The South Australian Liaison Officer of the National Motorists Association Australia, an independant group that advocates motorists' rights and interests, today blasted Transport Minister Laidlaw for giving approval to Council's plans to drop speed limits. The plan calls for an arbitrary lowering of speed limits on minor roads to 40kph thus creating a cash bonanza from speeding tickets.

Mr Wood said that the only result of the speed limit lowering would be more fines. "Transport Minister Laidlaw claims that the change will make roads safer for pedestrians but the only real result will be more people fined for speeding. Speed limits should be set by road traffic authorities not armchair experts on the Council," he said.

Mr Wood also said he had grave concerns about the result of the lowered limits on pedestrian safety."Pedestrians are more likely to be complacent about steeping out on roads with low speed limits. In the late 60s a number of London boroughs dropped their limits. In the early 70s they had to change them back due to the increase in pedestrian casualties. Let's not make the same mistake here," Mr Wood said.

He also asserted that, in the unlikely event that motorists slow down, the lower speeds would not assist motorists to avoid pedestrians. "It is obvious to anyone who drives that on any particular road, the slower you go the less you concentrate. Therefore if cars really did slow down they would be more likely to hit pedestrians," he said.

He also renewed his organisation's call for speed limits set in accordance with the internationally recognized "85th percentile" rule that has been shown to minimise the likelihood of traffic accidents. "Setting speed limits properly would minimise road crashes but the government doesn't seem to want to know about it. This fact has to settle the debate about whether they focus on money or safety. Clearly they just want money," he stated.