Road safety technology firm Westcotec is reinforcing its support for local authorities across Scotland as the nation considers sweeping changes to the speed limits on its roads.
Westcotec is expanding its operations in Scotland by establishing a base at Roadside Technologies’ premises near Glasgow and forging a strategic partnership with digital technology experts, Telent, to harness the expertise of local engineers.
Already proven in Wales, Westcotec’s advanced range of switchable 20-30-40 speed signs are described as ideally suited to supporting Scotland’s evolving speed management needs.
Westcotec says these signs can be deployed ahead of any speed limit changes to collect essential speed data and, once new limits are introduced, the signs seamlessly transition to display the new speed.
Meanwhile, Westcotec’s recently-launched Westconnect platform allows authorities to monitor speed differentials and driver compliance in real time.
Olly Samways, Westcotec sales director, said: “Westcotec is committed to working hand-in-hand with Scottish local authorities to deliver safer roads for all, and we applaud the bold moves currently being considered in Scotland.
“By leveraging our proven technology and local partnerships, we aim to provide tailored, data-driven solutions that support Scotland’s ambitious road safety goals.”
Gary Bray, Roadside Technologies’ commercial director, said: “Roadside Technologies is excited to build on the strategic partnership we announced with Westcotec last year by supporting their expansion across Scotland.
“Together, we are well positioned to help Scotland deliver on its ambitious road safety agenda and make a meaningful difference to communities across the country.”
Hugh
My views are very much based on the real world, as captured on my dashcam.
With regard to flashing speed signs, you must have seen ‘boy racers’ seeing how fast they can get them to display? I have. Another unintended consequence.
I believe the displays were changed to show TOO FAST or a sad red face above a threshold to discourage such behaviour.
Please advise me of what you believe to be an implausible scenario.
Eric Bridgstock, St Albans
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The pre-existing chevrons and bend sign were obviously not working Eric..on the other hand, the flashing warning sign did.
Generally, considering your views on speed mangement over the years, I can only suggest you get out there and spend more time studying speed and driver behaviour at different locations i.e. the real world, rather than come up with implausible scenarios to back up your claims.
Hugh Jones, South Wirral
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Hugh
I suggest that hi-viz chevrons and a bend sign would have been cheaper and more effective.
And what about the unintended consequences of the lowered speed limit?
The speed limit of the rural B-road between St Albans and Sandridge was reduced from 60 to 40, and then a fatal collision resulted from a ‘dangerous overtake manoeuvre’ (coroner quote). Overtaking is prompted by someone wanting to make more progress than the vehicle in front. Reducing the limit would lead to more examples of that situation, and hence increasing the likelihood of collisions, many fatal.
Any road safety intervention needs to prevent more collisions than it causes.
The case for speed management interventions remains weak and flawed.
Eric Bridgstock, St Albans
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After all that though Eric, there are still too many drivers out there who cannot judge a safe speed for themselves….how do you explain that?
For example, for many years my local rural ‘B’ road was a national speed limit road and quite regularly, drivers, would did not know any better, attempted to go around one of the the bends too fast and took out the picket fence fronting the house on the corner. “Driver’s experience, maturity, concentration, observation and judgement of the prevailing conditions and hazards” as you put it, didn’t seem to help there.
A 40 limit was introduced many, many years ago coupled with a VAS sign triggering at about 35 mph on the approach to the bend and.. no more incidents! Speed management in action!
Observe driver behaviour at one of these signs for an hour or so and you’ll see what I mean.
Hugh Jones, South Wirral
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Hugh
As I posted on another article recently (slightly amended here) …
Driving involves positioning a vehicle relative to the road layout and other road users, proceeding at an appropriate speed, in the appropriate gear, and monitoring and adjusting those using the steering wheel, pedals and other controls, in response to hazards. It also involves observing, and signalling intent to other road users. Good drivers develop the ability to do all of these instinctively and even poor drivers manage to do most of them fairly well most of the time.
Speed is an OUTPUT from the driving process – a mostly intuitive response based on the driver’s experience, maturity, concentration, observation and judgement of the prevailing conditions and hazards. It is likely to be a weakness in those driver attributes that is the root cause of any incident.
‘Speed management’ focuses a disproportionate amount of attention on that one instinctive aspect of driving – speed – reducing the time and attention available for the others. The consequence is that the driver’s assessment of conditions is distorted. When most collisions involve misjudgement, poor observation or a lack of concentration, it is inevitable that interventions such as speed enforcement will have a detrimental effect on drivers’ judgement and attention, increasing risk to all road users, and contributing to more accidents than they could ever prevent.
Road safety by speed management has been failing the UK for years.
Road safety will improve, and road casualties will reduce (road deaths rose last year) when drivers are given information about hazards rather than being a given a speed not to exceed.
‘Personal speed management’ cannot be a conscious decision.
Eric Bridgstock, St Albans
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I do believe at last we’re (almost) reading from the same sheet Eric!
Obviously as you say, poor concentration, poor observation, and many other driver failings play a part (you omitted misjudgment and distraction).. I didn’t mention them because I thought it was taken as read, however couple them with excessive speed and you have a potential lethal combination. The problem is, we can do something about curtailing speed, but the other factors are bit more difficult to address, but if we can eliminate the speed bit from the equation it’s a solution. You’re right about those other factors being relevant.. over the years I spoke to many, many speeders and almost everyone admitted to poor concentration and observation in particular and alarmingly, that their minds were not on their driving at the time of their offence. Some clearly did not have the mindset nor the skillset to drive at anything other than what would have been the norm for the road at the time.
As a driver yourself, I would imagine like me you drive defensively which is the key to collision avoidance and I presume you understand that personal speed management (for want of a better phrase) is absolutely vital for defensive driving. The more we can encourage that, the better.
Hugh Jones, South Wirral
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Hugh
You have a disturbingly narrow view of road safety and accident causation.
A driver being ‘unable to stop in time’ could be due to many things not related to speed. Poor observation, poor concentration, distraction (eg by phone or other road activity), drink/drugs, etc, etc.
I posit that those causes are far more likely to be the cause than driving too fast within the prescribed limit, and hence a speed intervention would be useless.
Note that I say ‘within the prescribed limit’ because if they were exceeding the prescribed limit there is no reason why they would heed a speed intervention.
Eric Bridgstock, St Albans
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You would have to go through all the collision records to do that Eric, and find some collisions where the driver was unable to stop in time through going too fast and then rewind slightly to imagine what speed management intervention would have slowed him or her down such as a VAS for example, as per the article.
Since retiring many years ago, I obviously no longer have access to collision records, so I’ll leave that with you to investigate further somehow, for the answer.
Hugh Jones, South Wirral
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Hugh,
Again, you misinterpret what I say.
No need to imagine collisions not happening.
My challenge is to find a collision that actually happened, where through analysis of the causes and other factors, you can establish whether a previously deployed speed intervention could credibly have prevented it.
To give an example, if the driver was drunk/drugged, or using his phone, or fell asleep, then no such link would be found.
This is basic safety analysis – identify root causes and address them.
Eric Bridgstock, St Albans
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Unfortunately, records of collisions that did not happen are not kept by the authorities, so we will just have to use our imagination to picture those collisions that did not happen because the driver(s) had been induced to drive slower than they otherwise would have done. Some time spent observing traffic at a junction for example would show this, or perhaps a busy urban road with plenty of vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists etc.
Hugh Jones, South wirral
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Hugh
You miss my point.
My question was ‘Can you drive SAFELY with a broken speedometer?’ I deliberately avoided the issue of speed limits and legality.
Virtually all drivers can drive SAFELY, according to the conditions, without a speedometer.
In fact, you inadvertently highlight someone driving with CAUTION and FEAR because of speed considerations. Those factors do not automatically contribute to safe driving.
Speed management ‘tools’ introduce artificial constraints that distract drivers and negatively affect road safety.
Eric Bridgstock, St Albans
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I think with a broken speedometer people would actually drive slower and safer rather than merely safely, as they would err on the side of caution for fear of being caught over the limit. An excelllent speed management tool for the future perhaps..no speedometers on cars!
Hugh Jones, South Wirral
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Once again, speed management is being is being presented as an [expensive] way of making the roads safer.
Until someone presents a collision that would credibly not have happened had a speed intervention (cameras, lower limit, humps, etc) previously been implemented, there is no reason to believe that any such intervention can or will prevent collisions or casualties.
It’s good business for Westcotec but it’s not good for road safety.
The link between speed and safety is weak. Can you drive safely with a broken speedometer? Yes, of course you can.
Eric Bridgstock, St Albans
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