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A FAIR DEAL FOR THE MOTORIST |
LBHF CONSULTATION ON BOROUGH-WIDE 20MPH1
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NOT
JUSTIFIED BY RECENT ACCIDENT REPORTS CONSULTATION
NOW CLOSED, BUT YOU CAN STILL SAY ‘NO’TO
DAFT ‘ENFORCEMENT’, click here … |
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MOST ACCIDENTS AREN’T CAUSED BY (EXCESS) SPEED Looking through LB Hammersmith &
Fulham casualty
reports (2012-14), very few seem related to excess speed. The Police
reports on the factors causing road accidents aren’t an exact science, but
they are the best information available. So please treat the following
figures as ballpark. A sample of 12 months'
out of 36 months' road accident reports was checked; including 4 months from
each calendar year (2012/3/4) and each calendar month. About 1% seemed to have
speed as a factor. One was overtaking on a right turn, which does not imply
great speed. Another, ditto, was ‘reversing at speed’ and others involved wet
road conditions and travelling on a bend. After considering
mitigating factors, it implies that about 0.5% are
truly speed-related. LBHF would do better to round up all the drunks, as so
far intoxication (over 1% of sample) has been seen to be a greater accident
factor. |
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CHILDREN’S ACCIDENTS – GUESS THE MAIN CAUSE… The Council's one-sided
consultation booklet has to say: "Three children a month are injured by car in Hammersmith &
Fulham". It goes on to say that almost half of people injured by a
car last year were cyclists or pedestrians. The recent statistics
don't quite support the first claim. The total child casualties were 88 (an
average of just 2.4/month) in 83 road accidents. And not all were due in
any way to cars. Some collisions involve buses, taxis, cycles... All 83 police reports
were objectively checked to try to identify likely responsibility for the
collision: ·
All due to
pedestrians/cyclists 54%. ·
All due to
bus/coach 10% (all but one were passengers falling
within a bus or getting stuck in the doors!). ·
All due to other
vehicles (car, taxi, lorry, motorcycle) 29% (These included 13% vehicle to
vehicle collisions where one or more children was a passenger; the other 16%
due to car driver or passenger, which might include unguardedly opening a
door, or being clipped by a wing mirror!). ·
No clear responsibility
apportionable 7%. So - under 16% due to
cars or parts of cars colliding with a child. 13 accidents in 3 years is more typically 0.36
children per month when responsibility is taken into account. In only 1 of the accidents was speed even 'possibly' a factor; many were in the rush hour or otherwise
slowed down conditions (turning at a junction, reversing). This does not provide justification for
spending towards £1 million of council taxpayers’ money on borough-wide 20mph
limits, possibly ‘self-enforced’ via speed humps. LBHF should scrap its flawed consultation and switch
its focus onto more relevant safety measures like road user education. A few school posters reminding young pedestrians
and cyclists to take due care might achieve more for road safety and casualty
reduction. And maybe more Police patrols to deter the irresponsible minority
of drivers? FATALITIES AND SERIOUS ACCIDENTS – GUESS THE MAIN CAUSE… Serious accidents with child
casualties (8 out of 83) and wider fatalities (8 out of about 1800 casualties)
in the 3 year period were reviewed. As the population of either sub-set of casualties
is not high, the observations are ‘for illustration’. Of the 8 accidents with 'serious'
child
casualties: ·
3 were due to
pedestrian error ·
2 were due to
motor vehicles like a car ·
1 was due to a
cyclist ·
2 were unclear
as to responsibility. Of the 8 fatal accidents
(none with child
casualties): ·
1 casualty was
a motorcyclist when a car pulled out to turn right; 7 were pedestrians, of
whom 4 were OAPs. ·
4 pedestrian
casualties involved being hit by a large vehicle like a goods vehicle, bus or
coach. Another involved a drunk pedestrian falling down in the road at night.
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1 OAP
pedestrian was hit by a car on a (non-zebra) crossing in the rush hour.
Police notes did not identify responsibility. ·
All 6 other
pedestrian casualties involved the victim error in stepping out. ·
3 of the
fatalities occurred during the rush hour, and in none of the 8 was there any
evidence as to travelling at speed. DON’T LET THE TRUTH BE A CASUALTY. In a press release dated
25 June 2015, the Institute of Advanced
Motorists, noted
“the numbers of people killed on roads with a 20mph limit
increased by 367%” [between 2013 and 2014....]. There are no doubt a number
of factors behind this, but it again shows why 20mph limits should not be
taken as some sort of ‘silver bullet’. |
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FOR MORE INFORMATION... Main page on LBHF consultation on borough-wide 20mph |
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST AND SUPPORT This is a legacy webpage from 2 Aug
2015 relating to a past campaign. Feedback and suggestions may be sent
to saferhf30 ‘AT’ btinternet.com Data protection note: Safeguarding privacy, |
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Footnotes 1.
On
borough-run roads; excludes TFL-run A4, A40 and A3220. . |
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