PR590: Running Dry - includes The Highway Code in 100 words

news: for immediate release
==========================
Lights, Camera, No Action

We are delighted that Swindon Council have been able to finally start to restore
some sense to the roads of
Swindon.

We do expect that this will take some time to show up in the figures, but we are
totally confident that as the bad
side effects of Speed Camera's start to wear off, and education improves, people
will find the return to being
responsible behind the wheel is a very comfortable and proud place to be. To no
longer be obsessed with driving
to a specific speed, but instead to drive responsibly by concentrating fully on
the road ahead.

Claire says "Road Safety Absolutely Depends, on drivers choosing appropriate
speeds that are appropriate to the
conditons 100% of the time. We need drivers that once again "drive, in a manner,
so that they can stop in the
distance that they can see to be clear in". To clarify 'Clear' we mean, that all
prevailing conditions are fully
accounted for, and that all the drivers skills and knowledge, have been totally
satisified, that their progress is
appropriate and suitable."

"A driver who concentrates, has good observation, anticipates the road ahead,
and has good all round space
and time to react, is one that is never likely to have a problem on the road. A
driver that is 'fit for purpose'."

"A camera, no matter how many there are, or how disproportionate their
enforcement is, can never provide this
level of safety on the road".

Safe Speed's Driver's, Highway Code we recommend to all drivers everywhere...

(With every edition the Highway Code gets bigger. The latest edition recently
published, has swelled to 133 pages. The Safe Speed campaign says that this
'bloat' is causing the essential safety messages to get lost and has produced
their own version of the Highway Code in just 100 words.)

Safe Speed's Highway Code in exactly 100 words:
===========================================================
Drive on the left. Make sure you can see and be seen. Keep a constant look out
all around. Be aware of signs and regulations and why they are there. Be
predictable.

Recognise and anticipate danger and keep clear space from it. Always ensure
that you can stop within the distance that you know is clear. Develop your
skills.

Give courtesy, co-operation and space to others. Don't obstruct them.

Never take risks, drive unfit or compete with others.

Safety is paramount and far more important than priority. Take personal
responsibility for your safety and the safety of those nearby.

Enjoy.

www.safespeed.org.uk
===========================================================

Safe Speed co-founder Claire Armstrong explained: "We're not seriously
suggesting that
the official Highway Code should be replaced with just 100 words of advice to
drivers, but the reason we have done this is deadly serious. We need to point
out to Department for Transport that they have lost sight of the essential
foundations of road safety, and their new Highway Code further loses sight of
these foundations in a morass of rules."

"You cannot replace skilled human judgement with a rule book - however big it is
- but that's exactly what Department for Transport is trying to do."

"Our Highway Code even includes things that the official version does not. For
a start it reminds people that road use can be enjoyable. Without that enjoyment
we wouldn't have the interest to
develop the skills that safe use of the roads requires."

"Another problem is that the Highway Code tells us what to do, but not how to
decide when it is safe. We need to
recognise danger and develop our skills for that."

"We hope that these founding principles will help road users everywhere - not
just drivers - to focus on what's important and stay out of trouble."

"Some of the statements may not be immediately obvious to inexperienced road
users, but all the common crash causes are covered. When we get it right we
don't crash - but in order to get it right we need the right beliefs, the right
skills and the right attitude. When things go wrong - think back to your last
incident - and you'll probably be able to recognise the cause of the incident
in those 100 words. Did you fail to spot the danger? Did you take a risk
knowingly? Were you unfit through tiredness, drink or drugs?"

"Use this code, learn from your mistakes and use the roads as safely as you
possibly can. It's enjoyable to do so."

<ends>

Notes for editors
=================

Safe Speed's "Highway Code in 100 words" is copyright but a free licence is
granted for any use in any medium PROVIDED THAT the origin is acknowledged.

About Safe Speed
================
The Safe Speed road safety campaign is primarily the work of engineer-turned
road safety analyst Paul Smith.

Since setting up Safe Speed in 2001, Paul Smith, 50, an advanced motorist and
road safety enthusiast, and a professional engineer of 25 years UK experience,
has carried out over 10,000 hours working on the campaign with well over 5,000
of those hours researching the overall effects of speed camera policy on UK
road safety. In addition to those 10,000 hours, Paul has funded the campaign.

We believe that this is more work in more detail than anything carried out by
any other organisation. Paul's surprising conclusion is that overall speed
cameras make our roads more dangerous. Paul has identified and reported a
number of major flaws and false assumptions in the claims made for speed
cameras, and the whole "speed kills" system of road safety.

The inescapable conclusion is that we should urgently return to the excellent
road safety policies that gave us in the UK the safest roads in the World in
the first place. Far from saving lives, speed cameras are a dangerous
distraction.

Safe Speed does not campaign against speed limits or appropriate enforcement
of motoring laws, but argues vigorously that automated speed enforcement is
neither safe nor appropriate.

Safe Speed is funded by voluntary contributions to the web site.
We are urgently seeking improved funding.

The Safe Speed web site contains more than 350,000 words of road safety
analysis and information. We are seeking publishers for 'the book of the web
site'.

It has turned out to be quite an amazing story and there are opportunities for
journalists and broadcasters to explore, how all this came about, what it
means, and where road safety has gone so badly wrong.

==================
Since Pauls tragic demise in Dec 2007, Claire Armstrong, Pauls partner,
continues Safe Speed.
==================

Contact Safe Speed:
------------------------------------
description: Safe Speed road safety campaign
web: http://www.safespeed.org.uk
email: carmstrong@...
telephone: TEMP 01379 741374
(01862 893030)
mobile: 07799 045553 & 07721 331991

Location: (TEMP : Norfolk)
North Scotland

We are always available for further comment on your road safety story.

To be added to our PR distribution list send an email to
carmstrong@... or visit our press pages at:
http://www.safespeed.org.uk/prindex.html

Recent press releases (since November 2004) are automatically and immediately
uploaded to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SafeSpeedPR