วีดีโอ

Thank you for your comment. You are of course right that it is actual speeds not posted speed limits that matter but there is a relationship between them. Reducing the speed limit of a road of course doesn’t mean all people will comply, or even reduce their speed at all, but enough do so that the average speed limits fall. And as the saying goes, every little bit helps. I have written something on the reasons people speed here think.aber.ac.uk/the-social-psychology-of-speeding-attitudes-to-20mph/ and you are right road design does effect speed, but so does posted speed limits. To my knowledge there isn’t any research looking at your “false impression” hypothesis, but there is more pedestrian activity, including crossing roads when speeds of vehicles are actually lower, maybe a research project is needed. Overall, most people drive very well and very safely but everyone can be distracted or have something untoward happen as they drive and the slower the speeds the more time there is to react and for that not to be a catastrophic issue. Charles Musslewhite (Co-Director, CADR)

@@cadrcymru It was the US study The Effects of Raising and Lowering speed limits that said "Arbitrary, unrealistic and nonuniform speed limits have created a socially acceptable disregard for speed limits. Unrealistic limits increase accident risks for persons who attempt to comply with limit by driving slower or faster than the majority of road users, Unreasonably low limits significantly decrease driver compliance and give road users such as person not familiar with the road and pedestrians, a false indication of actual traffic speeds." While average speeds do normally go down when limits are lowered, that's not always the case and some roads have even seen speed increase after the limit is lowered, the problem I have and what's insidious is that it's the fastest 1-5% of drivers who are some of the least likely to slow down when limits are lower, the most likely to do harm and they're also the drivers properly set limits concentrate on. The reason why people speed is normally due to the limit not matching the design of the road, and system 1 thinking means people will default to the speed they feel comfortable driving. Rather than asking "why do people speed" and having a drive-by-numbers mentality the better question is to ask "why do people drive too fast?". The question I like to ask is, If your speedo broke, could you drive safely?

Thank you for your comment, I totally agree that 20mph can really help get older people out and about. Normal changes that happen to us all as we age mean we need more time and space to walk. Charles Musselwhite (Co-Director, CADR)

Thank you for your comment. I agree that we need more safe crossings but we could have both lower speed limits and more safe crossings. See my research on crossings here www.drcharliemuss.com/crossing-the-road-in-later-life.html Charles Musselwhite (Co-Director, CADR)

Thank you for your comment. Do you think such a campaign of education or enforcement would work anyway, wouldn’t there always be pedestrians being distracted and not paying attention in one way or another? There is not licence to be a pedestrian. I don’t disagree with you education might have some effect to reduce people being distracted, but it would be relatively small and given people will still be distracted while cycling and walking wouldn’t it be better for drivers to be driving slower so the driver has time to react and if they hit them not to be hit too hard to cause death? Charles Musselwhite (Co-Director, CADR)