Action Briefing Feb 2003 - Mar 2004
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Kill your speed, not a child!

"Why does New Labour hate the motorist?" This inane question has been cropping up in the populist press with a depressing regularity over the past few months, as drivers purportedly reach the end of their tether with safety cameras, traffic wardens and "punitive" speeding fines. Some tabloids were even running their own campaigns to have cameras ripped down!

The media attempt to rationalise this madness by championing the "decent", "honest" and "law abiding" members of society who are being landed with speeding fines by the police who view them as a soft target. Right-wing commentators mutter darkly about "big brother-style surveillance". "And what’s wrong with breaking the speed limit by just a few mph?" they cry.

Well for one thing they are breaking the law; the speed limit is a maximum, not the speed which they should be aiming to reach! Many people are unaware of the stark statistic that a pedestrian hit by a car travelling at 35mph is twice as likely to die as one hit at 30mph, so a small increase in speed really does make a difference.

Too often little thought is given to the victims of speeding traffic, such as those who are put in danger by excessive speed, communities which are split by fast roads and who have to live with the misery day in day out. What about them? Too bad if you have to live on these streets or have to walk or cycle along them!

Plagued
It was high time then that the other side of the story was heard, so on Wednesday 10th December 2003 a national day of action on traffic speeds was staged by Transport 2000 and the Slower Speeds Initiative to highlight the plight of people plagued by speeding traffic. Birmingham Friends of the Earth teamed up with Transport 2000 West Midlands and groups of local residents from some of the worst affected streets in Birmingham to hold demonstrations and get the message across that speeding is unacceptable, that more speed cameras really are needed, and that 20mph speed limits in residential roads should be the norm.

Three roads staged demonstrations - Quarry Lane and Great Stone Road in Northfield and Poplar Road in Bearwood. All three roads are very different. Poplar Road is a narrow one way street of terraced houses close to the road and is often used as a rat-run for traffic from Hagley Road to Bearwood. Quarry Lane is a winding stretch up a hill with several blind corners and, in places, no footpath. Great Stone Road is used as short cut from the busy Bristol Road to Bunbury Road and the A4040.

Despite the icy weather, there was a fantastic turn out of residents, and the mock speed camera which James and I assembled certainly turned a few heads and prompted a few passing drivers to kill their speed. The placards said it all: "20 Now!", "Kill your speed not a child!"

Unnacceptable
The day of action received national as well as local news coverage and certainly helped to drive home the message that speeding should be viewed as just as socially unacceptable as drink driving. It also stirred people into thinking about the value of a default limit of 20mph on residential roads; this would reduce accidents on these roads by 60% on average.

Area wide 20mph limits (covering 65-85% of an urban road network) have been shown in Europe to be the single most important measure in promoting walking and cycling. Perhaps Birmingham could take a lead on this and show other British cities the benefits of area wide 20mph limits . . .

Perhaps the ultimate answer is for all vehicles to be fitted with intelligent speed limiters, which are activated depending on the type of road being used. For more information see: Transport2000.org.uk and Slower-speeds.org.uk

Martin Stride

Speeding: facts and figures

• A child pedestrian hit by a car travelling at 20mph has a 95% chance of survival; at 30mph a 50% chance; and at 40mph a 10% chance.
  
• The Association of Chief Police Officers says that speed is the most important factor in road crashes, more so than even drink or drug driving.
  
• A “poll of polls”conducted by Transport 2000 in November 2003, showed that the results of 6 surveys averaged 74% support for cameras.
  
• There have to have been at least 4 deaths or serious injury collisions over the past 3 years for a fixed camera to be sited. Each camera is reviewed every year to see if it is still necessary.
  
• In 2002, 3431 people lost their lives on our roads and 179 of the dead were children.
  
• In Birmingham alone, 600 people a year are killed or seriously injured on city roads.
  

Take Action
Both Labour and the Conservatives are consulting on speed limits and safety cameras. These are hot political issues at the moment and you can bet that the anti-camera lobby will be responding. We need to counter the disproportionate attention they receive in the media.

The Transport section of Labour's ‘Big Conversation’ document has a section on reviewing speed limits and enforcements. Visit www.bigconversation.org.uk/index.php?id=696 Deadline for comments: mid March at the latest.

The Conservatives are also looking at the issue of safety cameras and speed limits, but can't seem to resist the temptation to exploit the tabloid hysteria surrounding speed cameras in a sad effort to look like the friend of the motorist. They are quoted as saying they will remove “1000’s” of cameras, and abolish the Safety Cameras Partnerships (SCP), which site and maintain the cameras locally. They are also looking at increasing speed limits on some roads but reducing them on others. Please send your contributions by the 13th February 2004 to Damian Green MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A OAA.