BOB Downie is correct (Letters, December 14). The 30mph speed limit, 60mph on rural roads and 70mph on motorways are arbitrary
His solution will not solve Scotland’s problems.The country’s productivity depends on efficient, safe road transport. Lower speeds are not the answer.
The majority of accidents involve two people with both being at fault. For pedestrians and cars, the answer is to separate the two. Traffic should be redirected around, not through, towns and villages. There should be barriers to prevent pedestrians walking in front of cars with light controlled crossing points. Where possible, there should be over or underpasses.
The solution for two-vehicle accidents is better driver education. Speed is rarely the cause of such accidents. Inattention on the part of the two drivers is the cause. Both drivers are at fault. Lengthy police forensic examinations of the accident scene tie up traffic and don’t address the fundamental issue.
A driver always has to assume that another driver is an idiot and that driver will be correct in most instances. A large percentage of accidents in Scotland are single vehicle. There are accidents on the open road where the vehicle was travelling at less than the legal speed limit. These are most frequent at bends where the driver was travelling too fast for the corner but within the speed limit.
Legislation for slower speed limits will have no effect since it cannot re-educate drivers who cannot judge entry speed into corners. If you can’t stop within your sight line, you are travelling too fast.
Cutting the number of road accidents requires imaginative solutions, not calls for slower speeds.
John Black,
6 Woodhollow House,
Helensburgh.
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