Roads getting safer or more dangerous ?

There's definitely a lower standard of driving. More cars packed closer together increases the chances of accident, and the number of drivers I see texting/calling on their phones is still phenomenal. People just don't care enough to make any effort, and they obviously don't have the imagination to think of what could go wrong because of having to text their mates as they drive down the motorway.
 
MikeTimbers said:
I've been driving for over thirty years and the biggest problem I see today is simply the volume of traffic. There's way more cars on the roads and that creates obvious problems.
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I agree the sheer volume of traffic is phenomenal when I was a kid I remember walking home from school and seeing a car was a rarity now its rare not to see one. Infact the roads are ram packed around schools and everywhere else for that matter.
 
adolf hamster said:
And third party insurance, although they get quite tetchy if you mention that.
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I don't think that's practical, the reason a lot of people use bicycles is because they can't afford the costs associated with driving.

All that would happen is you would have a load of people who now can't pay for their insurance and either a truckload of policing costs, with nobody having insurance, or people losing their jobs being unable to get to work and hence it costing you that way via higher unemployment costs to government.
 
Monkeynut said:
I don't think that's practical, the reason a lot of people use bicycles is because they can't afford the costs associated with driving.
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So can we also presume a lot of cyclists could not afford to pay for any damage they may cause while out on the public highways? Hows that fair?

Anyway back to the OP;

I feel that with the increasing number of fat middle aged men wearing replica team lycra and going cycling plus the ever increasing volume of traffic and obviously lower driving standards the roads are getting worse.

The fact less people are dying is more to do with the technology and safety of newer vehicles.
 
Driving standards have certainly got lower and at times there are just too many cars on the road. Around these parts most people appear to think they have right of way no matter which direction they're coming from and that includes the backpack Lycra brigade.
 
Flubble said:
cycling with a front flashing light towards oncoming traffic... i'm sure front white flashy ones are illegal, cycling side by side with another cyclist...
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Front flashing lights are legal but have to flash so many times per minute and be above a certain brightness http://www.cyclinguk.org/cyclists-library/regulations/lighting-regulations

Cyclists riding side by side is pretty irrelevant because its actually legal (although I think they should be considerate when doing it). If you are giving cyclists the room you should be giving, ie treating them as if they were a small car, then you should be on the other side of the road.

A lot of anger towards cyclists come about not because of the cyclist (barring those breaking the law) but because of the car drivers complete and utter ignorance of the legalities of cycling and lack of understanding of defensive positioning and worst of all their own impatience.
 
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Those light regs really need tidying up :/.

From that as long as it only strobes could hook a cree cxb3590 or two on the front and burn the eyeballs out of all drivers with 18,000+ lummens
 
Tefal said:
Those light regs really need tidying up :/.

From that as long as it only strobes could hook a cree cxb3590 or two on the front and burn the eyeballs out of all drivers with 18,000+ lummens
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Pretty pointless especially with the battery considerations. Cyclists like any other vehicles need lights to see where they are going in the dark, Ive known cyclists to go over the handle bars after hitting a massive pot hole, so flashing in itself is only really useful to let other people know you are there.

I agree with what you are saying in principle, in much the same way that car lights seem to be really dazzling these days
 
Bear said:
Pretty pointless especially with the battery considerations. Cyclists like any other vehicles need lights to see where they are going in the dark, Ive known cyclists to go over the handle bars after hitting a massive pot hole, so flashing in itself is only really useful to let other people know you are there.

I agree with what you are saying in principle, in much the same way that car lights seem to be really dazzling these days
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A guy I work with who is an avid cyclist says there's 2 types of lights, those to see with and those that are to be seen (by other road users) of course he has some ridiculous 7 led ultra bright small sun attached to his head and can't understand why drivers get ****ed off when he looks at them. Insurance is a good idea, even if it was just a paltry sum like 50 quid, there was a cyclist that killed a child on the pavement a few years ago and while insurance won't bring the child back it might help deal with the consequences or if a cyclist hits a car they should be held accountable rather than it always being the motorists fault.
 
I think the roads are more dangerous.

I see more acts of appalling driving than ever before. I regularly see people on their phones, even texting or playing Pokemon.

Seems to be more Barrys around than ever before too.

I actually worry for my safety driving these days.
 
IvanDobskey said:
I think the roads are more dangerous.

I see more acts of appalling driving than ever before. I regularly see people on their phones, even texting or playing Pokemon.

Seems to be more Barrys around than ever before too.

I actually worry for my safety driving these days.
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Yup, I'd worry for my own safety too if I was concentrating on someone's screen whilst driving to know they were playing Pokemon Go!
 
There is far more traffic on the roads than ever before and a lot of people are **** drivers. Personally I think that its the drivers in their mid thirties and up that are the worst culprits. Young drivers are idiots but they are consciously driving like nutters. Its the older ones that are just bad.

I'm amazed there are not more accidents on the motorways whenever I am on them. People don't indicate, pull out into gaps that are barely 2 cars lengths long, pull out into the fast lane going at 60 when the traffic in the outside lane is going at 90 and cause them to borderline emergency brake.

Some drivers spacial awareness is appalling. You will be coming towards each other on a narrowish bit of road and they will be about 6ft from the verge or parked cars on their side of the road until they are nearly on you.

I don't know if there are more bad drivers on the road than before as a percentage. I would say that no, there probably isn't. There are just so many cars that you can't drive for 5 minutes in any serious traffic without seeing at least one stupid driver.

The driving test is getting harder and has been for a long time whenever they change it. New drivers just used to have the benefit of very little traffic and a much simpler road system than nowadays. There are now loads of roundabouts with 3 lanes, going into 4 lanes, dropping down again. Its almost impossible to be in the right lane the whole time and when its busy thats an issue.
 
Can't say I've noticed things getting any worse in the 17 years I've been driving.

If anything, people seem a little more courteous - I get let out of junctions and joining into traffic a bit more than I used to.
 
adolf hamster said:
And third party insurance, although they get quite tetchy if you mention that.
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The one country that did have cycling insurance dropped it, as most people have their own personal third party insurance.

That is what needs to happen rather than price people out of cycling.
 
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Worse ,

I travel 100 miles a day 5 days a week commuting , mainly motorway miles and I've been doing this for nearly 27 years .

Less police on the road for sure than there was 10 years ago but the main thing I have noticed on A roads and Motorways is lane discipline , it's nigh on non existent.

The retards who travel in the fast/middle lane at 50 mph need to be banned.

Oh I'll just add , the idiot cyclist riding 2 a breast , you just deserve to be knocked off.
 
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