Introduction
Speed, just as alcohol is one of the most significant contributors to road accidents all over the world. Law enforcers have for a long time been ensuring that motorist adheres to speed limits and other traffic regulations by even requiring speed limiters be installed in some classes of vehicles. However, a lot needs to be done to eradicate deaths due to speeding on roads. This makes it ironical to oppose the implementation of these vital traffic regulations.
Speeding has been said to help save fuel as well as time lost in slow speeding. However, my opinion is that it will not save anything worth the lives that could be lost in accidents. Instead, speed limits should be more vigorously enforced and publicized to ensure compliance.
Discussion
According to a World Health Organization report, speeding remains a significant problem in the roads, and if nothing is done to reduce it, the casualty rates could go up by 65% by the time we get to 2020.
These rates can triple if traffic officers relaxed in ensuring that speeding is curbed in our roads. Roads are engineered in a way to ensure that motorists can drive safely up to maximum speed under average conditions of weather.
Surpassing this maximum speed not only endangers the victim, the passengers and pedestrians, but other motorists using the road at the time. Therefore, law enforcers should be vigilant to deal with these cases. Speed limits can also be restructured in some roads to make them more reasonable by reducing the maximum speed as well as raising the minimum speed.
More sophisticated gadgets such as the automated speed cameras that have quick number plate readers have proved to be more helpful when it comes to dealing with speeding.
These accompanied by the normal speed limit signs help in consistently ensuring traffic moves hence reducing collisions. Instead of letting motorists justify their speeding, law enforcers need to instill the culture of adhering to speed limits among the communities.
Awareness should be created on the benefits of adhering to the speed limits so that motorists realize that they are also doing it for the communities around. Vehicle emissions, noise, and vibrations are some of the problems to the society brought about by the ignorance of the speed limits.
If the speeding behavior could be discouraged among the people, we would have drivers that are more responsible in our roads which can stick within the speed limits. However, it is not that easy for a community that is used to speeding without considering the ill effects to change.
Members in such a community do not even notice the speed limit signs; hence speeding is always justified for them. Such communities need a lot of awareness and education on road accident documented facts to make the change their culture. Pedestrians also need to be made aware of the traffic laws and the risks involved in crossing roads.
They can also help in reporting cases where traffic laws are broken. These speed limits need to be embraced and not seen as ways of delaying us in the traffic. As indicated above, the effectiveness of speed limits can only be observed with other measures such as public awareness.
Conclusion
Reviewing of the maximum and minimum speed limits backed up with effective traffic law enforcement as well as public awareness on the importance of adhering to the limits can go a long way in ensuring that the fatal accidents are no longer frequent in our roads.
Therefore, law enforcers and learning institutions should direct more efforts in trying to change people’s attitudes and culture on speeding and traffic laws in general. If enforcement could be coupled with community support, then this will bring down the casualty rates tremendously.