He drives recklessly, you drive fast but I drive in control.
He drives recklessly, you drive fast but I drive in control. When it comes to speed, there is a dangerous disconnection between our perception of the behaviour of other motorists and how we view ourselves. That is why, while 80% of people think speeding is dangerous, 70% admit to doing it themselves. Too many British drivers continue to labour under the illusion that their own speeding behaviour is completely safe. The government's consultation on road safety, launched yesterday, paves the way for a Draconian shake-up which could leave the worst speeding drivers facing a ban after two offences.
If lives are to be saved, any new legislation must focus on the most dangerous situations and drivers, without rendering driving irksome for the mass of law-abiding motorists whose conduct poses little risk to others. So while the consultation will revisit the debate about drink-driving limits, it focuses rightly on the small minority who regularly take to the wheel while well over the current limit. There is also an overdue attempt to create formal drug-drive limits, following the revelation that around 20% of motorists dying in accidents may have been impaired by drugs. However, speed remains the biggest single killer. Officially, it is a factor in 29% of road deaths but, because of the definition used, this is almost certainly a drastic underestimate. The problem has several strands and the solutions involve an element of horses for courses.
For more than a decade, the spread of traffic calming measures, the proliferation of speed cameras and the successful THINK! campaign have combined to reduce the proportion of vehicles exceeding the 30mph urban speed limit, even though around half of all drivers continue to flout it. The government is right to reject the notion of lower penalty points for minor infringements. Official guidelines mean those caught driving at 35mph or less are rarely prosecuted anyway and it is important to send the message that the limit is 30mph for good reason. Pedestrian survivals fall sharply as speed increases, even slightly. The second important issue is the level of speeding on rural roads, where fixed speed cameras are less effective, but Scottish pilot schemes measuring motorists' average speed over a distance appear extremely effective in reducing accidents. Their roll-out should be welcomed for what they are: life-savers. However, they must be accompanied by better signing of the applicable speed limit, especially where these change.
The biggest challenge is how to tackle the 14% who regularly drive at speeds in excess of 20mph above any limit, and who appear impervious to publicity campaigns, driver education and traffic-calming measures. Statistics suggest that these drivers only slow down when they are one offence away from losing their licences. That is why six-point penalties for reckless speed must be the key to tackling this group: two strikes and they should be off the road. Traffic accidents can never be eliminated altogether, but 3000 grieving British families a year is far too many.
