Nigel Grainger brings together a related set of skills that all fleets require, to greater or lesser
degrees, but which may not have the staffing or the skills to fulfil those needs.
Bringing his wealth of experience in all areas of fleet management he offers a bespoke service through his company Fleet Risk Consultants, providing you with a cost effective fleet that complies fully with your 'duty of care' requirements.Is a road dangerous or is it the driver that is dangerous?
I have noticed an increase in the number of roads that are having the speed limit altered from a national speed limit to 50mph, or 40mph in some cases. I am led to believe that this change has been made to reduce speeds and make the road concerned safer for those travelling the road, but does it?
There are a couple of issues that are raised by this perceived reduction in speed. Firstly if people driving at high speed are felt to be the cause of the collisions, then a 10mph legal speed reduction is unlikely to have an effect on those who ignore speed limits as a matter of course. Also the smaller side roads leading of these major roads with perceived lower speeds are usually de-restricted roads with, for a car at least, a higher speed limit. This seems a little illogical to me.
I will concede that some of these roads have trees near to the carriageway and any opportunity to reduce the impact speed with the trees is a definite bonus, but is the reduction of the speed limit for cars the right way to go? Surely it would be better for the drivers to understand the repercussions of their actions and then drive at a speed that is suitable for the road and the conditions prevalent on that road.
This would again steer me towards the conclusion that most of the drivers on the UK’s roads are not skilled enough to drive, fail to perceive the risks or do not respect the dangers from using vehicles. This means that it is the education that needs to change, not the speed limit. Especially as it should be remembered that a speed LIMIT is just that a LIMIT, it is neither a target or a necessity.
You should always be driving at a speed that allows you to stop in the distance you can see to be safe or that allows you to react safely in the event of something happening. You should drive so that you can deal with those events that you expect, can reasonable expect or are unusual but predictable and recognisable.
So is it the road or the driver that is dangerous? I would venture that it is the driver on almost every occasion, but as a collision investigator I approach every collision with an open mind.
Nigel Grainger
Senior Consultant