The Demon of Speed
Britain's Transport Secretary is proposing raising the speed limit of the motorways of England and Wales. His argument is that to do so will speed up productivity and bring the U.K. into line with other countries in Europe. The motorway limit is currently 70 mph. He wants to take it up to 80. He admits that he is aware that most people ignore the 70 limit to drive faster, so if that's the case leave things as they are, because you can be certain that if the limit is moved higher drivers will ignore that and drive even faster.
He cites the fact that car manufacturers are making ever more safer cars that can better handle the higher speeds, but what about the drivers. The U.K. death rate has steadily fallen by 75% as things currently are. These are not just statistics, these are more people surviving the driving experience. That translates into more families intact and fewer cases of human misery. That is a very good thing. Why then would anyone propose measures that might interfere with such good news?
An excess of speed is almost always present in tragedies. Consider the fact that a child, when struck by a car travelling at 40mph almost always dies. A child struck by a car at 20 mph almost always lives.
There is also the psycological aspect against raising the limit. At present when entering the motorway you don't have the sense that I have to get way up to speed really fast because the traffic is coming at blinding speed. But, here in Spain, where the limit is 75 mph (120 kph) you know that everybody is bearing down on you at incredibly fast speeds of 90 to 100 mph, and you have to put the foot down. Even drivers here are realising that is much too fast and the trend is for drivers to slow down to less than the limit.
Limits in the U.K. are presently 30 mph in built-up areas; 60 on single lane roads; 70 on dual carriage and motorways.
Mr. Transport Secretary, for God's sake, leave well enough alone!
Copyright (c) 2011 Eugene Carmichael
