You are doubtless aware that the Road Safety Bill will shortly be entering the House of Commons.
As a member of CTC, the national cyclists' organisation, I am concerned about the Government's proposal to lower the penalty for 'marginally' exceeding the speed limit from three points to two points - as 'marginal' could mean driving at 39mph in a 30mph area.
Small differences in speed can make a huge difference to the severity of the injuries suffered by injured pedestrians or cyclists. I would urge you to oppose this proposal.
On the positive side, the Safer Streets Coalition (of which CTC is a member) has drawn up a number of proposals to make our roads safer for all road users.
These include introducing:
A default 20mph speed limit for most urban streets. A pedestrian struck by a car travelling at 20mph has a 95 per cent chance of survival, but this drops to 50 per cent at 30mph.
Casualty figures could be slashed if the vast majority of built-up roads had 20mph limits, as two-thirds of casualties occur on these roads.
o Change the law on drivers' insurance schemes, to make it easier for non-motorised users to claim injury damages from drivers who hit them. If a driver hits a pedestrian, cyclist, equestrian or disabled person, the non-motorised user is far more likely to be injured. Therefore, drivers ought to have a greater duty of care for non-motorised users' safety, but this is not currently recognised in law. The law on driver insurance schemes should therefore be amended so non-motorised users can claim injury damages from drivers who hit them unless it can be proved that the non-motorised user behaved recklessly.
o Lower "default" speed limits: 30mph for villages, with a 40mph or 50mph limit on non-built-up single carriageways.
o Speed camera detectors: the proposed ban should cover all such devices, including those GPS devices which can only detect but not interfere with speed cameras.
o "Black box" event data recorders: in the event of a collision, they would provide clear evidence about the driver's speed.
o Mobile phones: the Government's proposed increase in fines should be for hands-free as well as hand-held phones, as the evidence shows they are just as distracting when used while driving.
o Drink-driving: a reduction in the blood-alcohol limit from 80mg to 50mg per 100ml of blood in line with most EU countries.
o Bad driving offences: ironing out the discrepancies in sentencing powers which lead courts regularly to issue derisory sentences for drivers who kill and maim.
Andrew Hobbs
Broadgate
Preston
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