As Sweden have shown, taking actions which help to bring safer roads has a measurable impact on people’s lives.
We recently mentioned a Surrey County Council scheme to improve A roads, the M25 Junction 10 (Wisley) improvement scheme is also progressing.
Both will hopefully have a positive effect on well known accident blackspots. The 30 or so fatalities each year and many more injuries on Surrey’s roads need to be reduced as far as possible.
Another proposal on this has resurfaced, with the council looking again at the benefits of speed reduction in saving lives.
From 30mph to 20mph
A plan to introduce 20mph speed limits in most Surrey towns and villages was rejected in 2022. The proposal is now backed by evidence that 95% of pedestrians hit by cars travelling below 20mph survive, compared to 50% at 30mph and 5% at 40mph.
Emissions are also reduced, helping the environment and residents health but objections did crop up last time. On inconvenience, the effect on business and a fair approach to enforcement.
The latest proposals stick to a presumption that most 30mph roads in town, or village settings will be reduced to 20mph. Driven by a belief that safety of pedestrians and drivers should override other concerns.
Other Initiatives
Reducing the number of cars on the road improves safety, which is helped by greater use of public transport. Part of the reason Surrey are introducing a 50% off bus pass, for all residents aged 20 and under.
Applications for a Surrey link bus card can be made online. An addition to other steps being taken to encourage bus travel, from ensuring more buses turn up on time, to improving information at bus stops.
Whilst ample electric vehicle charging points are mainly about convenience, they do hold a safety aspect. Broken down vehicles can be a hazard, along with driver uncertainty, or frustration.
Surrey County Council have agreed a contract with a company called Connected Kerb, to install thousands of charging points across the county.
Why Should We Care
An obvious point is that we might be the next person injured but there are wider reasons. Those most likely to be injured are the young and the not so young, people we care about and wish to protect.
As a home removals company, we spend much time on the road and believe our drivers take a professional approach, as they should. Nobody is perfect and accidents happen, yet are often avoidable.
Our team see why they happen, people overtaking at 40mph, in a 20mph zone outside a school, or glued to their phone whilst driving. We know these are exceptions but we can all take extra care.
Driving is essential to our lives and not always easy but a statement drawn from national accident analysis is worth a thought. If every driver resisted the 5% lack of focus we can all have, accidents would fall by 50%.
