Figures show that 95% of all pedestrians’ casualties and 92% of all cyclist casualties are injured or killed on built up roads with speed limits which are under 40MPH. Whilst that might seem shocking, if you think about it, it’s logical, it’s no surprise and it’s maybe what you would expect as not too many people wander down the hard shoulder of the M62 or along the side of the A11 where limits are above 40mph.
But its now become a mission to stop these accidents and the Government with its usual knee jerk reactions to everything has according to the Minister for Road Safety; Jim Fitzpatrick decided that it’s an objective that all built up residential areas should ultimately have a 20MPH speed limit and in fact, they are already actively encouraging councils to introduce the new zones.
Now I am sure there are areas that could benefit from a 20mph zone, but not everywhere, that’s just an over reaction, but then government in recent years seems to over react to just about everything as far as the motorist is concerned.
Many councils say they don’t have the money to implement the 20mph zones and Portsmouth, which has already introduced a city wide 20mph zone are getting complaints from residents that they just are not being policed, so somewhere along the line, the introduction of these zones is going to cost serious cash, both in terms of creating the zone and in terms of the peelers needed to police it.
You can find some priceless pieces of research to support the introduction of these zones, such as “Speed is not the only factor that leads to these accidents, but driver behaviour, which includes speed, is a factor in 26% of all accidents” so that’s 26% down to the nasty speeding motorist, but when you look at the major part, the biggest single contributory factor, guess what it is? Yes, “68% of all accidents are caused by pedestrians and cyclists failing to look”
Its claimed that of the 63,000 pedestrians are killed or injured a year, but (at least) 42,000 of them were caused by pedestrians stepping carelessly into the road, but it seems it’s the motorist getting the blame again.
Truth is, the statistics show the real major offender is the dopey pedestrian or cyclist. Cyclists (as we all know) already habitually ignore every road sign and every road law and you can bet that it will be them regularly breaking any 20mph limits that might be imposed and getting away with it Scot free.
As for pedestrians, what about your responsibility, what about your accountability, you can’t just abdicate that to the state or blame the motorist, if you insist on wandering around with an I-Pod stuck in your lugs or babbling on your mobile phone and ignoring everything around you, while you aimlessly amble into the road in front of a passing car, well its your fault.
Why is nothing seemingly done to tell pedestrians what they should do? The dangers should be drilled into pedestrians and cyclists day after day and whilst using a mobile phone while driving can distract you and make you a less safe driver, the same applies to the I-Pod or the mobile phone for the pedestrian or the cyclist.
Even the “hit me at 30mph and I might survive” TV adverts are putting the responsibility on the driver, not the pedestrian. Why don’t they say “if you are stupid enough to walk out into the road in front of a car doing a legal 30mph, there’s an 80% chance you’ll survive”
We constantly read so much rubbish about driver training and education and drivers needing to reduce their speeds, but fact is, it’s the pedestrians that need educating.
What happened to the “Tufty Club” or the “Green Cross Code” which was around when I was a kid? and the man that told you how to cross the road and how you should behave as a pedestrian, where is Alvin Stardust now when you need a helping across the road? Remember “Stop, Look & Listen” well that’s fantastic advice, but its advice you just haven’t heard for years.
Whilst every road user wants to be safe, it’s a joint responsibility, it’s not just the driver, the cyclist or the pedestrian, it’s all of us, but despite bringing in stacks of slow down zones, as long as around 68% of pedestrians simply fail to look, we are going to get no where.
Finally, spare a thought for the innocent driver who maybe hit a pedestrian and now has to live with that for the rest of their life, but spare that thought, knowing that the statistics show that for almost 7 out or 10 pedestrians hit by cars, it wasn’t speed, it wasn’t the motorist, he was innocent, it was the pedestrians fault.
This one size fits all policy is unworkable and in most cases unnecessary, particularly when the real long term answer is so obvious.
