‘Madness’ and ‘absolute nonsense’: Speed limit changes criticised as ‘lazy answer’
Proposals that could see speed limits for cars reduced from 60 to 50 mph on single carriageways have been rejected as a “lazy answer to improving road safety” by a Caithness campaigner.
Iain Gregory, a former police accident investigator, co-founded Caithness Roads Recovery (CRR) four years ago and he says reaction to an online survey by the group has revealed “overwhelming” opposition.
Road users have branded the proposals “madness”, “absolute nonsense” and “a solution to a problem which doesn’t exist”.
The Scottish Government’s National Speed Management Review proposes a reduction in the speed limit on single-carriageway roads from 60 to 50 mph together with an increase in HGV speed limits from 40 to 50 mph on single-carriageway roads and from 50 to 60 mph on dual carriageways.
The review is being run by Transport Scotland and consultation is due to close on March 5.
Highland Council has stated that, while it does back the increase in HGV speed limits, it does not support a reduction of the national speed limit to 50 mph.
CRR posted a link to the Scottish Government consultation on its Facebook page and invited comments from road users.
“In view of the very high level of public interest, and as CRR has a substantial following, we felt it important to give people the opportunity to express their views on a local platform,” Mr Gregory said. “We posted the link on February 16. Within three days we had nearly 7000 page views and numerous responses.
“CRR would wish to leave the survey open for at least another fortnight, in order to obtain as many views as possible, and provide a balanced report – which we will send to politicians, Highland Council and the media – but, at this time, the opinions expressed reflect very strong opposition to the reduction of the national speed limit to 50 mph, with clear support for increasing the HGV limit to 50 mph.”
Comments include:
“A solution to a problem which doesn’t exist.”
“It will cause more congestion and frustration.”
“Absolute nonsense.”
“Madness to enforce a 50 mph speed restriction for all vehicles, as this would lead to even longer convoys of vehicles and even more frustration and dangerous manoeuvres being carried out by drivers.”
“If this is implemented I wonder how many speed cameras will be installed along the routes.”
“Most accidents are caused by bad driving rather than speed limit.”
“It could even do the opposite to what they think, cause so much frustration that it causes more problems, not fewer.”
“Heaven knows what they will come up with next. I despair.”
Mr Gregory went on: “There have been a number of comments relating to the state of the roads and the failure to dual the A9. One person said that, while there might be a case for localised restrictions in the central belt, there has – so far – been an overwhelming level of objection to the proposals.
“Unusually, just for once, CRR and Highland Council are in complete agreement. The current 60 mph speed limit was made permanent in 1977, the 70 mph motorway speed limit was put in place in 1965 and the 30 mph ‘built-up area’ speed limit was introduced approximately 80 years ago in 1935.
“When the 30 limit was introduced, most cars had a braking system which left – in modern terms – a lot to be desired. Cars are infinitely safer today than they were even a few decades ago, and while the current HGV limit of 40 mph might have been reasonable 50 years ago it makes no sense today.
“As always, ‘safety’ is quoted as the reason for the proposals, but many important considerations appear to have been ignored.
“At present, due to varying speed limits for HGVs and private cars and motorcycles, we have traffic separation, we avoid excessive ‘bunching’, we have acceptable journey times, and traffic generally flows safely and freely, with the vast majority of drivers well able to proceed safely at, or around, the 60 mph limit.
“The fact of the matter is – and I have, sadly, investigated more tragic collisions than I can count – the vast majority of accidents are caused by driver error. It should also be remembered that it is the misuse of speed that kills, and an arbitrarily posted limit will never change this.
“Simply reducing speed limits is the lazy answer to improving road safety. Any such reductions must be purely localised – for example on the Forss straight – and driver education, allied to police traffic patrols to deal with dangerous driving, is a far more effective measure.”
Mr Gregory, a retired police area commander, served as a police officer for over 30 years in the Highlands and Islands. He holds a Police Class One Advanced Motor Driving Certificate and a Traffic Patrol Officers Certificate with Merit, as well as other qualifications, and spent many years investigating fatal road traffic accidents across the north of Scotland.
Highland Council takes the view that cutting the speed limit for cars “could have a significant impact on the daily lives of people” through longer journey times.
The local authority’s response to the National Speed Management Review, being run by Transport Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government, was agreed last week by members of the economy and infrastructure committee.
They make it clear that they do not support a reduction to 50 mph.
The committee chairman, Councillor Ken Gowans, said: “We welcomed this opportunity to discuss and agree our position with regard to this consultation.
“In our response we do not support a reduction to 50 mph. We are recommending no change to the existing national speed limit on 60 mph single-carriageway roads and we support the proposal to increase speed limits for goods vehicles exceeding 7.5 tonnes on single carriageways from 40 mph to 50 mph and dual carriageways from 50 mph to 60 mph.
“Considering the significant road network and the geographic spread of the Highland Council area, we felt that these proposals to reduce the national speed limit could have a significant impact on the daily lives of people in terms of journey times.
“We note from the consultation covering letter that prior to the consultation issue analysis from the review indicates that these changes maintain journey times and enhance journey-time reliability. We would welcome sight of this analysis as it is particularly pertinent to the Highland region. Particular interest would be any analysis undertaken for rural areas.”
The council feels that “a change in speed limit, particularly on our ‘A’ class single-carriageway roads, could have a significant impact on our rural communities, in particular in relation to driver behaviour and local businesses/Highland economy”.
It also says: “In terms of driver behaviour, increased frustration or impatience could potentially lead to more aggressive driving or risky overtaking manoeuvres. Setting inappropriate speed limits can lead to drivers ignoring them, which has consequences in terms of wider speed compliance.”
Councillor Gowans added: “We are also highlighting in our response that any changes in speed limit would have an impact on policing resources and would need to be supported by a national media campaign.”
Analysis has indicated that the proposed speed-limit changes could significantly reduce injury collisions while maintaining journey times, according to the Scottish Government.
Consultation on the National Speed Management Review has been open since the end of November and the final date for responses is March 5.
Speaking last month, Scotland’s transport secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “Road safety is a priority for the Scottish Government and we remain absolutely committed to working towards our ambitious goal of making Scotland’s roads the safest in the world by 2030.
“Evidence from the National Speed Management Review indicates that revising speed limits could lead to a significant reduction in the number of injury collisions on our roads while maintaining journey times and enhancing journey-time reliability.
“I’d like to thank everyone who has taken the time to engage with the consultation so far.”
If the proposals go ahead, the national speed limit for cars and motorcycles would be reduced from 60 mph to 50 mph on all single-carriageway roads in Scotland, for example the A9 between Caithness and Inverness, while the limit for goods vehicles over 7.5 tonnes would increase to 50 mph (and 60 on dual carriageways).
