New Speed Limits? Really?

It will come as no surprise to most that new speed limits for HGV's is set to come into force on 6th April 2015, the decision was agreed by the transport select committee in January, however there has been no formal confirmation about when the changes will take place, with existing limits to remain in force for now.

The consultation saw 703 responses, the majority opposed the changes. The thought behind the increase was pressure from the hauliers, faster speeds to reduce the amount of dangerous overtaking on rural roads, however research points to the increase to 50 mph on that road type is unlikely to reduce the misjudged overtaking and rather increase the impact speed when it goes wrong.

A dangerous driver who takes risk with their own life and someone else's life, family and future will do so regardless of the increase. Drivers who can travel at 60 mph on this road type see 50 mph as an equal inconvenience.  With lorries seeing an increase on the dual carriageway from 50 mph to 60 mph is a wasted change, with trucks being limited to 56 mph and 53 mph.

For hauliers, the extra road speed opens up the possibility to do more work in a day, that will equal tighter time targets for greater production. More stress, more pressure for drivers, this in turn will add to fatigue and the loser is not the Government or the transport companies, whose push for this change to help their monetary situations led to this revision, it will be the ordinary people. The drivers, the public the vulnerable road users. For driver trainers, what will the input be? Three people die on a rural single carriageway every day, checks on working hours, driver records, licences and health checks reduced by half, meaning that the regulation of HGV drivers is poor compared to previous years.

The only upside is the fact that the meeting concluded many rural roads will be reclassified as 40 mph, making the rise in limits a token gesture rather than a reality.

More worrying is that there is no evidence to support a benefit to the change in speed limits for lorries, with road side checks for HGV's falling significantly.   If there was more enforcement, average speed cameras, Police on the roads to uphold the legislation then we could move away from lazy politics, where major players pull the strings and not the tax payer who will pick up the road safety bill when this ends in tears.

Although the general consensus of the transport select committee was that the move was a bad idea in terms of road safety, that will see an increase in road fatalities they voted in favour, and we pay these people to protect us!