So we are ok about poor, drivers killing other people as long as they aren't speeding?
The longer we focus heavily on just pure speed, the longer we keep killing people. Pretty simple really.
A poor driver makes a poor decision, that results in them colliding with another person or object. The speed they are travelling is (in the vast majority of cases) irrelevant. It's the fact they were travelling at an inappropriate speed that matters. To fix that, we need proper driver training, proper driver assessment, proper driver attitudes and putting driving back as a "Privilege" not a given "Right".
The only way to fix the issue with just speed is to make the speed limit 0 mph.
Think about why the vast majority of normal, everyday drivers, speed. It's not because they are boy racers, or speed freaks, it's pure and simple because they have not got the necessary skills to correctly objectify the process of driving, and in particular lack hazard perception and an awareness of pro-active driving techniques.
Hence they fail to select an appropriate speed at a critical moment. Luckily, on average, accidents, or situations that conspire to risk a collision are actually very rare. However, an effect called "regression to the norm" then kicks in. i.e.
"i drove at 35mph through that village every day this week and didn't crash, so it must be ok to do the same speed today right"?
And one day, their lack of hazard awareness means they don't notice the kid waiting in front of the school bus (his feet are clearly visible underneath that bus before he stepped out into the road to those drivers that know where to look) who steps out, and bang, 1 more child dead or seriously injured and another raft of "we have to stop people speeding" calls in the press and the following inevitable knee jerk reaction to reduce the limits (which, once again, due to regression to the norm, are then pretty much immediately ignored every single day by the lucky 99.9999999% of drivers who haven't run over and killed a child this week/month/year)
Lets face it, lots of drivers get caught by speed camera vans. Those large, extremely obvious white vans covered in luminous reflectors, parked some distance behind a large obvious sign that sits there warning you there's a camera van ahead (and the vans schedules / positions are published on the local council website) and yet people still drive past exceeding the limit and get fined / points etc. I'm sorry, speed isn't the issue, it's failure to observe that's the issue. If you can't spot a Bl**dy obvious large white van and slowing down, what chance have you got of spotting little Tommy, hiding behind that bus, on his phone, and not paying attention to the road before he crosses and slowing down?
I also ask how many of the righteous i-never-speed-ers on here have gone out and got any extra driver training above and beyond the legally required minimum certification?? It's been proved many times, that learning the art of advanced / defensive driving reduces your risk of being involved in an accident many times. It the cheapest "risk reduction" possible and yet just about no one does it. How many of your have wives, sons, daughters, partners who "speed". I bet you in the vast majority of cases i could get video evidence of a member of your family speeding every time they drive a car.
I spent 5 years teaching advanced and performance driving, including to Warwickshire Police drivers, and without fail, by teaching someone the skills necessary to be able to assess on their own the appropriate speed at all times you make them far, far safer. And yes, in some situations they do drive faster than they may have done before, and, horror or horror, they may even exceed the numbers on the arbitrary little metal signs!
