Govt slammed again on speed

By Dan Gilbert

22nd August 2006

	Skills are eroded if drivers are encouraged to offload their responsibility and slavishly drive at the posted speed limit regardless. Switched-off, zombie drivers are dangerous drivers.

The road safety group, the Association of British Drivers, has said that a key change to the rules for speed limit setting, announced recently, was opposed 2-to-1 by those police forces that responded to consultation on the issue.

Under the new rules, speed limits will in future be set on the basis of average vehicle speeds, in contrast to how speed limits have been set for 40 years, and the worldwide scientific research that backs it up.

Research shows that the most respected and effective speed limits are those set at a speed that only 15 per cent of drivers would exceed if there were no limit at all - known as the "85th percentile" speed. It has also been found that drivers travelling at around this speed have the lowest accident involvement.

Changing to average speeds will result in lower speed limits being set, meaning that half of all drivers, including the safest, will be acting outside the law if they drive normally.

The ABD has discovered that the government is to go ahead with this change, despite opposition from the police - of the 18 police organisations that responded to the consultation, 11 opposed the change to average speeds as the basis of speed limit setting, with only five in favour.

The police objections are believed to arise from the new rules lead ing to lower speed limits being set, which means less self-compliance and a need for greater enforcement - the police will have to stop, charge and fine for more drivers than they do now, for driving in exactly the same way they currently do.

ABD Policy Director, Mark McArthur-Christie, comments: "The organisations with arguably the best knowledge of how speed limits work in practice - the police - have voted decisively against a change to mean speeds for speed limit setting. It is another example of the arrogance of this government that it thinks it knows best and has decided to go ahead anyway."

McArthur-Christie continued: "Even well set speed limits are only a rough guide to what may be a safe speed under a particular set of conditions, and drivers need to vary their speed as those conditions change -- and reduce their speed to well below the limit when necessary. Most drivers are capable of doing this successfully, but those skills are eroded if drivers are encouraged to offload their responsibility and slavishly drive at the posted speed limit regardless. Switched-off, zombie drivers are dangerous drivers."

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