BUSY shopping streets are some of the most dangerous roads in Britain,
according to a study of road accidents by the independent Transport Research
Laboratory, based in Crowthorne, Berkshire.
The TRL, which monitored accidents and speeds in Britain as well as analysing
European data, says that more than 200 lives could be saved every year by
reducing the average speed of traffic by 3 kilometres per hour. About 3300
people die on Britain鈥檚 roads every year.
The researchers found that the number of road accidents increases with the
square of the traffic speed. But there is also a strong link between the
variability of speed and the number of accidents.
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The study of the link between road accidents and speed, one of the largest
ever, pinpoints the dangers of speeding on busy high streets. Marie Taylor, who
led the research team, says that on many roads, such as those in rural areas,
traffic speeds are relatively uniform. But speeds on busy shopping streets in
towns are much more variable.
鈥淚f you have a lot of variability of speeds, it tends to be on roads with
shops and lots of pedestrian activity and vehicles coming out of minor
turnings,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f you do manage to drive fast on these roads, it鈥檚 a
jolly dangerous thing to do.鈥�
It鈥檚 the sheer number of events on these roads, such as children stepping off
pavements, that can lead to accidents. The faster a vehicle is travelling, the
less time the driver has to take it all in. 鈥淧rocessing the information may be a
factor,鈥� agrees Taylor.
The researchers argue that a reduction in speeding on urban roads, most of
which have speed limits of 30 miles per hour (48 kilometres per hour), has the
greatest potential for saving lives. Motorists who drive 20 per cent faster than
the average traffic speed have between 4 and 10 times as many accidents
(see Diagram).
Reducing the number of fast drivers by introducing traffic calming
measures such as speed humps, or tougher enforcement by speed cameras, would cut
accidents dramatically.
Taylor says that these fast drivers tend to be young, male, high-mileage
drivers with company cars, who frequently disobey traffic rules. And motorists
who drive fast on one road tend to drive fast on others.
Lynn Sloman of the environmental pressure group Transport 2000 says that the
British government鈥檚 review of speed earlier this month largely ignored the
dangers of busy town roads and concentrated instead on cutting speeds on
residential roads.
Sloman says that town roads need lower speed limits. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e always going to
have cars pulling out of parking places on busy main roads,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o if
you鈥檙e going to cut the variation in speed on these roads you鈥檙e going to have
to reduce the speed limit to 20 miles per hour.鈥�