Today’s Dallas Morning News has a fascinating editorial piece by John Staddon, who "explains why stop signs and speed limits make America less safe."
The article is worth reading in full, but the gist is that America’s roads are less safe than those in Britain because we have arbitrary speed limits and traffic control devices. This trains our drivers to focus on signs, and drive accordingly, whereas in Britain drivers are trained to focus on the road conditions and drive accordingly. Check it out.
Sad to say its no longer the case in britain regarding us watching the road rather than signs. over zealous use of fixed and mobile speed camera`s on all routes, not to mention the road stretches that have average speed over distance camera`s. we have overload on the amount of unnecesary road signs that are increasing by the day it seems. revenue for the camera`s has fallen due to riders and drivers using satnav systems to warn of “safety camera`s” locations, hence the police have now started to enforce the speed limits using what they call stealth tactics. basically disguising themselves as normal motorists and motorcyclists driving specially adapted vehicles with no obvious outward clues as to there real identity. in some counties they have used adapted rough old horseboxe`s, and tradesmans vehicles to hide their camera`s in. the authorities say that fixed camera`s are mainly used in accident blackspots where fatalities occur, statistical evidence has shown this has not had any effect on the accident rate at these places, with some notorious blackspots having no speed detection measures in place. the public here are fully aware that the camera`s are used to generate revenue for the local forces etc, and are known as silent tax collectors, much hated by the majority of motorists. speed doesnt kill, bad driving does!!
Very interesting – thank you! We have the same arguments here over red light cameras, and whether their primary purpose is to make traffic safer or simply to generate revenue for the cities.
having taken both the car and motorcycle advanced driving test, i can say that the instructors are trained by the police to use the road conditions as a basis for safe driving and riding, a candidate is also encouraged to make good progress at all times and take every opportunity to make headway. speed limits in built up area`s are observed for safety reasons and road signs observed and understood. however, its not considered unsafe to exceed the speed limit, provided the person is under good control of his vehicle in a suitable place. i exceeded the limit out of town several times and passed the required standards of advanced driving and riding. the local authorities here are now being given the power to reduce essentially rural speed limits to 50mph from the national speed limit of 60mph. we have in place an already effective rolling speed reducer, the large trucks are reduced to 40 mph on single carriageway roads effectively preventing excess speed. it is my belief the authorities dont give a hoot for anyones safety, the reason is the cost of emergency services and disruption caused to an already overloaded road system not mention the health service costs for treating victims of road accidents. the local councils are having funding reduced dramatically and they are responding with any possible reducution in spending. there are a few councils removing speed camera`s from there area as they have proved to be of no benefit at all to accident prevention. not forgetting the increase in emissions caused by drivers slowing down and then increasing speed once passed the camera`s. our underfunded road network and increasing population has made the roads here very rough, not helped by the increased european 40tonne max limit for trucks introduced to comply with euro standards. what they forgot was our roads are no more than donkey tracks laid on soft soil, they have suffered accordingly. the roads in europe are very much better, mainly because they are tolled. our road tax payments are spent on other peoples battles and dishonest mp`s expense`s!!