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THE SPEEDING DRIVER: WHO, HOW AND WHY?

CHAPTER ELEVEN COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS STUDIES, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS STUDIES

11.1 A core purpose of this Report was to establish, for the Scottish Road Safety Campaign, "whether, in the light of various anti-speeding initiatives over the last few years, public attitudes towards speeding have changed". Comparison is thus made in this Section between responses to common questions asked of respondents in 1991 (Waterton, 1992), in 1994 (Market Research Scotland, 1994) and in the household survey of drivers in the current study (Chapters 6 to 10: data collected 2002).

11.2 The current study reported respondents' frequency of speeding and other infringements, using exactly the same wording of items as had been used in the two earlier studies. Table 11.1 makes the comparison between the proportions of Scottish drivers who said they 'Never' undertook each behaviour in each of the three studies.

Table 11.1: Proportions of Scottish drivers who 'Never' undertook each driving infringement in three surveys

11.3 The final column of Table 11.1 indicates whether levels of commission of these aberrant driving behaviours has got better, got worse, or stayed the same over the last decade. Levels of refraining from drinking and driving - even when 'you think you are OK' - have improved considerably from 66% abstention to 78%. The bulk of this improvement occurred between the first two surveys, with an elevation from two-thirds (66%) to three-quarters (75%) between 1991 and 1994.

11.4 Levels of commission of other aberrant behaviours have also reduced. Only a half of Scottish drivers now own to carrying out a manoeuvre without signalling, only a third to ever close following, only 1 in 7 (14%) own to ever speeding up when being overtaken. Levels of red-light running and overtaking on the inside remain much the same. But for three of the 12, behaviour has got worse. One of these, crossing a continuous white line, took a sharp dip from 1991 to 1994 though has since somewhat recovered. The other two behaviours which show higher levels of commission both involve driving in excess of the 70mph speed limit.

11.5 For ease of comparison, the figures relating to speeding in 70mph areas and in 30mph zones are abstracted in Table 11.2.

Table 11.2: Changes in speeding behaviour in 70mph and 30mph zones across 3 surveys

11.6 It is clear that while excessive, though not excess, speed in built-up areas has dramatically reduced across the last decade amongst Scottish drivers with 4 in 5 (82%) currently saying they 'Never' drive at 50mph in a 30mph zone, speeding behaviour on the motorways and dual carriageways continues to increase. In 1991 36% said they 'Never' drove at 10mph above the speed limit and in 2002 this figure had fallen to 29%. In 1991 65% said they 'Never' drove at 90mph on motorways, in 2002 this figure was down to 58%. So excessive speeding in town is down, but both excess and excessive speeding on motorways and dual carriageways is up.

11.7 Have attitudes to speed limits changed during this period? Table 11.3 shows attitudes to speed limits on motorways, and Table 11.4 attitudes to speed limits on 'other roads' in each of the three surveys.

Table 11.3: Attitudes to speed limits on motorways across three surveys

Table 11.4: Attitudes to speed limits on other roads across three surveys

11.8 Both tables show that attitudes to speed limits have scarcely changed amongst Scottish motorists between 1991 and 2002.

11.9 Table 11.5 compares experience of and attitude to speed cameras across the decade.

Table 11.5: Exposure and attitude to speed cameras across three surveys

11.10 As speed and other safety cameras proliferate across the UK, the number of Scottish motorists who have 'seen speed cameras in Scotland' rose from just over half (54%) in 1991, to almost all (96%) in 2002. And during this period, despite the proliferation, and the concomitant rise in the number and proportion of Scottish drivers caught speeding by speed camera, the level of support remained high, only drifting down from 80% to 75% during the period of the three surveys.

11.11 Table 11.6 shows the levels of support for road safety engineering measures during the same period.

Table 11.6: Attitude to road safety engineering measures across three surveys

11.12 There has been a remarkable rise in levels of support for road safety engineering measures across the decade. Those in favour of road narrowings and gateways has risen from 1 in 6 (15%) to two-thirds (68%). Those expressing support for road humps or 'sleeping policemen' to reduce speed of passage has risen from a half (53%) to three-quarters (76%), despite an initial fall between 1991 and 1994. Where in 1991 1 in 5 (22%) of Scottish drivers supported 20mph speed limit areas, in 2002 6 out of 7 (86%) do.

CONCLUSIONS

11.13 This Report on 'The Speeding Driver - Who, How and Why?' has generated a large number of findings about the currently profile of speeding drivers in Scotland. This final section will not rehearse all these findings, the most salient of which are abstracted from the detail of the Chapters and listed in the Executive Summary, but will give an overview of causes, consequences and possible remedies.

11.14 This Report has shown that during the last decade there have been some changes in Scottish drivers' speeding behaviour. The frequency with which drivers say they drive at excessive speed in built-up areas - more than 20 mph above the speed limit - has fallen, but the level of excess speed - 10 mph above the speed limit - remains unchanged and the levels of excess and excessive speed on fast roads out of town have increased.

11.15 During the last decade there have been some changes in Scottish drivers' speed related attitudes. In particular, support for hard engineering measures in urban settings has increased dramatically, suggesting that as drivers become more familiar with constraints they adapt their attitudes to them. Over the same period, though, some speed related attitudes - to speed limits, to speed cameras, for example - have remained unchanged.

11.16 Many of the patterns of road use have also remained essentially unchanged. Males still tend to drive larger engined cars, to drive higher annual mileages, to drive more often on motorways and on rural 'A' roads and to drive more often as part of their work, though not to commute to work by car more. And only for motorways do they do better at knowing the prevailing speed limit.

11.17 Drivers are attached to their cars and the possibilities that they offer. They encourage and maintain particular patterns of household location, work, leisure and familial and social networks. But they also enable drivers to speed.

11.18 Many, though not all, drivers speed. At the broadest level of analysis, drivers will exceed the speed limit if they have the opportunity to, feel the obligation to, or cannot resist the inclination to. The type of road they are driving on, the type of car they drive and the present road, weather and traffic conditions provide different opportunities for speeding. Felt obligations and responsibilities to those awaiting them at their destination and, for some, to the transient others with whom they are presently sharing the road, influence their speed choice. Inclinations to drive fast vary systematically with age and, to a lesser and decreasing extent, with gender.

11.19 Again, at the broadest level, reducing speeding behaviour requires reducing the opportunities that facilitate fast driving, reducing the lifestyle obligations that cause drivers to speed up, and modifying inclinations to speed by enhancing the power to resist them. The first is, in principle, straightforward: change cars and roads. Price and status differentials between different makes and models of cars could be preserved, and cars remain attractive, even if none were capable of speeds substantially in excess of the maximum statutory permitted velocity. Making highways safe and comfortable to drive on - a smooth and quiet surface, long bends with a smooth camber, good sightlines - also makes them attractive to speed on.

11.20 Reducing the presses to speed from time and schedule pressure where behaviour is ruled by timetables, appointments and arrangements entered into would also be difficult, requiring a general reduction in the pace of modern life. Recognising and resisting the perceived pressure to 'keep up' with the traffic around you is not easy, just as overcoming any habitual behaviour supported by social norms requires hard, and sometime seemingly thankless, expenditure of effort.

11.21 The inclination to speed remains. Amongst female drivers access to faster cars and the potential for the enjoyment of speed is increasing. Amongst males, the thrill of speed - and the pleasure of a fast bend nicely judged - may not decrease with age. For example the middle-aged male driver interviewed in this study who told of the combination of opportunity, obligation and inclination which drove his driving:

".. around here .. we're all fast - it's no accident that [well known Formula 1 driver] comes from eight miles that way and [well known rally driver] comes from eight miles that way, you know? We are in an area with exceptionally good roads, exceptionally quiet roads and quite long distances - and we all drive like lunatics. .. The thing that would really make me slow down is if I killed someone".

11.22 Let us hope it does not come to that. To change a person's behaviour requires either changing the person or changing the conditions under which they operate. Restraint or constraint? There are possibilities for some degree of both. As this Report evidenced, many people drive as part of their work. Removing pressures to exceed the speed limit while driving as part of your work would enable many to slow down. This could be achieved by legislation, by guidance and by example from central and local government as employers, constraining the speeding behaviour of a substantial portion of those on the roads. Recent initiatives, such as RoSPA's training programme for Managing Occupational Road Risk, and the recent involvement of HSE in addressing this problem, have led the way.

11.23 As to the restraint of behaviour, the most sustainable changes are those that the individual can integrate into their habitual behaviour and patterns of life. Publicity can provide the background, attempting to move social norms, and the SRSC's recent theory-based Foolsspeed advertising received acclamation from professionals and recognition from viewers in this study. But long-lasting changes are best brought about through providing willing recipients with manageable procedures for changing behaviour and maintaining those changes.

11.24 There is public support. In a recent RAC Report on Motoring (RAC Foundation, 2002) 57% of a UK national sample agreed with the statement that 'All drivers should receive periodic refresher training'. And over half of those agreeing thought such refresher training should take place every five or ten years.

11.25 Refresher training could be incident-based or duration-based. Drivers involved in Road Traffic Accidents need help. Drivers picking up speeding fines and penalty points are in need of help. Both incidents should lead to the offer of remedial training. Where an offence has been committed, offender pays for their own remediation.

11.26 This study has identified that speeders have a higher likelihood of crash involvement. Those drivers who have come to the attention of the enforcement authorities through having been stopped by the police for speeding or flashed by a speed camera had double the incidence of recent accident involvement. Particular road behaviours and speeding proclivities associated with crash involvement were identified for male drivers and for female drivers. The content of any remedial training courses established in the future could be informed by such findings. We now have a good understanding of the causes of speeding, and of which aspects identify 'crash magnets'. The best way reduce their risk is to adjust their driving styles.

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