http://www.itv-motoring.com/news/2005/may/19/6145.asp
The Speeding Policeman
(19 May 05)
Yesterday's acquittal of PC Mark Milton, who had been caught driving at 159mph on the M54 near Telford, has sparked off quite a series of responses from organisations both for and against the current system of speed limits and their observance.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) is very critical of the decision. "We are shocked that speeds of 159mph are not regarded as dangerous by the court," says Head of Road Safety Kevin Clinton. "We are pleased to learn that the judge made it clear that police forces must implement proper management procedures for their high-speed driving activities.
"We think this should include an upper limit and we don't believe 159mph can ever be justified on public roads. Even in emergencies we consider that driving at 100mph or more is too dangerous.
"Police are governed by health and safety laws just the same as any other employer. They must have proper risk management procedures to ensure high speed driving only takes place when absolutely necessary and is always under the control of a manager in a control room and not left to the discretion of the individual officer driving the car.
"If a police force does not know when their officers are engaging in high speed driving, how on earth can they assess and control the risks this creates to the public and the officers themselves."
An opposing view is put forward by the Association of British Drivers, as explained by its Road Safety Spokesman Mark McArthur-Christie. "The UK's police drivers are some of the finest and best-trained in the country. They are capable of handling a car safely at very high speeds and under great stress. We're delighted that PC Milton has been allowed to walk free from court."
The Association also condemns what it calls the "hypocrisy in road safety policy that is seeing safe, law-abiding drivers fined and losing their licences". McArthur-Christie again: "Drivers are facing hard-line speed enforcement for speeds just a few mph over limits - often speed limits the local authority has lowered way below what is reasonable."
Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed campaign, also approves of the court's decision. "Here's a clear and proper admission that in suitable circumstances even 159mph need not be dangerous. If 159mph can be safe enough not to endanger the public, then surely this is a clear official admission that driving a few miles per hour over the speed limit isn't necessarily dangerous either."
"There is so much more to safe driving than speed. Any speed at all can be deadly, and any speed at all can be adequately safe if conditions are suitable."
"Road safety depends on drivers selecting safe and appropriate speeds according to the conditions and the vast majority of us do it well and do it safely. But erroneous official messages have been undermining the process and deaths are going up. We have to get back to the policies that gave us the safest roads in the world in the first place, long before speed cameras and the pointless obsession with numerical speed."
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