Essex: Calls To Cut Rural Speed Limits

23 January 2014, 06:16 | Updated: 23 January 2014, 06:19

Councillor James Abbott says it is too dangerous to drive at 60mph on some rural roads

A Green Party County Councillor is calling for speed limits on Essex's country and rural roads to be cut from 60 miles an hour, to 40.

Councillor James Abbott says it will make the county's roads safer and save lives. 

Councillor Abbott, who lives in the village of Rivenhall, told Heart: "Many of these roads are simply not safe to drive 60 miles an hour on. 

"Unfortunately there are some drivers who do not drive to the conditions, I've lived in Rivenhall for over 20 years and about once every two or three weeks someone will come flying off the road and smash into someone's property or go bouncing across a field. 

"We've seen motorcyclists come off and go flying through the air, we've seen a lot of people injured, bleeding, cars smashed up, one car on fire one year, and we're not alone. 

"It's not acceptable. We need that lower default speed limit so the police can say 'no, I'm sorry you were going too fast, we're going to take action against you'." 

According to County Council figures, the number of people killed or seriously injured on Essex's roads has fallen by almost 10 percent since 2010, from 658 to 602 and the authority says it is safer than ever to drive around the county. 

However, that is not something Councillor Abbott buys into. He said: "The fact is that hundreds of people every year are killed or seriously injured on the roads of Essex and thousands are otherwise injured.

"That number is only coming down very slowly, and in fact if you project that into the future we could still be talking about people being killed or seriously injured on the roads of Essex at the end of this century. 

"Our primary focus must be a transport system that's safe. I'm sure there'll still be crashes but if you crash at 30 or 40 you are far more likely to survive and cause less damage than if you crash at 60 or 70." 

In response, Essex County Council says it has no plans to change its policy on speed limits.