the government is holding an inquiry into speed enforcement issues, and are inviting you all to write in!
www.parliament.uk/commons/selcom/tlgrpnt15.htm
The Transport, Local Government and the Regions Committee has decided to undertake an inquiry into the nature and effects of illegal and inappropriate road traffic speed in the UK.
The Committee will wish to consider:
The role of illegal and inappropriate speed in respect of:
causing crashes, and the severity of accidents; reducing the quality of life in urban areas;
and the consequences of illegal and inappropriate speed for urban design.
The availability and reliability of research on
the consequences of, and reasons for, illegal and inappropriate speed, and in particular, the reasons for the very high pedestrian casualty rate;
The extent to which the problems associated with speed should be tackled by:
better enforcement; road re-design and traffic calming; road re-classification; physical measures to separate pedestrians and cars (e.g. barriers); technology (e.g. through Intelligent Speed Adaptation and car designs which promote pedestrian protection); education to improve drivers? and motor cyclists? behaviour and pedestrian and cyclist awareness; changes to speed limits; and what specific policies should be implemented.
The extent to which relevant bodies are taking the right actions
Whether local authorities, DTLR, the Highways Agency, the police and Home Office are providing a co-ordinated approach to speed management, and what they should do Whether the sentences imposed by magistrates and judges on those convicted of speeding offences have in all cases been appropriate and what other approaches ought to be considered Whether motor manufacturers, the national press, TV programmes about motoring and advertisers have shown an appropriate attitude to speed, and how they should change
The role of speed management strategies
Witnesses are invited to submit memoranda to the Committee before Tuesday January 8. Memoranda should consist of up to six A4 pages on computer disk in either ASCII, Word or Word Perfect 8 with a single additional hard copy. Witnesses without access to a computer are respectfully requested to take particular care that submissions are legible. Witnesses who wish their memoranda to be treated in confidence should contact the Committee Clerk in advance.
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Or.. the government would like you to write in supporting their policys.
"The role of illegal and inappropriate speed in respect of:"
Notice illegal speed lumped in with inappropriate speed. Nobody would support inappropriate speed but most of us indulge in illegal speed on a daily basis.
"the reasons for the very high pedestrian casualty rate;"
Nobody said the pedestrian causualty rate was high. This assumes it is a problem before anyone has invesigated.
By focusing an entire enquiry on "illegal and inappropriate speed" they have decided before they even start that speed is the problem. Useful findings might come out of an enquiry entitled "How can we make our roads safer?" but this agenda proves that nobody will be asking that question.
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hey its supposed to be a democracy... write in!
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They are obviously too thick to read their own documents.
TRL 323 said that 84% of pedestrian accidents were caused when " pedestrian entered carriageway without due care"
See more accident stats here. Roll to bottom of page and click away
www.ringroad.fsnet.co.uk/westmidsacc.htm
Also look at www.ringroad.org.uk/
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"the consequences of, and reasons for, illegal and inappropriate speed, and in particular, the reasons for the very high pedestrian casualty rate;"
that may be because everyone seems to park on the pavement on their way to work near the local shop to get chewing gum, paper, coke, fags etc.
obviously this simple tactic forces pedestrians onto the road to get past, hence some of the casualties.
I'm afraid it's back to basics, people. If we all dipped our lights, maintained our vehicles properly, didn't use inappropriate speed, didn't cut in, knew our road signs, knew how to signal at roundabouts (or signal at all) didn't tailgate, didn't park on the bl**dy pavement like it was too much effort to walk a few yards etc.etc. what a happy place our roads would be.
It's all very well to rant on about speed limits, cameras, no police, congestion, public transport, but these are peripheral issues. As a breed we do ourselves no favours at all; our meeting point (I nearly wrote interface) with pedestrians, cyclists and the green lobby i.e. all those who have time to write to their MPs and have an axe to grind, is so poor it's no wonder we've become scapegoats and cash cows.
Where's all this going? Poor road manners and especially parking on the pavement is leading to the breakdown of the very fabric of society itself.
Right, I'm off for a lie down.
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Hear,Hear if it means we get cars travelling at lower speeds,especially in built up urban areas.
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But lower speeds do not equate with fewer accidents. It is a widely held belief and seems obvious but it is wrong. Ask a highways engineer.
Please see www.tspeurope.com/
and also the FAQ section here.
www.wsdot.wa.gov/fossc/trafficoperations/rules.htm
Interesting reading from those who know.
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yea well more and more people are forced to park on the pavement because so many roads are being thinned by local councils as a speed reduction measure, if they thin a road to only the width of two average cars then you cannot park safely at the side as you could in the old days...
i could show you a road close to me where its been thinned to a very unsafe extent, and of course the statistics will show that all the subsequent accidents are because of speed, driver error etc
nonsense it is very poor road and traffic management design at the heart of the problem
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My view is that too much emphasis is placed on speed.It amazes me that only now are we going to have regulations regarding Bull Bars a fashion accessory that no 4x4 can be seen without and speaking of 4x4s they use more fuel,most have stability problems,and they have a longer stopping distancde than other private vehicles,and has anyone noticed the latest fashion,the large American style Pick up Truck why not some financial restraints on these if the government is really keen on both safety and emmissions as they also use on average 50% more fuel.
Norman
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Yeah but,bull bars and pick up trucks look great,just drive slowly and carefully.
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Exactly !!! That's why it's such a good idea to load tax onto motor fuel. Anything to prevent the school run in gas-guzzling, pavement-parking, dodgily-driven* 4 x 4s
*usually with one hand operating the mobile 'phone
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Personally I don't approve of bull bars in urban areas.
But what with the proliferation of road narrowings, bollards and speed thumps, which in turn leave no funds for long overdue road maintenance, leading to a proliferation of pot holes: I can fully understand why people see the need for "off-road" capable vehicles protected by bull bars.
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my view on speed is like what my girlfriend used to say to me, MORE MORE, FASTER FASTER ;-)
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That's 'cos you drive a Lada..........
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More in the same vein here:
www.bogush.fsnet.co.uk/Protest.htm#SafetyandSpeedS...s
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Or it does not, if your views are not PC!
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I vote for a £500, no £1,000 tax disc for the school run agricultural vehicles. There must be a fair way to tax these off the road without affecting those that genuinely need them.
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Look, is this going to help get speed limits raised?
We've been suffering with ever decreasing limits now for sometime. the safety argument is rubbish. We need bigger roads, anf higher limits. And to keep pedestrians OFF the road. Whats the problem here?
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