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End this speeding myth

24th February 2005
Page 24
Page 24, 24th February 2005 — End this speeding myth
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

IT IS DISAPPOINTING to note in recent press reports on the "speeding epidemic" that the RAC, who should know better, are still peddling the myth that one third of accidents are caused by speed.

If this is supposed to mean they are caused by drivers exceeding speed limits then it is nonsense and even the Department for Transport has abandoned this false claim.

Excessive speed for the conditions is only one contributory factor in a minority of accidents, and precious few of those involve drivers who were driving above the speed limit.This incontrovertible fact is suppressed time and again, because it does not fit the "Speed Kills" hysteria.Actually since it is impossible to have an accident unless you are moving,we may yet see the fatuous but accurate claim that speed is a factor in 100% of accidents!

Despite this, the number of speed cameras grows and the number of traffic police diminishes Where I live these officers have been deployed to other duties considered more important than enforcing safe driving standards.The huge increase in speed cameras has been matched by an increase in fatalities, so why are we being treated to more of the same failed policies?

The reason so many people exceed a speed limit is because they are often set too low and it is frequently safe to exceed them, although only outside urban areas. If it were otherwise a majority of accidents would necessarily involve drivers exceeding posted limits.

The 40mph limit for HGVs on trunk roads is a case in point. Prior to speed cameras being used as weapons of mass prosecution, the official figures released by the Department for Transport revealed that in 2002, only five cases of fatal accidents caused by excessive speed were perpetrated by HGVs.

Unthinking cameras have now replaced the common sense and discretion shown in the past by police officers, so now frustrated motorists queue in absurdly slow moving convoys caused by HGV drivers forced to protect their licences by irrational zealots and timid politicians. I simply cannot believe this is conducive to road safety.

Alan Dodd Alnwick Northumberland


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