Safer Roads UK

Summary The Government and the Department for Transport should completely overhaul the legislation surrounding speeding offences. A framework similar to the one I set out in Table 2 (image below) should be adopted. Different severities of speeding should attract different types of (fixed) penalties, with differing ranges of penalty points, disqualification and maximum fines. Minor speeding offences should not be penalised as harshly as they are now. The more serious speeding offences should carry higher maximum penalties and obligatory disqualification terms. It should be made it clear in law when speeding becomes dangerous driving. Police should be given on-the-spot powers to seize vehicles for the more serious speeding offences to provide a highly effective, immediate deterrent, similar to insurance and driving licence offences. Table 2: Introduction Following up on my post about National Speed Limits being unfit for purpose , this post examines the current speeding ...

This is the first actual content-filled post! If you missed the introduction, catch up on it here. In this post, I'll be examining one of the most touched on aspects of road safety: speed limits. With excessive or inappropriate speed being a factor in 15% of road traffic collisions resulting in death as well as the unavoidable laws of physics, it goes without speaking that controlling the speed of traffic plays a huge part in improving road safety. National Speed Limits and why they are no longer fit for purpose Ever since the various national speed limits were set in the 1960s, there has been plenty of debate about them being too high or too low. Perhaps unsurprisingly, too - the offence of speeding was the first time middle and upper-class people got into trouble with the police at the time. The scepticism they showed towards the effectiveness of speed limits seems to have transferred over to the next generations. In case you need reminding, the current national speed limit...