North MSP cautions against blanket 20mph zones
15th April 2015
Highlands & Islands MSP and road safety campaigner, David Stewart, has entered the debate about the drive for more and more 20mph zones across Scotland.
Speaking today he said " When all said and done it is the responsibility of drivers to pay attention, take due care over other road users and adjust speed to the conditions prevailing at the time whilst driving, that really matters. You drive the vehicle according to those conditions, the surrounding environment and any apparent hazard present. You do not drive just to a regulated and enforced speed limit. For example you don't drive at 30mph in a 30mph area if there is a hazard ahead of you. You become aware of the hazard and you naturally slow down to an appropriate speed to allow you to negotiate the hazard safely".
“Clearly in built up urban areas for example 20mph may be perfectly acceptable, as it would be near schools and in heavily populated residential areas. However, we must not get carried away and have the attention of the driver focussed on the speedometer needle or speed digital display and not on the surrounding environment and conditions. Drivers need to be able to apply full concentration to what is happening, or about to happen on the road ahead”.
David Stewart went on “ I have mentioned many times when I talk about road safety, the three E’s, which are: Education, Enlightenment and then Enforcement. Perhaps instead of spending vast sums of money on creating blanket 20mph zones and trying to enforce them, we should instead be spending that money on education and enlightenment. Surely educating the public on road safety, particularly in the use of designated crossing places, would prevent them being involved in collisions in the first place. Perhaps we should spend that money saved on making roads safer and filling in pot holes”.
“ I firmly believe that a culture of mutual respect and consideration is the way forward, not always imposing slow speed zones, which mean the driver has his or her eyes glued to the speedo rather than the road ahead”.
“Driving at lower speeds necessitates lower gears creating more pollution as well as driver frustration, safer driving is achieved by concentration, planning ahead and the further driver training which is on offer to the general public”.
“As far as I am concerned, 20mph speed limits should only be adopted after careful research and then they should be targeted and tailored to where they are justified, and supported by the local community and statistical evidence, to show and prove a high collision ‘hot spot’ or other mitigating factors such as the location of a school nearby or other hazard”.
