SAFETY SPEED III It there was any correlation between road
Page 71
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
safety and speed limits then there might be logic in the No Need To Speed campaign.
No-one lying on an operating table and awaiting delivery of a vital organ for transplant is going to expect the emergency vehicle bringing it to keep to arbitrary limits. But neither will they expect the driver to take unnecessary risks.
Surely the message to be got across is equally relevant to private motorists and has been known to athletes for millenia. It is a simple mathematical fact that to achieve a modest reduction in journey time requires a disproportionate increase in speed; the law of diminishing returns sets in very early.
Where road safety is compromised is by drivers' injudicous use of speed (often involving overtaking which puts them closer to the head of a queue of traffic which is already travelling at a reasonable speed) but which saves them perhaps a few seconds over a long journey.
Speed limits do not make the roads safe. But any driver can make any road dangerous. Anthony G Phillips
Salisbury Wiltshire