Rural Speed Limits May Be Reduced

Rural Speed Limits May Be Reduced

A new Restriction plan has stripped that speed limits on most single - carriageway roads in rural areas could be cut from 60mph to 50mph in an workout to reduce the figure of car accidents and deaths.
Jim Fitzpatrick, the road safety minister noted that figures suggested a road accident was most likely to befall 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, licensed were 2, 946 deaths and 30, 000 serious personal injuries on the roads. 29 % of these collisions were due to suggested speeding. The Clout is takings a consultation on the plan, which is likely to be notably opposed.
The master of the AA, Edmund Rajah, will suitable Mr Fitzpatrick and Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon to dispute the matter, but pointed out that a swathe reduction of speed limits would not make roads safer, accustomed that many accidents on rural roads involved only one car.
“It will not solve the problem – you have to look at the detail a fleeting closer. Nearly every weekend we survey these solo car accidents. They ' re annihilation 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 lessening 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 respect and believe, ” he verbal.
Local authorities have the power to impose minor speed limits, he farther. This is a thought that is also supported by The Fit-out for British Drivers, who figure the importance should be shifted from speeding to driving habits.
They have suggested that police patrols should be released to exercise over dangerous or bad drivers, whether they are speeding or not – tolerably than spending their tour reaction after speeding vehicles that often represent no concern.
The ABD heavier that the Government’s research suggests that often when speed is blamed for a car accident, it is really just bad driving. For offer, accidents caused by ‘failure to critic other person’s gangway or speed’ are noted in the report.
The construction however, vocal this theory was derisory: “It is utter nonsense to class this as a ‘speed related accident’. The situation here is one person lapse to critic the path or speed of a second vehicle – which is not to say that the second vehicle is travelling at an deplorable or illegal speed. It is precisely a failure to study correctly on the organ of the first blowout. ”
A Department for Transport spokeswoman oral: “This is being looked at, but no decisions have been taken. ”
Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers oral: “Rather than across the board reductions in the speed limit that hit the most responsible drivers, we understand a scheme to make our roads safer needs to target problem drivers. ”