We must change our attitudes to road safety - Nicola Edgar

Last week marked Road Safety Week, the UK’s largest annual campaign for road safety awareness, led by Brake, the road safety charity, and supported by numerous organisations, schools, and communities.

Brake reported that excess speed is a contributory factor in as many as one in three fatal road crashes which is why this year’s campaign theme is ‘Let’s talk about SPEED’. The aim is to raise awareness that every time we break the speed limit, we increase the risk of crashing, and someone being seriously hurt or killed.

As a specialist personal injury lawyer, I have experience of the devastating impact road traffic collisions have on victims and their loved ones. The speed at which a vehicle is travelling dictates whether a driver is able to stop in time to avoid a collision, which can be the difference between life and death. A pedestrian hit at 30mph has a one in five chance of being killed. This rises significantly to a one in three chance if they are hit at 35mph. Even small increases in speed can significantly impact the severity of the injury.

To effect change, new legislation and traffic calming measures are being put in place throughout the country. In Wales, new legislation recently introduced a reduced default speed limit of 20mph. In Scotland, the Government has committed to implementing speed limits of 20mph in built up areas by 2025. There have been trials of the 20mph strategy most recently in the Borders where in January 2023, following a two-year trial, the 20mph zones became permanent in most areas of the region. In other areas, where a 20mph-only zone was less practicable, "hybrid" speed limit zones have instead been introduced. These "hybrid" zones have a variation of 20, 30 and 40mph limits with buffer zones in place where appropriate.

Nicola Edgar is a Partner, Morton Fraser MacRoberts.

More innovative methods to tackle speeding have been implemented in Spain, the Netherlands, and France. In parts of Spain and the Netherlands, traffic lights turn red for speeding vehicles, while France employs a reward system with traffic lights turning green for compliant drivers, considered a cost-effective alternative to speed bumps, as reported by French councils. Transport Scotland is trialling a similar system in Springholm near Dumfries, linking traffic lights to speed monitoring devices.

Effectively tackling speeding helps make communities feel safer, particularly when walking and cycling, by not prioritising drivers. This change in priority is reflected in changes which were made to the Highway Code in 2022 which introduced a hierarchy of road users. These changes recognised the vulnerability of many road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists by giving them priority over drivers in certain circumstances and ensuring road users who can do the greatest harm, have the greatest responsibility for reducing the danger they pose to other drivers.

Given the fact that five people die on UK roads every day, changes need to be made to improve safety. At the heart of this change must be our attitude towards road safety, otherwise, no matter what is done to make our roads safer, including legislating and spending on maintaining and improving our road networks, they will never be safe places to be. The only way to ensure our roads are safe is for all of us to take responsibility for our own actions and behaviour on the roads, comply with the law, and call out those who do not.

Nicola Edgar is a Partner, Morton Fraser MacRoberts.