Councillor’s dangerous attempt at fuel efficiency sparks call for better advice

A Lincolnshire councillor has called for more advice about fuel efficiency after attempting what turned out to be “the most dangerous thing I have ever done on the road”.

Councillors on the Public Protections Scrutiny Committee were receiving service level performance reports for 2022-23, including road safety figures on Tuesday.

Councillor Jackie Brockway said she had tried to follow advice that drivers could change their speed down while on long journeys.

“I did this on a 300-mile journey, I took my speed down to between 50-55 and it’s probably one of the most dangerous things I’ve ever done on the road,” she told the committee.

“By me taking advice about fuel safety and taking my speed down you’d think it would be safer, except by doing that it pushed absolutely everybody out into the second lane. Lorries had to overtake me, consequently pushing people out into the fast lane.

“It’s something I will never do again,” she added.

She said she had raised what happened to the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership during the Lincolnshire Show.

“The advice […] was to find a lorry and let them act as a pacemaker if you want to keep your speed down, but don’t go to speed when you’re pushing people out, so the judgement is much finer than just saving fuel by taking your speed down.”

Head of Public Protection at Lincolnshire County Council Martyn Parker said he would take the comments and examine what the partnership could do in terms of publishing further guidance.

Elsewhere in the report, data revealed that there were 107 people killed or seriously injured on Lincolnshire’s roads between January to March this year, compared with 132 in the previous three months of October-December, 2021.

This included seven children, down from 18.

In general, casualties across the county have been declining since 2016, however, the involvement of children in accidents has increased.