Wolfie
Is a lunp
RoadSafe welcomes the announcement that the Government is reviewing penalties for speeding and is looking forward to further announcements.
Adrian Walsh, Director of RoadSafe said: "Whilst we must remember that there is a tremendous amount of robust scientific evidence, that higher speeds mean more accidents, more severe accidents, and more deaths., we believe that penalties should be adjusted to the severity of the offence and penalties should always be seen to educate as well as punish"
A law abiding citizen must conform to all elements of the law including traffic law and speed limits. Penalties provide a sharp reminder of this.
Yet concern about occasional, unintended and less severe infringements resulting in the loss of a licence must be recognised and addressed.
The link between enforcement and revenue as is currently the case with safety camera partnerships should be broken. Rather than funding camera
operations as a separate entity, they should be brought within the general road safety portfolio. Instead of returning the revenue raised for the continued operation of cameras, the rules should be reviewed to make it easier for local authorities to use it much more widely to include road user education within schools.
RoadSafe believes that:
Persistent speeding offenders (perhaps with more than three speeding offences within one year or five within three years) should have to undertake a retraining course at their own expense.
A proposed change in the structure of speeding penalty points should be considered and a grading system could be adopted in accordance with varying degrees of exceeding the limit ? both fewer than 3 points for lesser infringements, and more than 3 for gross speeding.
Speed Awareness Courses, used by a small number of local authorities, offer an alterative to those who are penalised for minor infringements. Following the success of national driver improvement schemes, rapid progress should be made to rolling out speed awareness schemes in all areas.
The challenge is for speeding to be seen as equally anti social as drink driving!
Notes
1 .Speed limits are a major topic of discussion and some enforcement methods are at best misunderstood and on occasions a source of public irritation. Roadsafe believes that eliminating excessive speed will save lives and has outlined below some of the potential solutions, their benefits and the rationale behind enforcement methodologies that will significantly contribute to road safety.
2. Some recent media coverage has implied that the government should leave innocent speeding motorists alone. There is a pressing need to communicate the strong and established link between speed and crashes and collision and to be clear about what the evidence is for that link. This issue was debated at an expert meeting held on 26 Jan 2004. This policy is based on the presentations and debate at that meeting.
3. Over the last decade a substantial programme of research has examined directly the relationship between speed and accidents. These large scale studies are based on real data from real roads. Together they provide extensive and robust evidence that, in a given situation, higher speeds mean more accidents, more severe accidents, and more deaths.
A major programme of research by TRL has provided evidence of three different types on the effect of speed on crashes and collisions.
Studies of individual drivers show that when exceeding the average speed by 25% a driver is about 6 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.
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 5% reduction in accidents.
Before and after studies of intervention measures. Traffic calming measures (e.g. road humps and chicanes) in 20mph zones have reduced average speeds by about 10mph and resulted in a 50% reduction in collisions. Measures adopted in rural villages have reduced average speeds by about 5mph and resulted in at least 20% fewer collisions.
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.
Changing attitudes to speed need to relate to influences on speed:
Obligations - such as keeping appointments, picking up kids, and generally meeting the tight time schedules of modern life.
0pportunities - that allows speeding to take place, such as a fast car and a clear road.
Inclinations - performing behaviours in accordance with personal preference such as I like to speed as it feels good.
RoadSafe has developed this public policy as a contribution to reducing the casualties caused by speeding copies of this policy are available from awalsh@roadsafe.com .
Further enquiries Adrian Walsh: 02073449236
Adrian Walsh, Director of RoadSafe said: "Whilst we must remember that there is a tremendous amount of robust scientific evidence, that higher speeds mean more accidents, more severe accidents, and more deaths., we believe that penalties should be adjusted to the severity of the offence and penalties should always be seen to educate as well as punish"
A law abiding citizen must conform to all elements of the law including traffic law and speed limits. Penalties provide a sharp reminder of this.
Yet concern about occasional, unintended and less severe infringements resulting in the loss of a licence must be recognised and addressed.
The link between enforcement and revenue as is currently the case with safety camera partnerships should be broken. Rather than funding camera
operations as a separate entity, they should be brought within the general road safety portfolio. Instead of returning the revenue raised for the continued operation of cameras, the rules should be reviewed to make it easier for local authorities to use it much more widely to include road user education within schools.
RoadSafe believes that:
Persistent speeding offenders (perhaps with more than three speeding offences within one year or five within three years) should have to undertake a retraining course at their own expense.
A proposed change in the structure of speeding penalty points should be considered and a grading system could be adopted in accordance with varying degrees of exceeding the limit ? both fewer than 3 points for lesser infringements, and more than 3 for gross speeding.
Speed Awareness Courses, used by a small number of local authorities, offer an alterative to those who are penalised for minor infringements. Following the success of national driver improvement schemes, rapid progress should be made to rolling out speed awareness schemes in all areas.
The challenge is for speeding to be seen as equally anti social as drink driving!
Notes
1 .Speed limits are a major topic of discussion and some enforcement methods are at best misunderstood and on occasions a source of public irritation. Roadsafe believes that eliminating excessive speed will save lives and has outlined below some of the potential solutions, their benefits and the rationale behind enforcement methodologies that will significantly contribute to road safety.
2. Some recent media coverage has implied that the government should leave innocent speeding motorists alone. There is a pressing need to communicate the strong and established link between speed and crashes and collision and to be clear about what the evidence is for that link. This issue was debated at an expert meeting held on 26 Jan 2004. This policy is based on the presentations and debate at that meeting.
3. Over the last decade a substantial programme of research has examined directly the relationship between speed and accidents. These large scale studies are based on real data from real roads. Together they provide extensive and robust evidence that, in a given situation, higher speeds mean more accidents, more severe accidents, and more deaths.
A major programme of research by TRL has provided evidence of three different types on the effect of speed on crashes and collisions.
Studies of individual drivers show that when exceeding the average speed by 25% a driver is about 6 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.
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 5% reduction in accidents.
Before and after studies of intervention measures. Traffic calming measures (e.g. road humps and chicanes) in 20mph zones have reduced average speeds by about 10mph and resulted in a 50% reduction in collisions. Measures adopted in rural villages have reduced average speeds by about 5mph and resulted in at least 20% fewer collisions.
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.
Changing attitudes to speed need to relate to influences on speed:
Obligations - such as keeping appointments, picking up kids, and generally meeting the tight time schedules of modern life.
0pportunities - that allows speeding to take place, such as a fast car and a clear road.
Inclinations - performing behaviours in accordance with personal preference such as I like to speed as it feels good.
RoadSafe has developed this public policy as a contribution to reducing the casualties caused by speeding copies of this policy are available from awalsh@roadsafe.com .
Further enquiries Adrian Walsh: 02073449236
