Speeding: Is it worth it?

Arguments over speeding and the use of deterrents such as speed

cameras have reached new levels in the past few years.

But drivers shouldn’t ask ‘why do they stop us speeding’ and instead

ask ‘is it really worth it’.



In-depth analysis of a range of journeys covering local roads, dual carriageways and motorways suggests that speeding just isn’t worth it in many cases.

At its most basic level, on the majority of long journeys, the MOST time you could save by speeding at the most reckless level would barely cover the time needed to take your coat off and fire up your computer.

In reality, speeding will only cut your journey by a couple of seconds.

For example, driving from London to Slough at the posted speed limits should take 1hr 44mins.

If, like many drivers, you drove at 90mph on motorways, your journey time would drop to 1hr 35mins, a nine-minute saving – but only with no traffic and no hold ups.

Take another journey, this time from Reading to Birmingham, a 98.5 mile run taking 1hr 50mins at the legal limits.

If you drove at 80mph whenever you hit a motorway the journey time would drop by just six minutes and at 90mph by 11 minutes. But once again, this is on a clear road at average speeds.

Even doing 100mph would only cut 18 minutes from the journey.

Speeding in built up areas at 50mph instead of 30mph would save four minutes on the same journey.

In fact, if you drove like a lunatic, doing 100mph on the motorway, did 70mph in 60mph zones and 50mph in 30mph zones, you would still only manage to cut 30 minutes off the Reading to Birmingham journey if the road was completely empty and there were no hold ups – and you didn’t get lost.

In a real-world round trip of 230 miles, a test driver managed a trip from Peterborough to Southend-on-Sea in just under two hours at the posted speed limits.

On the return journey, even attempting to drive as fast as possible, the driver still took the same amount of time.

The reason is clear.

Although overtaking a lorry on a busy road may feel like you are making up time, the actual benefit to your journey when in traffic is less than two seconds.

Fleet News

United Kingdom: Pressure Mounts For Additional Tests For Young Fleet Drivers

The overwhelming majority of Britain’s officially recognised safest fleets want the Government to introduce a nationally-recognised post-test driving for work qualification for young drivers.

Road crashes are the single biggest killer of young people in the UK with almost 1,200 killed or seriously injured on the roads every year. Young drivers, especially those under 20, are nearly 12 times more likely than those aged 35-65 to have caused a fatal crash than to have been innocently involved in one.

Meanwhile, with an estimated up to 200 road deaths and serious injuries a week resulting from crashes involving at work drivers, more employees are killed and seriously injured on Britain’s roads while driving on behalf of their employer than in any other work-related activity.

Therefore, inexperienced, recently qualified 17-24-year-olds who are driving on business are likely to be at the very highest risk of being involved in a crash. As a result, the Government is anxious to promote a wide range of measures to help young drivers stay safe when they are on the road.

Among the wide range of measures proposed by the Department for Transport in its far-reaching ‘Learning to Drive’ consultation document were additional pre and post- driving test training.

Meanwhile, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents with help from the Government-backed ‘Driving for Better Business’ campaign, which is managed by RoadSafe, will launch a new guide in the spring to help businesses improve the road safety of young drivers.

A new survey by the campaign among its almost 40 ‘business champion’ fleets discovered that not only do 90% of respondents want to see a post-test driving for work qualification for youngsters, but 71% of those questioned don’t believe the current ‘L’ driver training and testing process prepares 17-24-years-old for the challenge of at-work driving.

While the majority (76 %) of ‘business champion’ fleets allow young employees to drive on business – 24 % don’t – many impose restraints on them as part of their safe driving procedures. Those measures include:

   • 48 % of ‘business champion’ fleets restrict the size of vehicle young employees are allowed

      to drive

   • 33 % restrict the performance of the vehicle

   • 19 % ban youngsters from taking to the road in adverse weather conditions

   • 14 % ban them driving at night.

As the Government continues to compile its 2011-2020 Road Safety Strategy of which a greater focus on preparing youngsters for the hazards of driving is expected to play a key part, the new online RoSPA guide will highlight key safety issues for employers to deliver in workshops.

Guide content is based on a series of 12 pilot workshops attended by up to 15 young drivers devised by RoSPA and hosted by a cross-section of employers. The forthcoming guide will contain the workshop structure and materials and a guide to delivery.

The aim of the workshop is to develop young drivers’ knowledge that driving for work has ‘issues above and beyond what they probably assimilated when learning to drive’ and to help them understand how they can develop additional skills required when driving for work.

Following publication of the guide, hopes are high that employers will host their own workshops and use the booklet-based guidance to improve their young drivers’ safety, thus addressing the skills and training gap.

Caroline Scurr, Director of the ‘Driving for Better Business’ campaign, said: “I am not surprised that our ‘business champions’ want to see an improvement in the skills of young drivers.

“A range of factors put young drivers at particular risk, including their lack of experience, their weakness in identifying potential hazards and some attitudes, such as over confidence.

“Deadline pressures, unfamiliar routes and making frequent delivery stops can make driving for work very different to driving at other times and issues such as these are not covered during ‘L’ training.”

Article by Faye Sunderland, Contract Hire and Leasing

Bus, Coach And Lorry Drivers Now Have Latest Driver CPC Information At Their Finger-Tips

A new website giving bus, coach and lorry drivers everything they need to know about Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) was launched by the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) today.

Driver CPC was introduced to the bus and coach industry in September 2008 and to the lorry industry last September.

Professional drivers can now find the latest information about what they need to do to get qualified and stay qualified at: direct.gov.uk/drivercpc.

The interactive site features drivers sharing their experiences of their training and gives information on the initial qualification for new drivers and the driver qualification card. Drivers can also find details of training providers in their area and operators can download information leaflets for their staff.

Nick Carter, DSA deputy chief executive said:

"Our new website gives bus, coach and lorry drivers everything they need to make sure that they are up-to-date with the newly introduced Driver CPC.

"I hope that drivers will use the site to find out more about training options for the new qualification as well as providing answers to any questions they might have."

Driver CPC was introduced to improve road safety by providing better training and qualifications for drivers and to help drivers meet the changing needs of the passenger transport and road haulage sectors.

To find out more direct.gov.uk/drivercpc.

Source : DSA