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Don’t blame speed
Regarding the article quoting Bevan Woodward about reducing speed (MM April 18). Reducing speed is not the answer to the rising road toll. If speed was the answer then all the published information we have been getting from experts for decades now about speed should have reduced the road toll, but sadly it has not. Recent studies from the US state that speed is a factor in only about eight per cent of accidents, when 30 per cent of accidents result from lack of attention. If Mr Woodward was to give advice that may well make a difference, it should be focus, focus, focus. Do not let yourself be distracted. Also, arguably more important than any mandatory speed limits is, “Drive to the conditions.” Fear-based laws are plainly not working. I have not yet met a driver who wants to kill themselves, harm anybody else or scratch their vehicle. The majority of drivers do drive to their ability and responsibly. When accidents do happen, both the circumstances and the situations are very random and different. Thousands of vehicles over decades, both before and after, have traveled safely over that exact same spot or section of road without a problem. It has little or nothing to do with the speed limit. My suggestion is that it has a lot to do with concentration and anything that affects concentration. The more traffic on the road, the more we should focus. We are each responsible for the consequences of our own actions.
M.R. Hooper, Snells Beach
