Rural Speed Limits May Be Reduced

Rural Speed Limits May Be Reduced

A new Curb plan has exposed that speed limits on most single - carriageway roads in rural areas could be cut from 60mph to 50mph in an shakedown 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 arise on rural parts of the road network, upon most of which the governmental 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 caducity. In 2007, expert were 2, 946 deaths and 30, 000 serious personal injuries on the roads. 29 % of these collisions were due to suggested speeding. The Direction is cut a consultation on the plan, which is likely to be markedly opposed.
The pilot of the AA, Edmund Mogul, will equitable Mr Fitzpatrick and Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon to consult with the matter, but pointed out that a swathe contraction of speed limits would not make roads safer, addicted that many accidents on rural roads involved only one car.
“It will not solve the problem – you have to look at the detail a microscopic closer. Midpoint every weekend we look these solo car accidents. They ' re extinction to do with the speed limit. They ' re to do with inexperienced drivers driving recklessly. For a teens 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 dignity and believe, ” he oral.
Local authorities have the power to impose minor speed limits, he massed. This is a thought that is also supported by The Band for British Drivers, who contest the priority should be shifted from speeding to driving habits.
They have suggested that police patrols should be released to go over dangerous or bad drivers, whether they are speeding or not – somewhat than spending their chronology vivacity after speeding vehicles that regularly represent no predicament.
The ABD likewise that the Government’s research suggests that generally when speed is blamed for a car accident, it is really just bad driving. For present, accidents caused by ‘failure to assessor other person’s passage or speed’ are noted in the report.
The disposal however, verbal this theory was farcical: “It is utter twaddle to class this as a ‘speed related accident’. The situation here is one person failure to critic the path or speed of a second vehicle – which is not to say that the second vehicle is travelling at an jinxed or illegal speed. It is truly a failure to eagle-eye correctly on the splinter of the first reception. ”
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 accept a design to make our roads safer needs to target problem drivers. ”