Carole Nash Motorbike Insurance Brokers have undertaken research into which speed cameras are the most profitable, the amount of money these speed traps collect is astounding.
- Speed is one of the main factors in fatal road accidents
- In 2013, 3,064 people were killed or seriously injured in crashes where speed was a factor
- The risk of death is approximately four times higher when a pedestrian is hit at 40mph than at 30 mph
- Fatal accidents are four times as likely on rural “A” roads as urban “A” roads
Speeding Q&A with Sergeant Mark D Lucas
Following on from our research into how much money local speed cameras have collected in the past 12 months, we got in touch with Sargent Mark D Lucas of the Metropolitan Police Service to determine some of the finer details associated with speeding on our roads. Mark answered our questions, which should help riders think ahead more when hitting the roads:
Do you feel that speed cameras have helped to deter speeding?
Yes! Cameras will also pay for themselves several times over in the money saved to the economy by preventing deaths and serious injuries: road crashes were estimated to cost the economy £16.3 billion in 2014 due to human costs and costs to emergency, health and criminal justice services. Cameras can catch far higher numbers of speeding motorists than traffic police with mobile cameras, and at much lower cost, freeing up police for other duties that cannot be conducted by technology, such as breath-testing.
What other measures are currently in place, or have plans to implement, to deter speeding?
Traffic calming, including bumps, humps, bollards, chicanes, markings, and bigger or vehicle-activated speed limit signs, are designed to slow down motorists to within the posted limit, often within built-up and residential areas. Other measures include giving the road environment the look and feel of an area used by lots of people, encouraging drivers and riders to think they ought to slow down, such as making the road surface coloured or rough, or installing wide pavements with benches and flower pots. Intelligent speed adaptation (ISA) is technology that can be installed in all vehicles, including motorbikes, which uses GPS combined with a digital map of speed limits to keep vehicles to the posted speed limit on each road. This technology could potentially make other speed control measures unnecessary and ensure all drivers and riders comply with speed limits at all times.
What would you say to those that still think it’s OK to break the speed limit?
Police forces recorded an average of 56,080 speeding offences each last year, a 20% increase on the average of 46,905 per force recorded in 20131 . So the message still needs to get through to those who speed.
How safe do you think Britain’s roads are on the whole?
Britain has the second safest roads in Europe2 so that’s very good news! Sweden has the safest roads in Europe, and Bulgaria has the least safe roads.
1 Source: Daily Mirror 22nd March 2016. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/speeding-offences-soar-even-100-7604822
2 European Transport Safety Council 2016
