Both the RAC and the AA have now called for the speed-limit on motorways to be raised to 80 m.p.h. (some motorways, anyway, in good driving conditions). They say that (a) motorways are statistically our safest roads, (b) very many drivers are doing this speed routinely anyway, and (c) police rarely prosecute under 80 m.p.h.
Naturally the road safety industry have leapt in heavy-footed already. The rather photogenic Jools Townsend, Campaign and Communications Manager for "Brake" (that's the so-called road safety organisation, rather akin to the Luddites so far as I can see) claimed on television today that research exists showing that an increase to 80 m.p.h. would raise the accident level by 10%.
Being too old to fall for the obvious charms of Jools, The Brainless Man's Bimbo, I wondered "What research is that then?" The first place to look was on Brake's own website.
Lo and behold, there on the front page was a link called "Research". "Great," I thought, "they wouldn't go public on television without giving details on their website ….. would they?" So I clicked - and, what do you know? - it said "Site under construction". How convenient. I went back and clicked on the link called "Cameras". Also under construction.
So come on, lovely Jools, what's this research then? Who has shown that raising a speed limit by 10 m.p.h. increases the accident rate by the same amount? And how did they show it? I can't think of anywhere in the world that has recently raised its speed limits by 10 m.p.h.*, and without doing that, how can you reliably show what it would do to the accident statistics?
You're not telling a little porky here, are you, Jools? Not on national television? You didn't just make it all up, safe in the knowledge that if anyone questioned it you could flash back at them "Oh, so you're in favour of killing and maiming old ladies and little children, are you?"
Well no, Jools, I'm not. What I'm in favour of is a bit of joined-up thinking on an issue that affects every one of us. Motorways and dual carriageways are statistically safer than ordinary roads (the Brake website says so, so it must be true …. mustn't it?). The national speed-limit on motorways and dual-carriageways is 10 m.p.h. higher than on ordinary roads, yet the accident rate is not 10% greater - quite the opposite. So logically it's not the SPEED that kills, it's the ROADS.
But logic's not your strong point, is it, Jools? You prefer the quick sound-bite, the knee-jerk reaction and the catchy slogan. So "Speed kills". It isn't true, but if you keep saying it often enough, people will believe it. I wonder how you sleep at night - do you count speed cameras? Or perhaps it's sheep, like the ones in "Animal Farm", jumping over a fence onto the motorway and bleating "Two legs good, four wheels bad!"
How's this for a bit of joined-up thinking? If motorways and dual carriageways are safer, what's the biggest difference between them and ordinary roads? It's the fact that traffic travelling in one direction is separated from traffic travelling the other way. Why can't we do that on ordinary roads?
They do in France. Driving in Provence last year I used a stretch of winding road that had tall plastic red-and-white blades standing up down the centre. They wouldn't hurt if you hit one, but they jolly-well stopped you from overtaking anywhere silly. Cheap and effective. Mind you, France is the country where they have variable speed-limits on motorways - one speed in dry conditions, another when the weather's bad. Much too sensible for us, then.
* But I do know of a province in Canada that recently removed all its speed cameras. Their statistics showed that people driving 10 m.p.h. below the speed-limit had far more accidents than those driving 10 m.p.h. above. Probably the ones who were speeding were actually watching the road, while those who weren't were admiring the scenery and congratulating themselves on being such safe drivers. But that's in Canada, so I suppose it doesn't count.
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