Tory proposals a small step in the right direction

New Tory pledges for better management of speed cameras are just asmall step in the right direction, says Safe Speed.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign said: "It'sgreat to see the Tories moving in the right direction for road safety,but it is disappointing that they are still not digging down to thefundamental principles. In the last decade UK road safety has beendominated by dogma, and it will clearly take plenty more hard work tostrip away the dogma and restore UK road safety thinking to its formerposition as the best in the World."

The Tory plans fall short of exposing and reversing fundamental flawsin speed camera policy including:

* The role of speed limits in road safety must be re-examined in thelight of technological improvements. Speed limits are an excellentand worthy part of our road safety system, but digital and automatedenforcement has promoted speed limits beyond their level ofcompetence. Speed limits worked very well for us when they wereenforced with intelligence and due regard for the circumstances.

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/speedlimits.html

* A very fundamental flaw in the rules for speed camera placement hasled to them being installed ONLY in locations where it is "safe tospeed". As a consequence almost all speed cameras are in the wrongplaces.

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/rules.html

* The Tories do not highlight the loss of confidence in the speedcamera system. Their pledges are far from sufficient to restore vitalpublic confidence.

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/cameras.html

* Calls for speed limits to be varied with weather conditions soundattractive, but unfortunately tend to promote speed limits into targetspeeds. To do so is dangerous. It is essential that drivers adjusttheir speed to take account of prevailing conditions. This behaviourmust be encouraged and certainly cannot be replaced.

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/speedlimits.html

* The Tory proposals fall short of attempting to identify thefundamental components of our road safety system. The most fundamentalcomponent - that already gives us the safest roads in the world - isour road safety culture. Understanding, developing and enhancing ourroad safety culture is the key to policy-led improvements in roadsafety.

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/roadsafety.html

* No one seems to have realised that there is a very good reasonindeed why the vast majority of drivers exceed our speed limits fromtime to time. The truth is that drivers are generally very good indeedat setting a safe speed according to the conditions - the message fromthe conditions is so strong that driving to the speed limit instead ofthe conditions actually "feels wrong".

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/why.html

* Calls for an audit of speed cameras are very welcome indeed. SafeSpeed warns that such an audit must consider the full range of speedcamera side effects as well any benefit "at speed camera sites".

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/effects.html

See the Safe Speed web site for further information:http://www.safespeed.org.uk

Fraudulent claims of speed camera benefits:http://www.safespeed.org.uk/pr127.html

The Stone Report:http://www.safespeed.org.uk/stone.html

FATALITIES FIGURES FOR GB 1950 to 2003 (2004 projected)

Excel spreadsheet:http://www.safespeed.org.uk/6800.xls

The same spreadsheet in a zip archive:http://www.safespeed.org.uk/6800.zip

The spreadsheet includes exact web references to official data sourcesand a range of interesting graphs.

About Safe Speed:===============

Since setting up Safe Speed in 2001, Paul Smith, 49, an advanced motoristand road safety enthusiast, and a professional engineer of 25 years UKexperience, has carried out about 5,000 hours of research into theoverall effects of speed camera policy on UK road safety. We believe thatthis is more work in more detail than anything carried out by any otherorganisation. Paul's surprising conclusion is that overall speed camerasmake our roads more dangerous. Paul has identified and reported a numberof major flaws and false assumptions in the claims made for speedcameras, and the whole "speed kills"  system of road safety.    

The inescapable conclusion is that we should urgently return to theexcellent road safety policies that gave us in the UK the safest roads inthe World in the first place.    

Safe Speed does not campaign against speed limits or appropriateenforcement of motoring laws, but argues vigorously that automatedspeed enforcement is neither safe nor appropriate.