No Need To Speed

The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, Roger Hirst, is supporting Road Safety Week (16–22 November), the UK’s biggest road safety event coordinated by Brake, the road safety charity.   Statistics show that speed contributes to one in five fatal crashes in the UK so this year the charity are highlighting the issue of speed with their campaign “No need to Speed”.   In a crash, 1mph can mean the difference between life and death. But people still regularly break speed limits or travel too fast for the conditions of the road. With someone injured on a UK road every four minutes, and vehicle speed playing a part in every crash, it’s time to come together to say that there is No Need to Speed.    

Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Commissioner for Essex, said: “Improving safety on our roads are priorities in both our Police and Crime Plan and Fire and Rescue Plan with our objective being to reduce harm on the roads and promote safer driving. “More people in Essex die on our roads than in any other kind of accident or crime."

The Safer Essex Roads Partnership, which is made up of our emergency services and local authorities, are constantly working hard to drive down the number of injuries and fatalities on Essex roads. But the people who can make a real difference are you – the people of Essex who drive and use our roads. “Speeding is one of the “fatal four” behaviours that cause devastating collisions on our roads. Last year, there was 3897 casualties from road traffic collisions in Essex, and the stats show that excess speed as the highest contributory factor in collisions. So my message to all road users is to simply slow down and make yourself and others safer.”   Why is speed so important? The formula is simple: the higher the speed, the longer the stopping distance, the harder the crash and the greater the risk of death and injury. No Need to Speed is a reminder to everyone of how the speed they travel affects other people. Every time we’re on the road we need to consider what speed is appropriate to keep ourselves and others safe.   Follow these safety tips to keep yourself, your family and other roads users safe:

• The speed limit is a limit not a target

In some road conditions, including fog and rain and traffic flow, even driving at the speed limit could be too fast. Stay in control and give yourself time to react to unexpected hazards by braking before the bend, not in it. Be aware that there may be unexpected hazards such as blind bends, vehicles coming out of junctions and animals on country roads. The national speed limit on single carriage roads is 60mph, but there will be times you need to drive under that in order to drive correctly for the conditions. In fact most people do on these roads – the average free flow speed is 48mph.

• Driving too fast for the conditions is bad driving

Driving too close to the car in front, undertaking and failing to signal are widely accepted as examples of bad driving. However, some drivers fail to accept that driving too fast is also poor driving despite the fact that this is a contributory factor in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries every year.

• Consider the consequences of causing an accident due to driving at excessive speed

If you cause an accident you will have to live with the emotional consequences of deaths or injuries caused to others.   More information available on the Safer Essex Roads website: www.saferessexroads.org/road-users/advice/speed/