New research this week suggests that UK motorists consider speeding to be less acceptable now than five years ago. With speeding the cause of more than 4,400 casualties on UK roads each year, which is an average of 12 people a day killed or injured on UK roads the positive change in attitudes towards speeding has to be applauded. COVID 19 has also had a positive impact on UK road deaths; the lockdown has significantly lowered road deaths as a direct result of less traffic on the roads. Whilst attitudes towards speeding are showing positive trends one in five of those surveyed still think it is acceptable to drive five miles-per-hour over the speed limit on a residential street and nearly one in ten thought it was acceptable to drive at these speeds outside a school.
Whilst the IAM speeding survey throws a positive light on attitudes towards speeding another report out this week from GEM reveals a worrying rise in drink driving deaths, deaths involving drink drivers has reached a 10-year high. Provisional government statistics for 2019 show that the central estimate of deaths from drink-driving on roads in Great Britain in 2019 was 280, an increase of 40 on the previous year and the highest central estimate since 2009. Tougher fines and a more effective plan to tackle drink driving is more urgently needed than ever.
