The speed limit on many A-roads will be reduced to 50mph under plans aimed at cutting the number of road deaths by a third.
Drivers also face limits of 20mph in residential zones. These could be enforced by average speed cameras. Average speed cameras seem more effective than ordinary speed cameras. You notice this when racing on a road with a speed camera. Motorists will be doing 40 then slow down sharply to 28-30mph to go past camera then speed up again. It can be dangerous in a time trial where with a tailwind you are often doing over 30mph.
Speed Limit to be cut to 50mph for A roads unless councils can provide good reasons to keep it at 60mph.
Other measures include a fixed £60 fine for passing too close to a cyclist (police could make a lot of money on that one)
The target is to reduce road deaths by 1,000 from the current 3,000
Generally I support these measures. There are times when I drive quite fast. But, I’d rather have the inconvenience of driving slower if it helps to reduce road deaths. 20mph zones would definitely increase cycling rates in residential areas, so that would be good too. benefits of 20mph
An interesting statistic is that men aged 17-20 are 10 times more likely to be killed than men 40-59. The police will be able to target high risk driving groups and ask for breath tests even without suspicion of drink driving.
It’s funny that people don’t complain that much about draconian safety measures at airlines to reduce the very small risk of terrorist action (e.g. I had a jar of marmite confiscated at Stansted Airport last week because it is judged a liquid). Yet, people complain bitterly about safety measures for roads even though it is one of the biggest killers of people in UK.
Hopefully these measures will work, reducing road deaths by 1,000 is quite an ambitious target.
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