Speed Limits Lowered in Bid to Cut Accident Rates

Speed limits on rural roads to be cut by 10 mph by end of 2010

Around half of rural roads with 40mph speed limits are to see those limits cut by the end of the year, after a review by councils across the country. In the review, council officials looked at the speed limits of around 50,000 miles of UK roads and decided that speed limits should be dropped from 40mph to 30mph on around half of these roads in a bid to improve road safety in rural areas.

The cut in speed limits has, according to a story in the Daily Mail newspaper, divided opinion between those in favour of reducing the limits as a way of improving road safety and those arguing against a reduction on the basis that it could prove confusing to drivers and other traffic calming measures might be more effective. A Sussex Police spokesperson said that the reduction would cause “inconsistency and confusion” – and claimed that other traffic calming measures should have been considered first. Road safety group Brake, speaking to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, took the opposite view, supporting the reduction. Their spokesperson said: “In rural villages, main through roads can be lethal because of high speeds. These roads often have no pavements and families regularly need to walk alongside then cross them.”

Rural road safety

Reducing speed limits in rural areas should, on the face of it, lead to fewer road traffic accidents. However, when it comes to road safety things are usually more complex than they might first appear. Lowering speed limits for example, is unlikely to make a difference to drivers who are determined to drive at unsafe speeds and who are therefore putting other road users at risk. As well as this, the changes in speed limits may catch many drivers out, especially if they have not travelled along the affected routes before.

Making an accident claim after a rural road accident

At Camps Solicitors, we understand that if you have been involved in a road traffic accident that wasn’t your fault, you might not know who to turn to for advice and assistance with things like sorting out the recovery and repairs to your vehicle. This is exactly why we offer a complete accident management service to all non-fault road accident victims, regardless of whether their accident took place on a quite country lane, or in a busy city centre.