RACQ survey shows alarming driver attitude to speed
24 Oct 2012
Almost three quarters of Queensland drivers admit to exceeding the speed limit and around half say speed cameras only slow them down temporarily, according to new member research by the State’s peak motoring body.
A recent survey of RACQ members revealed that 71 percent of motorists don’t stick to the speed limit, exceeding it more than four times a month.
RACQ Executive General Manager Advocacy Paul Turner said speed was a major contributing factor to crashes and crash severity.
“On average, 21.3 percent of members say they always drive 1-5km/h over the speed limit regardless of what the limit is,” Mr Turner said.
“Almost four percent of members admit they also speed through 40 km/h school zones.
“Motorists need to remember that speeding is not only illegal but incredibly unsafe. Speed limits are there for a reason and it’s worrying to see so many Queensland motorists admit to exceeding them so often.”
The survey also found that 83.9 percent of RACQ members agreed that speeding was a problem, while 72 percent said it was a bigger problem now than it was five years ago.
“The main reason motorists speed is to ‘keep up with other traffic’, with many believing other road users drive significantly faster than they do,” Mr Turner said.
When it came to curbing their lead-foot ways, 51 percent of members said speed cameras were only effective in slowing them down temporarily, but did not affect their general driving speed.
“More than 84 percent of our members say marked on-road police patrols are most effective in slowing drivers down, followed by officers using hand-held speed cameras (73.8%) and combination fixed speed/red light cameras (71%),” Mr Turner said.
“Like our members, we’d like to see an increased on-road police presence to not only help enforce speed limits, but to put a stop to other unsafe road behaviours.
“But drivers also need to take responsibility for their own actions and slow down. Speed limits are the maximum allowed for a section of road under good conditions, not a minimum speed.”
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| The RACQ's Paul Turner makes a startling revelation. |
COMMENT: The RACQ's man-of-the moment Paul Turner has come up with the absolutely startling revelation - wait for it - that speed is a major contributing factor to road crashes! Paul, we don't want to be the first to tell you this, but since motorised cars replaced the horse and buggy, speed had always held this dubious distinction. But thanks for your awsesome announcement anyway. More importantly, however, is the statistical data in the media announcement above. It shows percentages but not the numbers of respondents. Are the figures statistically reliable? What is the sample? Did 21.3% of all RACQ members say they always drive 1-5 kph over the speed limit OR just 21.3% of those who responded? The difference could be in the tens or even hundreds of thousands. The RACQ owes it to the people of Queensland to come clean on these "statistics".
