Let's nail this speed lie

Got a road safety problem? Blame speed. Need a scapegoat for rising death tolls on the roads? Blame bikes. Nice and easy. And fatuous too.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t all try to ride safer, train harder and think quicker to protect ourselves. But it is showing a cavalier disregard for the true causes of accidents.
Speed is the big stick they keep beating us over the head with. And let’s face it speed and bikes are linked. But recent official stats (and you’ll find more of them in next week’s MCN) show that riding or driving in excess of the speed limit is the cause of only around four per cent of all road accidents in the UK.
No wonder Gatsos are having no impact on accident rates then. All they do is spot when you go over the limit, not when you’re using inappropriate speed, riding like an ass or drink driving. You need traffic cops for that – and there are fewer and fewer of them about.
Those dwindling numbers of traffic cops that are out there in "camera safety" vans (one of life’s great misnomers it appears) are manning a device that triggers automatically based on how much over the speed limit you are going, with no trace of judgement about how that speed is being used. So, they are working on reducing the four per cent of accidents caused by going over the speed limit while little is done about the 96 per cent of other accidents.
Only this week we’ve reported on a road in Scotland where they have cut their bike accident rate from 12 (including two deaths and 15 injuries) in three years to zero in the next three. They didn’t put up speed cameras. They put up a few hazard warning signs. Why isn’t every other council and police force following suit?
Those who are really serious about road safety now know Gatsos have little real impact on saving lives. They know there are alternatives that do work. What are they waiting for?