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Speeding
figures lead to crackdown
SCARBOROUGH and Whitby MP Robert Goodwill, the shadow transport secretary, has revealed Conservative plans to combat speeding after new figures revealed that more than four in five motorists break speed limits.
As many as 82 per cent of drivers admitted to sometimes or frequently exceeding the limit, a poll has found.
For males the figure was as high as 86 per cent, while 78 per cent of women motorists owned up to speeding.
The poll also revealed that just 27 per cent of drivers think speed cameras improve road safety and only 18 per cent believe more should be installed, 14 per cent have been caught speeding in the last year, 30 per cent say the speed limit should be 20mph on residential streets and 71 per cent think the speed limit should be 80mph or higher on motorways.
Managing director of insurers Admiral, Sue Longhorn, said: "I'm surprised so many motorists admit to speeding. Our research suggests it's not just common place, but routine for the vast majority of drivers.”
Mr Goodwill said that the Tory plans for reducing speeding would look at alternatives to cameras. “I think this Government has become something of a one-club golfer in its reliance on speed cameras,” he told the Evening News.
“In recent years there’s been a 20 per cent reduction in traffic police on the road and that’s been justified by the use of cameras.”
He added that the Conservatives were keen to explore the use of time-over- distance cameras which work in pairs placed a certain distance apart, and read passing vehicles’ number plates.
A computer calculates whether the vehicle was speeding between the cameras. The cameras have been used on some motorways and A roads in the UK.
“Where they have been used we’ve seen a dramatic reduction in the number of accidents,” Mr Goodwill said. He added that a couple of ideas from overseas have also attracted his attention.
“Though I don’t support the introduction of a blanket 20mph speed limit over large areas, in New Zealand they alter the speed limit near schools according to the time of day.
‘‘At nine in the morning the limit is 20mph, but later in the day and in the evening it increases, which seems a sensible idea.’’
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Weather for Whitby
Saturday 11 February 2012
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