Soldato
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You want to make driving safer? Just put a huge metal spike in the middle of every steering wheel.
A modest proposal to abolish speed limits
- Thread starter stockhausen
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Soldato
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Serious answer?
It wouldn't change anything, as almost everyone who crashed due to it being their own fault thought what they were doing was perfectly safe.....right upto the point where they realised it wasn't.
As probably the only person on this forum with a conviction for causing death by dangerous driving I think I can bring a unique perspective to this discussion.
My accident was relatively low speed, coming out of a roundabout and resulted in a passer-by losing their life.
I wasn't breaking the speed limit, but it's fair to say I always used to drive at the top end of the limit. On this day in particular we had just had a little rain and that made the roads slippery - that kind of strange greasyness a small shower can sometimes seem to cause.
My accident was caused by my inappropriate speed for the road conditions. This is something camera's can NEVER detect but good traffic police can.
Speed camera's are (in my opinion) an appalling cop out when it comes to road safety management and the money would be far better spent on increasing the number of traffic police we have in this country. But of course traffic police cost money rather than generating it don't they?
The next government needs to up the number of traffic cops we have and limit the use of camera's to where they are truly useful and effective - controlling speed limits through roadworks on the motorway and mobile camera vans detecting idiots racing through villages etc.
My accident was relatively low speed, coming out of a roundabout and resulted in a passer-by losing their life.
I wasn't breaking the speed limit, but it's fair to say I always used to drive at the top end of the limit. On this day in particular we had just had a little rain and that made the roads slippery - that kind of strange greasyness a small shower can sometimes seem to cause.
My accident was caused by my inappropriate speed for the road conditions. This is something camera's can NEVER detect but good traffic police can.
Speed camera's are (in my opinion) an appalling cop out when it comes to road safety management and the money would be far better spent on increasing the number of traffic police we have in this country. But of course traffic police cost money rather than generating it don't they?
The next government needs to up the number of traffic cops we have and limit the use of camera's to where they are truly useful and effective - controlling speed limits through roadworks on the motorway and mobile camera vans detecting idiots racing through villages etc.
I always remember the problems public transport caused me when I didn't have a car for a brief period and I had to get to University in Swansea (16 miles) from home.
Almost 10 years later..... nothing has changed.
To get to a morning lecture at 8am here are my options
Taxi - £25 approx each way
Cycle - Wales is very very hilly. I would not want to do this once let alone daily, it would be a proper gruelling commute. Plus much of the journey is dual carriageway and not really suitable for a bicycle
Walk - No
Train - No
Bus - First bus leaves Brynamman 07:09 and arrives Swansea 08:51, so this is 1 hour too late. You could catch an earlier bus from Pontardawe (8 miles from Brynamman) at 06:53 that gets you there for 7:30 but you have to get to Pontardawe first. You can't walk it as half the journey is a 60mph urban clearway, and at 5 or 6am it would be suicide to do so. You can't cycle it as there is nowhere to put your bike safely. You could get a taxi to Pontardawe at a cost of approx £15 each way.
When you do eventually get on the bus it is £5.50 daily or £18.50 for a week rider ticket.
You have to factor in transport to and from Pontardawe as well - lets assume the taxi company do you a deal at £20 a day. Weekly travel cost is £118.50, to travel at inconvenient times on a very slow method of transport. And if I need to pop to the shops, or go and visit a mate, or drive to the Lakes for the weekend, I can't.
My car does not cost £118 a week to run. Even then, paying lots of insurance, it didn't cost £118 a week to run. Not even close!
Brynamman is NOT a hugely remote village, I've not deliberately picked an obscure example, it's just to show that outside of our biggest cities buses are not a realistic option for most.
Almost 10 years later..... nothing has changed.
To get to a morning lecture at 8am here are my options
Taxi - £25 approx each way
Cycle - Wales is very very hilly. I would not want to do this once let alone daily, it would be a proper gruelling commute. Plus much of the journey is dual carriageway and not really suitable for a bicycle
Walk - No
Train - No
Bus - First bus leaves Brynamman 07:09 and arrives Swansea 08:51, so this is 1 hour too late. You could catch an earlier bus from Pontardawe (8 miles from Brynamman) at 06:53 that gets you there for 7:30 but you have to get to Pontardawe first. You can't walk it as half the journey is a 60mph urban clearway, and at 5 or 6am it would be suicide to do so. You can't cycle it as there is nowhere to put your bike safely. You could get a taxi to Pontardawe at a cost of approx £15 each way.
When you do eventually get on the bus it is £5.50 daily or £18.50 for a week rider ticket.
You have to factor in transport to and from Pontardawe as well - lets assume the taxi company do you a deal at £20 a day. Weekly travel cost is £118.50, to travel at inconvenient times on a very slow method of transport. And if I need to pop to the shops, or go and visit a mate, or drive to the Lakes for the weekend, I can't.
My car does not cost £118 a week to run. Even then, paying lots of insurance, it didn't cost £118 a week to run. Not even close!
Brynamman is NOT a hugely remote village, I've not deliberately picked an obscure example, it's just to show that outside of our biggest cities buses are not a realistic option for most.
This
The same way many car drivers when pulling out from side roads,gate ways,etc etc always fail to see twin 55watt headlights of a motorbike coming towards them...
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And I am quite sure that the Tories will do this
That won't work,,,,As you then get women trying to drive with there legs wrapped around the steering wheel...
Soldato
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All the talk of "the next govt. etc etc" is a waste of time.
We're hardly the only country in the world to use speed cameras as, rightly or wrongly, it's become an accepted model.
We're hardly the only country in the world to use speed cameras as, rightly or wrongly, it's become an accepted model.
Soldato
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And I am quite sure that the Tories will do this
Exactly.
They'll do what any new govt does. Blame the previous one for XYZ, then quietly sit back and collect the revenue that XYZ generates.
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I'm sure that there are countries around the world that have recognised that speed has no impact on RTAs and as a result don't use speed cameras - perhaps Zimbabwe . . .
The majority of people using public transport? You've got to be joking, the buses and trains are already bursting full during rush hour as it is...
Even in London some areas have poor service, and none at night (this is true of both of the areas I've lived in during the last 3 years). Then there's the **** service at weekends or on public holidays.
Not having a car severely limits my career options overall, even some office-based firms have started asking for people to have their own transport. Dragging my shopping bags onto a bus is not very fun either, and I have to keep asking friends for favours if I need to move bulky items.
Even in London some areas have poor service, and none at night (this is true of both of the areas I've lived in during the last 3 years). Then there's the **** service at weekends or on public holidays.
Not having a car severely limits my career options overall, even some office-based firms have started asking for people to have their own transport. Dragging my shopping bags onto a bus is not very fun either, and I have to keep asking friends for favours if I need to move bulky items.
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They've already done it though, in one sense of the word. Carving up roads for bus lanes, making some streets entirely bus\taxi\pedestrian only in town, and the subsidy to get oyster up and running...
I wouldn't be driving into the centre of London or anything, most of my business\leisure activity revolves around the suburbs (and I'm not likely to secure a job in the city proper).
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And I am quite sure that the Tories will do this
If anything, I expect Police budgets to be slashed
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If anything, I expect Police budgets to be slashed
They already are Burnsy.
Most, of not all, forces have to make considerable cost savings in the next 3 years due to budgetary shortfalls and cuts.
Banks get bailed out, China ( which has around $2 trillion in cash reserves ) get millions every year from the UK, operations in Afghanistan and Iraq are funded but frontline police resources are being cut.
It leaves a nasty taste.
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As I said earlier, I have absolutely no doubt that the Tory "hang 'em and flog 'em" brigade will order an immediate reversal of this policy when they regain power next year and will set about recruiting huge numbers of bobbies to drive about in jam sandwiches all day giving a severe wigging to very naughty motorists
Have you tried flashing your headlight? This may help.
I'd say the same for drink driving and speeding but they're illegal - I don't bother overtaking as 1) I'm in a car and 2) I'm patient so I wouldn't be bothered if they did it.
I wouldn't put it past them, all it takes is a study and some bored journalist with pages to fill penning a scandal article about the number of deaths caused by 'risky' overtaking.
Indeed, probably in part due to the massive a-pillar that now houses 1 of 100 airbags designed to make the driver safe, and everyone else not worth worrying about.
If the door was made of tin foil so a bike could ride thru and remove testicles as it passed, maybe drivers would take a proper look?
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I'm a pretty patient person so overtaking is not really something i'd consider doing even though the car i drive has more than enough grunt to get past almost anything pretty quickly (focus st).
There have been 2 occasions in the past year I can think of where I have had to overtake someone, 1 being on a trip to bournemouth, stuck behind some old dear driving at 30mph on a national speed limit road in day light on a clear dry day.
The other stuck behind a caravan on the A303 which had gathered a pretty huge following of cars due to it going so bloody slow.
Besides those few occasions overtaking isnt really necessary, I do think personally that police officers on the road are a far greater deterant than a speed camera.
If i see a traffic cop, i know im being watched, if i see a camera i slow down until im past it then put my foot down, within limit ofcourse
There have been 2 occasions in the past year I can think of where I have had to overtake someone, 1 being on a trip to bournemouth, stuck behind some old dear driving at 30mph on a national speed limit road in day light on a clear dry day.
The other stuck behind a caravan on the A303 which had gathered a pretty huge following of cars due to it going so bloody slow.
Besides those few occasions overtaking isnt really necessary, I do think personally that police officers on the road are a far greater deterant than a speed camera.
If i see a traffic cop, i know im being watched, if i see a camera i slow down until im past it then put my foot down, within limit ofcourse