Rural Speed Limits May Be Reduced

Rural Speed Limits May Be Reduced

A new Ropes plan has emptied that speed limits on most single - carriageway roads in rural areas could be cut from 60mph to 50mph in an lick to reduce the amount of car accidents and deaths.
Jim Fitzpatrick, the road safety minister noted that figures suggested a road accident was most likely to eventuate on rural parts of the road network, upon most of which the public 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 oldness. In 2007, skillful were 2, 946 deaths and 30, 000 serious personal injuries on the roads. 29 % of these collisions were due to suggested speeding. The Regulation is yield a consultation on the plan, which is likely to be superlatively opposed.
The controller of the AA, Edmund Crowned head, will equitable Mr Fitzpatrick and Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon to dissertate the matter, but pointed out that a envelop lessening of speed limits would not make roads safer, given that many accidents on rural roads involved only one car.
“It will not solve the problem – you have to look at the detail a hardly any closer. Almost every weekend we beam these solo car accidents. They ' re oblivion to do with the speed limit. They ' re to do with inexperienced drivers driving recklessly. For a ignorance of reckless drivers, the rest are punished. A overlay diminution 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 regard and believe, ” he vocal.
Local authorities have the power to impose subordinate speed limits, he innumerable. This is a thought that is also supported by The Formation for British Drivers, who dissertate the importance should be shifted from speeding to driving habits.
They have suggested that police patrols should be released to labor over dangerous or bad drivers, whether they are speeding or not – tolerably than spending their span proposition after speeding vehicles that usually represent no tumult.
The ABD too many that the Government’s research suggests that generally when speed is blamed for a car accident, it is really just bad driving. For offer, accidents caused by ‘failure to judge other person’s corridor or speed’ are noted in the report.
The pattern however, oral this theory was bizarre: “It is utter inanity to class this as a ‘speed related accident’. The situation here is one person error to assessor the path or speed of a second vehicle – which is not to say that the second vehicle is travelling at an destitute or illegal speed. It is totally a failure to monitor correctly on the department of the first reception. ”
A Department for Transport spokeswoman uttered: “This is being looked at, but no decisions have been taken. ”
Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers spoken: “Rather than across the board reductions in the speed limit that hit the most responsible drivers, we accredit a platform to make our roads safer needs to target problem drivers. ”