Quarter of road deaths caused by speeding claim is rejected by ASA
Published: 8th September 2004
Category: Pro Camera PR
Reader's Rage: [4votes]

The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that leaflets produced by the London Safety Camera Partnership must be changed because it makes a claim that is not backed by statistics. The leaflet said "Speeding causes over a quarter of all deaths on London's roads." This is incorrect because speed, rather than breaking the speed limit, is a contributory factor in the fatalities and not a prime cause. Several causation factors were grouped together and classed as "speeding" by the Partnership which includes driving too fast for the road conditions, going faster than other drivers, losing control, and getting too close to the vehicle in front. The Partnership did not consider that these causes can be achieved without exceeding the speed limit.

The Partnership defended its claim by stating it was based on analyses by Transport for London but agreed to amend the wording in the leaflet.

A spokesman for the Association of British Drivers said " The partnerships sex up their figures and spin them to suite their argument."

Our comment: The propaganda and spin churned out by a Partnership gets shot down by an authority that has nothing to do with motoring or safety, but even the ASA can see how this Partnership twisted statistics to justify their misguided speed camera campaign.

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