.gif)
61% of drivers have admitted to driving at dangerously high speeds on motorways, with 23% doing so at least once a week, according to new research.
The survey of 942 drivers, carried out by Brake the road safety charity and Direct Line, also reveals that 54% are failing to leave a big enough gap between them and the vehicle in front, when driving on motorways.
Many drivers believe motorways are safer than other roads because there are fewer hazards such as pedestrians and cyclists. However, Brake points out that if a driver crashes on a motorway there is a 40% greater chance it will result in death or serious injury than on other types of road.
Julie Townsend, Brake’s campaigns director, said: “You might think you’re saving time, but if you speed on motorways you contribute to congestion, and increase your risk of a crash. For every mph you drive faster, you increase your stopping distance.
“We have all experienced jams caused by motorway crashes. Addressing motorway speeding is vital if we hope to tackle these deaths and injuries. It’s time we all acknowledged that speeding is not without its consequences – and committed to sticking to limits on motorways.”
For more information contact Ellen Booth, from Brake, on 01484 55006.
Most accidents are made worse by vehicles driving to close to the vehicles in front and this matter should be addressed in some way. possibly nationally on TV and radio etc.
From my own experience one of the reasons for this is that after overtaking a driver would possibly look in the nearside rear view mirror and judging the distance from the car just overtaken being sufficient will pull over in front of said overtaken car. However, many fail to realise the false distance indicated by this mirror, it may show a car say some 60ft behind but in fact that vehicle is only in reality 30ft behind. This obviously creates a dangerous tailgating situation. The only true indication of distance behind is the interior mirror as its the only one not manufactured to give false distance. Van drivers however do not have an interior mirror and are therefore much more likely to pull in front to close to the overtaken vehicle. The nearside one gives twice the correct distance and the offside one gives one and a half the correct distance. Maybe that’s why when in the offside lane a car will pull out in front. They believe that you are further away than you actually are.
I truly believe that the way mirrors are manufactured nowadays leads to not only more accidents but to bad driving and possibly road rage.
Bob Craven, Lancs
0