Road safety campaigners are urging the government to attach gory pictures of car crashes under speed limit signs in order to slow drivers down.
For nearly a decade, cigarette packets have featured similar images in order to put people off smoking, and campaigners believe such photos on speed limit signs could have a similar effect in curbing speeding.
Launched as part of road safety week, the signs would appear in various 20mph, 30mph and 40mph zones throughout the UK.
According to This is Money, a poll of 2,000 people found 67 per cent believed images of car crashes would make them much more aware of the effects of speeding.
Moreover, 38 per cent also said they would be more wary of crashing their vehicle because of speeding. In addition, 25 per cent felt the speed awareness course was not enough of a deterrent to stop people breaking the limit.
Global connected insurance director for the Royal & Sun Alliance Group, Kenny Leitch, said: “While it may sound like a particularly radical idea to introduce visual deterrents alongside speed limit signs, our early research has shown that the adoption of a “cigarette-pack approach” could be another way to tap into the human motivations that can promote good driving and prevent speeding.”
A new scheme introduced by the sentencing council last month could see those who speed being fined considerably more.
Statistics show that if these rules applied in February, the average fine for drivers doing more than 51mph in a 30mph zone would be as much as £760 or around half of an offenders weekly income.
Drivers would also have to fork out £328 per year more on their car insurance if caught speeding. It is therefore hoped that such strict enforcement on speeding, combined with graphic crash pictures, would cut down the number of speeding offenders significantly.
