Objective analysis of road accident causation statistics from around the world shows that speed in excess of posted speed limits is a definite primary contributory factor (ie a cause) in well under 5% of accidents. Speed which is inappropriate for the prevailing conditions (but within the posted limit) is of much greater importance in accident causation terms - varying according to accident type. It is the commonest cause of single vehicle accidents involving no other road users. Some 25% of fatal single vehicle road accidents arise from a loss of driver or rider control culminating in collision with a tree, lamp-post, or other immovable object. This typically arises when, for example, a road user fails to appreciate that a safer speed on a straight, dry stretch of road may not be appropriate to a sharp bend under wet conditions. How can more rigid enforcement prevent accidents which do not have speed in excess of the posted limit as their cause? This is a training and education issue, not an enforcement one. The predominant causes of road accidents remain (as they always have been) road user observation, hazard perception and hazard response failings. Speed enforcement measures are generally targeted where their revenue-raising (rather than their road safety) potential is highest. This also goes some way towards explaining why the number of speed-related prosecutions has been rising steeply in recent years, while there has been no tangible corresponding improvement in road safety in the author's view. It is time the road user training industry emphasised these points to the road safety policy makers.
Abstract