By EWAN KENNEDY
14 September 2009

I am becoming increasingly concerned with the concentration by governments on speed limits as the answer to all road trauma problems.

Major studies show that about one serious crash in 20 is primarily caused by excessive speed. But to listen to advertising campaigns you would think that an overwhelming majority of crashes could be avoided simply by sticking to the speed limit.

Governments putting far too much emphasis on speed means that other driving dangers, particularly inattention, which causes about a third of all crashes, are being all but ignored.

The really dangerous thing is that many people have been brainwashed to the extent that they really do thing that ‘Speed Kills’ and ‘Every K over is a Killer’.

On more than one occasion I have heard people say, “I’m a good driver, I never go over the speed limit”. Yet I've never heard them say, “I believe in paying attention to everything that's happening around my car.” Or “it's vital to adapt to driving conditions, and also to co-operate with all other road users at all times.”

Then there are drivers who refuse to keep left on multilane roads, saying, “I'm doing the speed limit, so no one should overtake my car.” Thankfully I recently saw a TV interview with a senior policeman who said, “Leave the policing to us, don’t even think of doing it yourself.” Pay attention, all you self-appointed law-enforcers out there...

I heard a traffic report on the local radio station the other day, the one detailing peak-hour congestion, crashes and so on. The bright young fellow finished off by telling everyone to obey the speed limits. Wouldn’t it have made for sense for him to ask people to drive carefully, pay attention, avoid tailgating, get off that mobile phone, signal before changing lanes, and avoid a hundred and one other risk-creating driving habits?

TV and radio stations are getting into the act in another way. Just about every times there's a report on a really bad crash the newsreader’s scriptwriter seems to feel it necessary to insert words like, “speed is believed to be a factor in the accident”, even though they have nothing other than some horror video footage of the ‘accident’ scene on which to base their conclusions. Note the use of that word ‘accident’ by the general media – it's almost as though the deadly collision was inevitable.

Speed limits are by their very nature arbitrary. There are times when driving under the speed limit can still see you travelling at a dangerous speed, and occasions when being over the speed limit is safe. To set a rigid number and then enforce it with draconian measures is simply ridiculous. And does nothing the credibility of the authorities who assure us that the moment that speedo needle passes a certain number we are immediate danger of dying.

All experienced drivers are aware that the safe speed for the conditions varies minute by minute, even second by second. And they drive according to the conditions. Once upon a time that was pretty well all that was asked of them. Now the mere act of going over the set limit is putting them in danger of losing money, possibly even their licences and livelihood if they are on the road for many hours every working day.

Of course speed is a factor in all crashes, if every vehicle was stationary all the time there would be no more crashes – and almost all of us would die horrible lingering deaths as our society became completely unravelled within weeks.

Regular readers will be well aware of my safe driving mantra – always have two hands on the steering wheel, two eyes on the road, and all of your attention on the vital act of driving. Anything else is potentially dangerous.

ewan@marque.com.au

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