Questions about speed.

Last week I went to a workshop on speeding run by Suffolk County Council.

Whenever people are asked about the problems that they encounter in the community speeding is generally high on their list of gripes.  However, what the public perceives as speeding is often at odds with what the police regard as a speeding offence. Moreover, sometimes what appears fast to a pedestrian is actually a vehicle travelling at what, judging by the statistics, is actually a safe speed. 

One problem, I believe, lies in the way that the statistics underpinning speed limits are collected.  Only ‘recorded injury accidents’ are counted when considering changes.  No account whatsoever is taken of damage to property or to vehicles for example.  Sharing data with insurance companies might actually reveal that places regarded as ‘safe’ by the authorities are not really ‘safe’ at all. Potential damage to pedestrians or children is not looked at either.

Speed alone moreover, is not always entirely to blame for accidents. It is often regarded as something of a catch all, but other factors, such as generally inattentive and thoughtless driving, narrow roads, bends and poor visibility, often pose an equal danger to life and property.  

It is an interesting fact that in the 90’s Suffolk was at the forefront in taking measures against speeding.  It was the first county to carry out a wholesale review that led to the introduction of 30 mph limits in almost all towns and villages.  Now however many people, or at least many vocal people, seem to think that we need to go further and introduce 20 mph limits in many places across the county.

Guy McGregor, the Cabinet Member responsible for roads and transport at the County Council has recently carried out a review of speed limits across Suffolk and on the whole, with a few exceptions, has concluded that he is happy with the current situation.  However, we learned that there are some pilot schemes underway where 20 mph limits are being ‘suggested’ to motorists and the results of these should be known in the spring.

I use the word ‘suggested’ because currently the police will only enforce 20 mph limits in strictly defined circumstances, and in general therefore they are really only advisory.  I believe it would need a change in the national law to alter this situation.  There are also concerns that driving at 20 mph increases air pollution, noise levels, and petrol consumption...so it is hardly a Green solution. There is a school of thought that plugging away at trying to change driver behaviour is a better way forward.

What I found encouraging about the workshop was that, perhaps driven by lack of funds to undertake safety engineering works, the authorities are beginning to question the way that they look at the issue of speed in particular, and at road safety in general.  However, it has to be said that more questions than answers were raised during the session!