Speed is only a minor factor in total road tolls

It was with interest that I read about the current operation by the police to catch speeders. The claim that enforcing speed limits would save over 6,000 lives EU wide is just not borne out by the facts.

RoSPA estimate that speed is the cause of about 2% of accidents. That leaves 98% of accidents caused by other factors, such as poor driving skills, unroadworthy vehicles, driving without due care and attention, to name just a few.

The problem is we like to measure the factors that are measurable, and speed is one of these, whereas poor driving skills is not. How many times have we witnessed an overtake on a blind bend, but within the speed limit?

The police were present in Peyia forest recently enforcing a speed limit in a rural area where there are no pedestrians, but give the gentle nature of one of the bends and the 50kph speed limit it must have been like shelling peas.

Does this make our roads safer? So what about the motorcycles that are so often seen in the town ‘doing a wheelie’ on the road or footpath, but keeping to the speed limit?

Is there any offence? It appear not, or the police would add that to their list. Certainly speed will enhance the effect of a collision, but let’s not get brain washed into thinking it is the only problem we have on the roads.

Peter G. Davis,
Droushia, Paphos

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.