Section 2: Background and Objectives
This section outlines the background to the guidance and its objectives.
Key points: |
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Traffic Authorities continue to have the flexibility to set local speed limits that are right for the individual road, reflecting local needs and taking account of all local considerations Local speed limits should not be set in isolation, but as part of a package with other measures to manage vehicle speeds. |
Background
12. The UK Government's 1997 White Paper on the Future of Transport included a commitment to develop a speed policy that would take account of the contribution of reduced speeds to environmental and social objectives as well as to road safety.
13. This resulted in New Directions in Speed Management, which concluded that a national framework was needed for determining speeds on all roads, with limits that were rational, consistent, readily understood and appropriate for the circumstances. Traffic Authorities therefore continue to have the flexibility to set local speed limits that are right for the individual road, reflecting local needs and taking account of all local considerations.
14. New Directions in Speed Management was published in conjunction with Tomorrow's Roads - Safer for Everyone, the GB Road Safety Strategy which set out a framework for delivering further improvements in road safety for all road users and the following long-term casualty reduction targets to be achieved by 2010:
- 40% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured
- 50% reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured
- 10% reduction in the slight casualty rate, expressed as the number of people slightly injured per 100 million vehicle kilometres.
15. The Road Safety Strategy is structured around ten main themes, which reflect the needs of both motorised and non-motorised users. At its core is a major focus on three areas - driver behaviour, enforcement, and a safer driving environment. This is often characterised as 'the three Es' - education, enforcement and engineering.
16. Research has demonstrated that reducing excessive and inappropriate speeds on roads can reduce the number of accidents and severity of injuries, with each 1 mph reduction in average speed reducing accident frequency by 5% ( TRL, 1993 and 2000). 'Safer speeds' was, therefore, one of ten key themes in the Road Safety Strategy, reflecting the important contribution that effective speed management can make towards delivery of the 2010 casualty reduction targets. The revision of this guidance was one of a number of speed management commitments in the Road Safety Strategy.
17. Subsequently, the UK Government undertook, in the Transport Act 2000, to examine the procedures and processes for developing and implementing a possible 'hierarchy' of rural roads for speed management purposes - that is a system under which different speed limits would be set for different road types according to their function. The conclusion, reported to the UK Parliament in 2001, was that a formal hierarchy of this type throughout the rural community would be costly both financially and in terms of environmental intrusion due to the additional signing that would be required to indicate the different speed limits. Moreover given the necessary infrastructure and behavioural changes required, the road safety benefits would also take too long to realise.
18. However, the report made a number of recommendations, including the development of a Speed Assessment Framework as a tool to assist Traffic Authorities in assessing and making decisions on what is an appropriate speed limit on single carriageway rural roads. These are now being used to inform work on rural speed management and this guidance includes, and encourages, the use of such an Assessment Framework to help Traffic Authorities reach more transparent decisions when the appropriate speed limit choice is not clear.
Objectives
19. The key objectives of this guidance are:
- the provision of up to date and consistent advice to Traffic Authorities
- improved clarity, which will aid greater consistency of speed limits across the country
- the setting of more appropriate local speed limits, including lower or higher limits where conditions dictate
- local speed limits which better reflect the needs of all road users, not just motorised vehicles
- improved quality of life for local communities and a better balance between road safety, accessibility and environmental objectives, especially in rural communities;
- improved recognition and understanding by road users of the risks involved on different types of road, the different speed limits that apply and the reasons why;
- improved respect for speed limits, and in turn improved self compliance
- continued reductions in the number of road traffic accidents, injuries and deaths in which excessive or inappropriate speed is a contributory factor.
20. Speed limits are only one element of speed management. Local speed limits should not be set in isolation, but as part of a package, along with other measures to manage speeds. Such measures include engineering and landscaping standards that respect the needs of all road users and raise the driver's awareness of their environment, as well as education, driver information, training and publicity. Within their overall network management responsibilities, these measures should enable Traffic Authorities to deliver speed limits and driven speeds that are safe and appropriate for the road and its surroundings, and help drivers to be more readily aware of the road environment and assess their own appropriate speeds at all times.
21. Indeed, if a speed limit is set in isolation, or is unrealistically low, it is likely to be ineffective and to lead to possible disrespect for the speed limit. As well as requiring significant and avoidable enforcement costs, this may also result in substantial numbers of drivers continuing to travel at unacceptable speeds, thus increasing the risk of accidents and injuries.