According to data issued by the Department for Transport, between 2000 and 2005 vehicle speeds changed as follows …
In 30mph areas average car speed fell by 2mph
The percentage of cars exceeding the limit fell from 66% to 50%
The percentage of cars exceeding the limit by 5mph fell from 32% to 21%
In 30mph areas average motorcycle speed fell by 2mph
The percentage of motorcycles exceeding the limit fell from 60% to 50%
The percentage of motorcycles exceeding the limit by 5mph fell from 35% to 26%
In 30mph areas average lorry (rigid 2-axle HGV) speeds fell by 1mph
The percentage of lorries exceeding the speed limit fell from 54% to 46%
The percentage of lorries exceeding the limit by 5mph fell from 19% to 18%
In 40mph areas average car speed fell by 1mph.
The percentage of cars exceeding the limit remained the same
The percentage of cars exceeding the limit by 5mph rose from 7% to 9%
In 40mph areas average motorcycle speed remained the same
The percentage of motorcycles exceeding the limit fell from 36% to 34%
The percentage of motorcycles exceeding the limit by 5mph fell from 21% to 17%
In 40mph areas average lorry (rigid 2-axle HGV) speeds remained the same
The percentage of lorries exceeding the speed limit rose from 15% to 21%
The percentage of lorries exceeding the limit by 5mph rose from 3% to 7%
Interesting stuff. So, apart from those naughty lorry drivers in 40mph limits, we've generally delivered what the road safety industry and the government wanted - we've slowed down.
So why, exactly, are we still dying on the roads at an undiminished rate? In 2000 3,409 people were killed on Britain's roads. In 2003 it was 3,508, and in 2004 3,221. 2005 was a good year with only 3,201. Not a particularly sparkling record, is it? - well within normal statistical variation. Especially when you know that in 2000 there were only 1,935 roadside speed cameras, while today there are 5,562 while in the same period mobile speed traps have blossomed from 173 to 2,373.
So all these cameras have achieved a paltry cut in road deaths of 208.
Couldn't have anything to do with the dreadful state of our roads, could it? Poorly laid-out junctions, rotten visibility, crumbling surfaces and pot-holes, old-fashioned roads just not suitable for modern traffic conditions? Couldn't have anything to do with all that, could it, with the complete, reprehensible and frankly murderous failure of government and local authorities to give us the road network we need and have already paid for?
We've done our bit. Now let's see the authorities do theirs. Don't hold your breath, though.
(You can download these figures, and many others, in the form of .pdf files from the DfT website. Be warned - once downloaded, you may have to tell your computer that they are .pdf (Acrobat) files - mine didn't seem to automatically know).
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