Motorway roadworks speed limit could be increased

Speed limits for motorway roadworks where the limit is currently 50mph could be raised in a bid to ease congestion in England.

Highways England recently carried out trials in which it was discovered that drivers' heart rates were lower when they drove at 55mph or 60mph rather than the usual 50mph through roadworks. The study further suggested that motorists felt more relaxed travelling at higher speeds, partly because they had a greater ability to accelerate past heavy goods vehicles.

It is reported that the new limits could come into effect in some areas this year. Unite a trade union, which represents road workers throughout the UK, said the proposed speed increases ignored the safety of those maintaining motorways, who "work in already very dangerous conditions".

A spokesman said: "Sadly, in recent years there have been several deaths of motorway workers and these changes will make their work even more dangerous. 
"Already motorists frequently drive into coned-off areas. At increased speeds, it will make such potentially lethal accidents even more common."

Edmund King, president of the AA, said increasing the speed limit could help reduce congestion, he said it had to be targeted at the longest stretches of road works where there were no workers.
He said: "When work is going on and it's in close proximity to the carriageways we should stick at lower speeds and sometimes it needs to be lower than 50mph, depending on the layout."

Jim O'Sullivan, chief executive of Highways England, told The Times that the 60mph limit was "something that we want to introduce to as many roadworks as possible".
But Mr O'Sullivan said that lower speeds were likely to be maintained in areas with narrow lanes, contraflows or where workers are close to the road, due to safety reasons.


Other sources include: BBC

Call for drink-drive limit to be cut

councils and fire authorities have urged that the legal drink-drive limit should be lowered in England and Wales in order to cut alcohol-related accidents. A lower limit would also save £300 million a year by reducing the number of 999 responses and hospital admissions


The request is for the current limit of 80mg to be lowered to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
The Scottish Government reduced its legal limit for drivers to 50mg in December 2014 and Northern Ireland will also soon drop its limit to the same level, and even lower for professional and learner drivers.

The LGA said it was estimated that lowering the limit in England and Wales could save up to 170 lives in the first year, rising to more than 300 lives in the sixth year.

New provisional government figures show that reported "serious" drink-drive accidents between 2014 and 2015 in Great Britain had risen from 880 to 980, an increase of 11 per cent, while total reported drink-drive accidents had increased by 2 per cent from 5,620 to 5,740.

The same figures showed the number of people seriously injured in reported drink-drive accidents between 2014 and 2015 had risen from 1,070 to 1,170, an increase of 9 per cent, while the total number of drink-drive casualties had increased by 3 per cent from 8,210 to 8,480.

The organisations said England and Wales had one of the highest drink-drive limits in the world and the highest in Europe, with the exception of Malta, which has also announced plans to lower its limit to 50mg.

Simon Blackburn, chairman of the LGA's Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: "England and Wales will soon have the highest drink-drive limit in Europe, which is not sending the right message to motorists and safety campaigners.

"Latest figures show that alcohol has contributed to a rise in both the number of road accidents and those injured in the UK.

"The Government should be leading by example by toughening up drink-drive laws in line with other European countries which will make roads safer and save lives. In Scotland alone, adopting a lower alcohol limit has led to a significant fall in fatal road accidents.

"A lower alcohol limit would help to deter motorists from drinking at all before getting behind the wheel and encourage them to have 'none for the road'."

 Source http://www.independent.co.uk

2015 Ford S-MAX will help avoid speeding fines

Ford has confirmed the new driving technologies that will feature on its next-generation S-MAX. The seven-seater MPV goes on sale during summer 2015.

The biggest highlight of the new driving technologies is called Intelligent Speed Limiter. It can stop drivers from exceeding the speed limit and therefore avoid speeding fines.

The S-MAX can determine what the current speed limit is using an onboard camera and/or map data from the car’s sat-nav. The Ford can decrease engine torque by electronically adjusting the amount of fuel delivered whenever it surpasses the current set speed limit.

Source: carkeys.co.uk.

You might think that 30mph was chosen using scientific evidence but you would be wrong....

Back in 1934, just prior to the introduction of the 30mph speed limit, there were only around one-tenth of the cars on the road today, but four times as many associated deaths.

There had previously been a blanket 20mph speed limit, set in the 1903 Motor Car Act, but it was repealed for light vehicles in 1930. The spate of deaths caused a change of heart in government in 1934 and 1935, with 30mph brought in for built-up areas.

You might think that 30mph was chosen using scientific evidence but you would be wrong....

"It was pulled out of a hat," says Rod King, founder of the 20's Plenty for Us campaign, which believes that the 30mph limit today is no longer appropriate, credible or acceptable.

"The 30mph limit is compromised beyond belief," says King. Cities including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Bath, Cambridge, Liverpool, Oxford, Brighton, Newcastle and Edinburgh, have introduced 20mph limits on some roads in their jurisdiction. The Lib Dems have even considered 10mph limits in some areas.

While motoring organisations the RAC and the AA have expressed support for 20mph limits outside schools, they oppose a blanket change from 30 to 20.

Today there are three typical speed limits across the UK:

• a 30mph limit on roads with street lighting (which is taken to indicate a built-up area)
• a 60mph national speed limit on single carriageways
• and a 70mph top speed on dual carriageways and motorways

The limits are meant to keep everybody safe. The Department for Transport (DfT) says that for every 1mph the average speed of vehicles reduces on roads, there are 6% fewer accidents.
Speed limits should be "evidence-led and self-explaining", the DfT explains, and "should be seen by drivers as the maximum speed rather than as a target speed at which to drive irrespective of conditions". Road safety in the UK is relatively good, with one death on the roads for every 20,000 cars.