Memorandum by The Ramblers' Association
(RTS 10)
ROAD TRAFFIC SPEED
INTRODUCTION
1. The Ramblers' Association (RA) is a voluntary
organisation founded in 1935 whose aims are to promote walking,
to protect public rights of way, to campaign for access to open
country, and to defend the beauty of the countryside. It has over
130,000 individual members and 77,000 members of affiliated clubs
and societies. The Association believes that it is the largest
single organisation representing a group of vulnerable road users
and we are pleased to have the opportunity to submit evidence
to the committee.
2. As an organisation representing the interests
of walkers we are acutely aware that illegal and inappropriate
speed practices are both dangerous and severely detrimental to
the quality of life in both urban areas and the countryside. We
would urge the Committee not to limit its inquiry to the urban
situation. Speeding issues are just as significant in villages
and on country roads as they are in towns and cities.
3. In 1998, the General Council of the Association
(its policy making body) passed the following resolution:
Motor traffic on country roads
"This General Council notes with alarm
the 38 per cent increase in road traffic over the next 20 years
predicted in the recent National Road Traffic Forecasts (with
rural traffic likely to increase by as much as four times over
current levels).
If unchecked, the result will be a serious deterioration
in the quality of the countryside, and in particular, increased
danger for walkers, horse riders and cyclists using country lanes.
We therefore call upon the government:
(a) to support the Road Traffic Reduction
(UK Targets) Bill; and
(b) to urge and assist local authorities
to make more extensive use of their powers to make appropriate
speed limits on country roads and within villages, and to close
certain roads to vehicular traffic except for access, in the interest
of amenity and safety".
The reason that the Association is so concerned
about the traffic speed issue is that in many rural locations,
both in the countryside and within villages, roads do not have
footways. Pedestrians are therefore forced to walk within the
carriageway and to share that space with motorised vehicles. Beyond
the 30 mph zones of a village, that traffic may well be travelling
at the national speed limit and can take any form from an articulated
lorry to a motorbike. Within living memory it would have been
safe for walkers to move from the public rights of way network,
along a linking stretch of carriageway, and back onto the rights
of way network, but that is no longer the case. Within villages,
where in many cases it is not possible to provide a footway because
the houses open directly onto the road, people use cars to travel
very short distances simply because that appears to be a safer
option than attempting to walk along the road. It can become difficult
to even cross such roads to reach important facilities such as
schools or shops. Illegal and inappropriate speeds, by making
the walking environment dangerous and unpleasant, thus have the
effect of limiting choice of transport mode, and of encouraging
even greater use of private cars.
4. In accordance with our General council
resolution, the RA support the Charter for County lanes which
was developed by the Council for the Protection of Rural England
in 1998. This calls upon national and local government to:
— ensure lower speeds on country lanes
and reduce the speed limit of 60 mph to a maximum of 40 mph, with
20 mph limits in villages;
— introduce a new category of county
lane where walkers, cyclists and riders would have priority over
motorists, like Home Zones in urban areas;
— allow different styles of traffic
management schemes which suit the rural environment;
— stop the spread of new developments
which encourage traffic growth;
— provide real transport choice in
the countryside through better public transport and by providing
a safe environment for cycling, walking and riding.
5. The methods by which the problem of speeding
should be tackled in villages and the countryside will be different
to those employed in towns and cities. Lights, signs and bollards
are not appropriate everywhere and can contribute to the creeping
suburbanisatoin of the countryside. In particular we would recommend
that local authorities be given far greater flexibility in designing
traffic management schemes so that they can seek to avoid extensive
road lighting, repeater signs and traffic claming clutter. Other
measures could include strategic lorry networks to stop HGVs from
"rat-running".
6. In its submission to the Transport sub-committee
on the Ten Year Plan, the RA urged the amendment of the Plan so
as to reduce dependence on the car, rather than encourage it,
and to put far greater attention and resources towards improving
sustainable transport, and consequently improving the quality
of life for all. Limiting illegal speeding and introducing lower
speed limits is part of that same process, and should be part
of the integrated transport policy. Use of illegal and inappropriate
speeds serve to limit the freedom of those not using motorised
vehicles.
The Ramblers' Association
December 2001
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