20 MPH Zones. Councillors are not qualified to decide.

July 26, 2011 - PRLog -- Driffield Town Councillor Paul Rounding on the BBC Humberside David Burns Show re his demand for 20 MPH Zones in his area was an education as to why The Government, who swore on election to 'end the war on the motorist', are doing exactly the opposite and endangering road users at the same time.  

The Councillor's  rationale didn't amount to any fact or statistics at all but his assumption that if we make things slower it is nicer all round.

Experts know that It is much harder, because of low gearing, to keep a car at a set low speed without watching a speedo. So in congested areas where drivers need to drive to the road and surroundings, the last thing we need is them speedo watching and that is what these proposals will cause.

Then there is the dumbing down effect where 20 MPH limits actually induce drivers to drive faster than what they would have selected under these circumstances anyway. We are already seeing this where the average speed in streets actually went up from about 18.3 MPH to about 23MPH once 20 Zones were introduced. In effect a 20 MPH sign is inviting rudimentary drivers to speed up from a self selected slower speed.

We have long passed the economic gain point of speed limit setting whereby, at over-slowing road transport by just 1 mph, costs about £3 Billion per annum, (currently about £30 billion per annum total), the cost of added signage and cameras, prosecution costs and benefit costs from people and families who have lost their bread winner. We could now be saving many more lives in the NHS with that sort of money. Whilst all this money is good for the Road Safety Industry, it is lost to the community.

Do politicians think of all this when there is more death from accidents in the home than from any cause on the road? We don't think so.

Since most voters are drivers or certainly depend on drivers, perhaps they should note the names of all politicians who are making life more difficult for them like this.

Please do see Dangerous 20 Kills Kids  at www.youdrive.org.uk

# # #

The Drivers' Protest Union (D.P.U.) A road safety and driving group who's aims are to promote genuine and effective road safety, protect the driver from exploitation, unfair or unnecessary prosecution, unfair taxation and unnecessary speed restriction.