Social Environment

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Personal transportation has evolved with the arrival of the motor car and has increased at a rapid rate.  Today over 60% of households have one car and over 22 million people hold a driving license.  Interestingly 22% of all car journeys are made to and from work.  Cars are an integral part of the fabric of the UK's society and research has shown that car owners value the solitude and convenience given by their own car highly and a dramatic change in this attitude is unlikely for the foreseeable future.

 
Against this backdrop, the public's love affair with personal motorised transport has blossomed and in today's society is an expected norm.  However, with increasing amount of vehicles used on the fixed number of roads throughout the UK, the reduction of accidents and facilities has been high on the government's agenda.

 
'The campaign objectives are to raise awareness of the issue, educate drivers that speeding in urban areas is unsafe, change public's attitude on speeding making driving too fast as socially unacceptable and as publicly condemned as drink driving, convey the responsibility of drivers and generate complementary activity and editorial in the media.'  Department of The Environment, Transport and the Regions Kill Your Speed Campaign 6 March 2000.

 
‘The Transport Research Laboratory have determined that there were many causes of ‘speedvariation’ (the factors that   influence adriver’s choice of speed).

These include:-

  • Demographics (age, sex, driving experience, exposure to driving)

  • Visual ability

  • Driving skill (hazard perception, car handling, judgmental skills)

  • Psychological factors (risk tolerance, social deviance, thrill seeking)

  • Temporary states (mood, fatigue, impairment due to drinking or drugs, illness)

  • Trip characteristics (length, purpose, urgency)

  • Car characteristics (performance, comfort, noise levels)

  • Road environment (road type, design, speed limit, enforcement levels, maintenance)

  • Environment factors (passenger, pedestrians, time of day, signs, local knowledge, weather)'

( The Speedtrap Bible : Facts about Speeding, Chris Longhurst, 23 March 2000)

 

 
  In a news release dated the 27October 1999 from the Institute of Advanced Motorists:   ‘The IAM believes…drivers should concentrate on the road, not thespeedometer.   Speed limits are nottargets.   In order to achieve thedesired level of respect and compliance with all statutory speed limits, theymust be relevant to the road and the environment to which they apply’

 

 
  ‘According to the motoringorganisation (RAC Foundation), over-reliance on speed cameras had now resultedin thousands of motorists believing that speeding fines were no more seriousthan parking fines.   The foundationsaid that the hazard potential of 23 million motorists paying more attention totheir speedometers than to the constantly changing traffic environment aroundthem would increase accidents’ TheEvening Standard, David Williams, 2 November 1999

 

 
‘Cleveland Chief Constable,Richard Brun-strom, said today: we want to make speeding as sociallyunacceptable as drink driving.   Morethan 3000 people die in road traffic accidents every year, two thirds of whichare down to speed’   TheEvening Standard, Allan Ramsay, 3 August 1999  

 
“Speed kills more people thandrinking and driving but it’s more difficult to tackle.   It is far more endemic within society.”   Mike Motteram CRCT county road safety officer, 27 October 1999

 

 
‘Control of the road space hastraditionally been exercised through static regulatory process:   speed limits; one-way systems; clearway designations; motorway exclusionrules; bus priority and cycle lanes.   Thedegree of public compliance is governed both by social responsibility and by theefficacy of enforcement measures’   ComputerBulletin, Spot the number plate, Chris Gillham, 28 October 1999

'Statistics show that around 10 people are killed every day in road accidents.  At least a third of deaths and injuries are the result of excessive driver speed'.  Department of The Environment, Transport and the Regions Kill Your Speed Campaign 6 March 2000.

 

RAC Foundation traffic and road safety manager Kevin Delaney is quoted as saying: "excessive speed is a factor in approximately 5% of all collisions whereas inappropriate speed is a cause of 25 - 30 % of accidents.