Britain"s worst speeders clocked going four times over the limit

As drivers are caught carrying out up to 146 mph on the road, the Institute of Advanced Motorists calls for a adjust in people’s attitudes to driving.

Ever had a speeding ticket? What had been you undertaking – 5, 10 miles over the limit?

How about carrying out 4 occasions the speed limit in a residential zone?

That is what the Institute of Sophisticated Motorists (IAM) found out when they looked at the highest recorded speeds from every single constabulary in England and Wales.

The worst offender was clocked carrying out 128 mph on London Road in East Grinstead, Sussex – a 30 mph zone. 

This is what that road looks like:

 

Who in their correct mind would drive at 4 instances the speed limit on a road like this?

The quickest recorded speed was 146 mph, where 2 distinct drivers on the M25 had been caught going at more than twice the speed limit.

Sarah Sillars, IAM chief executive officer, mentioned:

“At speeds of 140 mph an individual is travelling at nearly 2-and-a-half miles a minute.

“At that speed it is just not possible to react to something that might happen in front of you.

At that kind of speed, your total stopping distance is elevated to 143 metres – about 85 automobile lengths.

 
If you require support visualising what 140mph appears like, this video sums it up quite properly (it is on a motorbike but you get the idea):

On motorways, speeders had been caught driving twice the limit, averaging speeds of about 125 mph.

Even in places exactly where 40 and 50 mph site visitors-calming limits have been introduced, the worst offenders have been driving at an average of 110 mph.

According to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the general leeway for issuing a speeding penalty is 10% + 2 mph.

So if you’re driving on a motorway, something previous 79 mph is most likely to get you fined or worse.

But drivers on Intelligent motorways such as the M1, M2, M6 and M25 are using cameras to catch drivers who are only going a couple of miles per hour more than the limit.

 

In 2013, 3,064 people have been either killed or seriously injured in crashes exactly where speed was a factor.

Rule 125 of the Highway Code states that the speed limit is the absolute maximum and ought to not be deemed a target.

Based on road conditions e.g. ice, even driving at the speed limit can be dangerous.

This still does not cease individuals from breaking the speed limit and posting the benefits on social media:
 

4th gen pull. #camaro #ls1 #speeding #ftp

A photo posted by Franco Chehab (@fbcz28) on Feb 15, 2015 at 2:45pm PST

 

I totally never condone speeding this isn’;t protected but…#jesusbealifesaver #noticketsplease #noigwhiledriving #notsafe

A photo posted by Kara B. (@karalondonb) on Dec 2, 2012 at 9:59am PST

 

Pro tip #1: Don’t drive over the speed limit.

Pro tip #2: If you ignored #1, do not take images of you breaking the law and post them on the internet where everybody can see. The police have Twitter also, you know.

Sarah Sillars said: “In quick, all these individuals are playing with their own lives and others – they are all accidents waiting to happen and it requires a significant shift in the attitudes of these men and women to think about safety.”

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Britain"s worst speeders clocked going four times over the limit

Can you dig it? Britain’s £3m pothole compo crisis

Potholes are a massive difficulty for motorists and nearby authorities alike.

Not only do they price motorists and councils millions of pounds in repair bills, the RAC Foundation says councils paid out a lot more than £3 million in compensation in the last monetary year.

Claims up, payments down

A total of 48,664 claims for pothole harm were produced in 2013/14, which is an improve of 2,525 on the number of claims made in 2012/13.

And despite the fact that just below a quarter (23%) of claims have been actually upheld, this nevertheless came at a price of £3.2 million to regional authorities.

Even so, although the number of claims improved, the quantity paid out by neighborhood councils actually fell by £1million as the average pay-out for pothole damage dropped from £357 in 2012/13 to £286 in 2013/14.

The typical admin price for a claim, whether successful or not, also dropped from £150 to £147.

Here’s how the figures for 2013/14 break down (2012/13 figures are in brackets)

Bigger image

It’s unlikely that claim rates reflect the true scale of the difficulty as numerous motorists will be reluctant to make a claim due to the laborious claims process and the comparatively low good results rates.

Some may possibly not even be aware they can claim against their nearby authority. And some issues caused by potholes – either in one go or gradually more than a series of incidents – might be interpreted as standard wear-and-tear or routine structural harm.

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “These figures are probably to be the tip of the iceberg. Many drivers will be put off by the time involved in claiming against a council, and several councils do their very best to deter claimants coming forward.

“But the fundamental difficulty lies not at the doors of our town halls but with central government. In spite of occasional 1-off grants associated to periods of harsh climate, they are just not providing councils adequate funds to hold their road ne2rks up to scratch.”

He added: “In England, local authorities themselves estimate the upkeep backlog to be about £12 billion yet more than the past 5 years spending on roads in genuine terms has dropped 22% across England and Wales.

“Worn-out road surfaces do not basically result in damage to cars they are also potentially lethal, specifically for 2-wheeled road users.”

How to report a pothole

While we can not do anything to reduce the amount of red tape involved in generating a claim for pothole harm, we have teamed up with Street Repairs to make the process of reporting a pothole a lot easier.

Simply fill in the form under and your local authority will be in a position to add the pothole to its list.

And with the pothole reported, you can then go about generating a claim, so make confident you read How to make a claim for pothole damage.

Can you dig it? Britain’s £3m pothole compo crisis

Hole lotta really like – parties split on patching Britain’s roads

Just before Christmas, drivers were given what looked like an attractive present by the government – the promise that £6 billion will be spent on fixing potholes over the next 6 years.

But when the wrapping paper was ripped off, it wasn’t quite the stunning package we were given to believe.

Old money

For a start, it wasn’t a fresh injection of cash into country’s beleaguered road ne2rk.

The funding for road repairs was originally unveiled in the 2013 Spending Review, and was announced (again) in December by Patrick McLoughlin, transport secretary.

The move prompted Labour MP Richard Burden to accuse the government of a “complete Christmas con.”

McLoughlin said the funds will be enough to repair 18 million potholes countrywide: “The £6 billion funding I am announcing today will put an end to short-term fixes and will mean we have committed £10 billion between 2010 and 2021.”

His mention of short-term fixes is intended to prevent further criticism of the government, which has previously come under fire for its quick-fix approach to road repairs.

Divvying up

Over £4.7 billion of the funds will be split between 115 local councils, with those that have the biggest road ne2rks getting the greatest amount of funding.

A further £575m will be available to councils to help maintain local roads, junctions, bridges and street lighting, but authorities will have to bid for a share of this.

There’s also another £578m which has been put aside for a new “incentive fund scheme” which will start in 2016. This money will be used to reward councils who can demonstrate that they have made cost-effective road improvements.

Half measures?

While £6 billion might sound like an awful lot of money it may not be anywhere near enough to solve the problem as some councils are facing bills of close to £100million to fix their crumbling carriageways.

A recent freedom of information (FoI) request from the Press Association found Leeds city council has the biggest backlog, with repairs estimated to cost somewhere between £90million and £100million, with Gloucestershire’s £86million repair bill and Islington’s £79million tab not too far behind.

The FoI request also gives an indication of the size of the task faced by local councils – even before this year’s bad weather sets in, Derbyshire has 1,110 potholes to repair, Plymouth 3,200 and Northumberland a whopping 6,600.

The idea that even £6billion may not be enough has also been supported by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (who knew?!?) which estimates an immediate one-off expenditure of £12 billion in England alone is needed to return our roads to a state we can be proud of.

Inflation will also have a big impact on the government’s planned expenditure on roads. Following today’s announcement, the shadow transport team @LabourTransport tweeted that the £976m-a-year allocated for local road maintenance is set to decline in real terms to £865m by 2020.

It also claimed that over 2,220 miles more of our local roads now need maintenance work compared to 2010 – further than going from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

Going to pot

There certainly seems to be some pretty damning evidence around to suggest that road repairs have been bottom of the agenda for far too long. According to the RAC, from 2012 to 2013 it saw a 67% increase in vehicles damaged by potholes.

A survey conducted by the motoring organisation earlier in 2014 found that 41% of drivers said the condition of local roads is a major concern – second only to the cost of fuel. And with the cost of fuel plummeting, it could soon be the biggest.

A further 68% said they wanted targeted local road improvements and 65% would like to see more maintenance of motorways and trunk roads.

Axle to grind

Poor roads aren’t just inconvenient, but can cause a huge amount of damage.

Research by the website Potholes.co.uk, an independent website to help motorists assist councils to improve the state of roads, found that the average repair bill for pothole-induced axle or suspension damage is £247. In contrast, it costs councils just £52 to repair one pothole.

They are also extremely dangerous. My local Kent roads are riddled with potholes that you have to swerve to avoid, and many have been left to deteriorate over a period of several years.

Road to ruin?

Michael Dugher MP, Labour’s shadow transport secretary, said: “Hard-pressed motorists and businesses are justifiably sick and tired of having their vehicles damaged because of Britain’s pothole crises.

“This Tory Government is all talk. Motorists have had enough of their failure and broken promises.”

I actually preferred his tweet to his official announcement. It read: “Govt announcement on roads seems to be: We’ve totally knackered the roads over the last 5 years. We might do something about it in the next 6.”

Can you dig it?

Only time will tell how big an impact the £6 billion funding will have over the next few years, but in the meantime you can do your bit to let councils know about the worst-affected areas.

You can report any potholes you find here, or you can use the ‘Fill That Hole’ iPhone app, which lets you take a photo of a pothole and combine this with GPS technology to pinpoint the exact location of the hazard.

The problem is then reported to the National Cycling Charity, which in turn contacts the right people on your behalf to get roads repaired.

Hole lotta really like – parties split on patching Britain’s roads

How Protected are Britain’s Roads?

Public opinion regarding Britain’s roads has never ever been a lot more divided, as this week we have heard that for the first time in our nation’s history there have been no deaths or significant injuries to youngsters walking or cycling to college this year, even though at the very same time half of Brits think that the roads are too dangerous for cyclists. So what does this all imply? With statistics showing that youngsters are now safer on the roads, this ought to imply that cyclists and other road customers are safer too. To comprehend more, we look at each stories in additional detail:

Children on the Roads

Earlier this week, the Division for Transport officially published info stating that no children have been killed or seriously injured while walking to school in the course of 2014, nonetheless that does not mean that children are not nevertheless at danger. It is essential to note that the statistics only cover children walking to and from school and not kids utilizing the roads at other instances. Moreover, back in May the charity Sustrans reported that 41% of parents had mentioned that their kids had skilled a ‘near miss’ whilst on the way to or from school. This is an very higher percentage, especially when you take into consideration the truth that in 2012 thirty 3 young children had been killed and eighteen hundred have been seriously injured even though on their way to college.

Britain’s Cyclists

It is a sad fact that several cyclists are killed or injured every single year, specifically in busy cities such as London where buses and industrial automobiles also use the roads. This is one particular of the motives why a recent BBC poll revealed that half of British adults feel that their nearby roads are too unsafe to cycle on. Discussing the study, a spokesman for the Department for Transport said: “We are committed to making certain much more men and women feel secure enough to use 2 wheels.” Even so, Olympian Chris Boardman said: “It’s clear…people don’t really feel secure when riding their bikes on our roads. In order to rectify this we want a clear commitment from government and nearby authorities to prioritise the safety and demands of cyclists in all future transport schemes.”

Are you Driving Safely?

Motorists have a tendency to forget that the roads do not just belong to them and that young children and cyclists have just as a lot correct to use them and remain secure as they do. As a driver, you should as a result make confident you have adopted great habits such as usually checking your mirrors for cyclists ahead of turning or changing lanes, and reducing your speed in designated school zones. Drivers need to also don’;t forget that they can be caught off guard by cyclists and kids as they are smaller sized than automobiles, meaning they are often hidden in blind spots. Sticking to the speed limit and checking your mirrors on a normal basis are 2 of the greatest ways to guarantee that you are not risking the lives of any person else even though on the road.

Even though Britain’s roads are becoming safer, we still have a long way to go in order to guarantee that no matter whether or not you are an adult or kid, in a auto or on a bike, you will be capable to comprehensive each single journey safely.

Photo by Keith Evans / CC BY-SA 2.

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How Protected are Britain’s Roads?