driving recklessly. For a girlhood of reckless drivers, the rest are punished. A swathe alleviation 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 courtesy and understand, ” he oral.
Local authorities have the power to impose secondary speed limits, he other. This is a thought that is also supported by The Crew for British Drivers, who hash over the emphasis should be shifted from speeding to driving habits.
They have suggested that police patrols should be released to training over dangerous or bad drivers, whether they are speeding or not – tolerably than spending their tour vivacity after speeding vehicles that much represent no inconvenience.
The ABD numerous that the Government’s research suggests that repeatedly when speed is blamed for a car accident, it is really just bad driving. For quote, accidents caused by ‘failure to judge other person’s passage or speed’ are noted in the report.
The alignment however, uttered this theory was harebrained: “It is utter inanity to class this as a ‘speed related accident’. The situation here is one person blunder to appraiser the path or speed of a second vehicle – which is not to say that the second vehicle is travelling at an unfortunate or illegal speed. It is entirely a failure to look at correctly on the apportionment of the first bee. ”
A Department for Transport spokeswoman verbal: “This is being looked at, but no decisions have been taken. ”
Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers uttered: “Rather than across the board reductions in the speed limit that hit the most responsible drivers, we believe a intention to make our roads safer needs to target problem drivers. ”