Rural Speed Limits May Be Reduced

Rural Speed Limits May Be Reduced

A new Upper hand plan has bare that speed limits on most single - carriageway roads in rural areas could be cut from 60mph to 50mph in an experiment to reduce the character 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 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 elderliness. In 2007, competent were 2, 946 deaths and 30, 000 serious personal injuries on the roads. 29 % of these collisions were due to suggested speeding. The Discipline is catch a consultation on the plan, which is likely to be strikingly opposed.
The exec of the AA, Edmund Tycoon, will fit Mr Fitzpatrick and Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon to toss around the matter, but pointed out that a overlay decrease of speed limits would not make roads safer, prone that many accidents on rural roads involved only one car.
“It will not solve the problem – you have to look at the detail a infant closer. Nearly every weekend we discern these solo car accidents. They ' re diddly to do with the speed limit. They ' re to do with inexperienced drivers driving recklessly. For a childhood of reckless drivers, the rest are punished. A drape 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 recognition and believe, ” he verbal.
Local authorities have the power to impose inferior speed limits, he increased. This is a thought that is also supported by The Clot for British Drivers, who thrash out the emphasis should be shifted from speeding to driving habits.
They have suggested that police patrols should be released to purpose over dangerous or bad drivers, whether they are speeding or not – rather than spending their time rush after speeding vehicles that recurrently represent no puzzle.
The ABD further that the Government’s research suggests that oftentimes when speed is blamed for a car accident, it is really just bad driving. For name, accidents caused by ‘failure to assessor other person’s alley or speed’ are noted in the report.
The pattern however, vocal this theory was silly: “It is utter drivel 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 inopportune or illegal speed. It is quite a failure to observe correctly on the detail of the first stag. ”
A Department for Transport spokeswoman uttered: “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 deem a policy to make our roads safer needs to target problem drivers. ”