The Department for Transport annually monitors traffic speeds at around 180 sites throughout Great Britain.The total number of vehicle records processed to produce the 2003 statistics was about 677 million. These measurements showed that in 2003: • 58% of cars, 54% of motorcycles and 53% of HGVs exceeded the 30 mph limit • 27% of cars and 36% of motorcycles exceeded the 40 mph limit • 57% of cars and 59% of motorcycles exceeded the 70 mph speed limit on motorways It is clear therefore that many of us speed at least some of the time. If you add to this the fact that if a pedestrian is hit at: • 20mph there is about a 1 in 40 (2.5 %) chance of being killed or 97% chance of survival • 30mph there is about a 1 in 5 (20%) chance of being killed or80% chance of survival • at 35mph there is a 50/50 chance of being killed • at 40mph there is about a 9 in 10 (90%) chance of being killed or 10% chance of survival, (Source Ashton and Mackay 1979) And that if it is estimated that for each 1mph reduction in average speed, accident frequency is reduced by 5%; Then it is clear there is a need to worry about speed because the consequences of driving too fast are so severe. (Author/publisher)
Abstract