rant Kill Your Speed campaign - is it working?

[hogmaw]

I think it is. In recent months I am sure I have noticed people driving slower and slower. It does my head in. Drivers going 20 in a 30, and 30 in a 40 etc etc. Loads of em. I once asked my dad why he drove fast. He said 'Because if I go slow I will fall asleep." I know exactly what he's talking about.

 

It's not like these slow drivers are any safer. They still don't indicate, they still hesitate and do stupid things like pull out without checking the blind spot, and middle lane "nice n safe & nice n easy" drivers are on the increase too. All in all the roads are gash at the moment.

 

***This rant may or may not have been induced by a depression brought on by leaving work at 11pm after a 15 hour day knowing that I would have to cook my own dinner when I get in.

[CardiffSupra]

Thats the best excuse for driving fast I have ever heard.

 

"Excuse me son, Why were you driving so fast?"

 

"Well If I drive slow I will fall asleep"

 

"Oh....Ok, On your way then"

[Scott]

I have to agree in some part. The amount of twats driving on the road with no due care and attention is frightening... but they are driving within the limit so they must be good drivers.

 

40 in a 70 is a daily occurence. 30 in a 60 just gets my back up. I could understand if the weather or conditions were bad but its not. Clear crisp days, perfect for safe driving and these twats think they are doing the public a favour.

 

I notice it more in my pug than i do in the sup, people tend to get out of my way in the supra.

 

FWIW i don't mind nervous drivers sticking to the middle lane, i used to get onto my wife for it but thats where she feels safe so i think thats fair enough. Its the twats who have no idea about whats going on around them that really annoys me. Sitting on the phone cutting you up yet when you let them know with your horn they gesture you as you are clearly in the wrong.... as they are driving an Audi.

 

I have no late shift excuse btw. I just finished till Monday so i'm in a good mood

[Snooze]

FWIW i don't mind nervous drivers sticking to the middle lane, i used to get onto my wife for it but thats where she feels safe so i think thats fair enough.

 

Really? Crikey - if a driver feels too "nervous" to follow some simple lane discipline rules in the highway code then they probably shouldn't be driving a car at all, IMO!

 

Mind you - I don't really care what lane people sit in as long as they're not actually holding any traffic up.

[Scott]

Really? Crikey - if a driver feels too "nervous" to follow some simple lane discipline rules in the highway code then they probably shouldn't be driving a car at all, IMO!

 

Mind you - I don't really care what lane people sit in as long as they're not actually holding any traffic up.

 

If you took the incompetent drivers off the road you would be lucky to pass 1 car a day.

 

Its not really nervous from her. She just feels safer knowing she is as far away from the barriers as she can be. Everytime i mention it i get it in the neck so i just stopped mentioning it. I think the main problem is that its not part of the learning/test. You have to teach yourself so you pick up the bad habits right from the start.

 

Something like 90% of car drivers stick to the middle lane for various reasons. Lorry drivers are the most disciplined.

[Rob]

If you took the incompetent drivers off the road you would be lucky to pass 1 car a day.

 

Its not really nervous from her. She just feels safer knowing she is as far away from the barriers as she can be. Everytime i mention it i get it in the neck so i just stopped mentioning it. I think the main problem is that its not part of the learning/test. You have to teach yourself so you pick up the bad habits right from the start.

 

Something like 90% of car drivers stick to the middle lane for various reasons. Lorry drivers are the most disciplined.

 

You could just tell her it's an offence of driving without due care, or without consideration. I forget which but you can get pulled for it.

[Snooze]

Its not really nervous from her. She just feels safer knowing she is as far away from the barriers as she can be.

 

Ah - I see. Yeah - there's an argument to say that's true - if you're going to blow a tyre, you're better off with as much space as possible before you hit anything.

 

Like I say - I don't have a problem with people doing that as long as they're not holding other traffic up. When the road's empty, I probably tend to stick in the middle lane myself too.

 

You're certainly right about the test being an issue. I think we're now one of the only countries in europe that doesn't include a multi-lane road in the driving test.

[Scott]

You could just tell her it's an offence of driving without due care, or without consideration. I forget which but you can get pulled for it.

 

Mate i'm not even going to get into this. Look at how your mum, dad, wife, g/f, sister, brother, friends etc drive. I can assure you you hardly know anyone who has proper lane discipline. I am just an honest person who tells it like it is, we can all step onto the moral highground and say to others what they would do but first of all you get everyone close to you driving to the letter of the law then mosey on back to me and tell me how you did it.

 

I see the cops driving in the middle lane ffs. Its a common thing.

 

I'm curious, are you married? Have you ever said to your wife something to do with driving, harped on about it and then mentioned that its against the law? If you have... how did you get on? Was it a speedy divorce?

 

[DODGYDODDS]

my misses listens to me, she drives to fast to often. i tell her law of averages blah blah blah, and i keep on and on like a durcell battery. discipline starts at home and spreads to the lanes .

 

And i hate people sitting in the middle lane, i drive about 750-1000 miles a wk in the van and it is appauling at the number of seemingly retarded people driving, I still havent found when kellogs were giving away licenses in cornflake packets.

[Scott]

I met John Lennon before i was born and Elvis is my Dad.

 

Its all talk.

[DODGYDODDS]

elvis is your dad, you kept that quiet

[Scott]

I've kept him in the closet for years. I think some people may be onto me now though.

[DODGYDODDS]

, so this admission shows you have skeletons in the closet

[MrRalphMan]

A while we are on it, why are people too retarded to turn their fog lights off, when it's not foggy.

 

Drove into work on Wednesday evening and 1 in 6 cars had their rear fogs on..

It was a little bit foggy.. well misty... well drizzly that morning, but it's not too difficult to see that big red light on your dash.. Morons...

[RED_ROCKET]

i do the speed limit on any road so if i feel like doing 70 in the middle lane i will or the outer lane i will if you want to go faster go around you are breaking the law :-) and if you want to drive up my ass feel free i dont get intimidated by that ill just drive a bit slower :-)

[Havard]

In answer to the OP. No, I still drive like a cock when I want to... The standard of driving is still shocking, although I agree that if the shit drivers are going slower then they are less likely to hit people.

 

I find that if I drive slower I get bored and get the urge to text people.... Hence, going a bit quicker is safer for me....

 

H.

[MrRalphMan]

I agree I speed to make the roads safer.. After a night shift I can be knackered, so drive 40% faster then I should to get home quicker and off the roads..

 

You should all thank me..

 

The other times I do the speed limit and block the road for other users giving me a sense of superiority ..

[Havard]

I agree I speed to make the roads safer.. After a night shift I can be knackered, so drive 40% faster then I should to get home quicker and off the roads..

 

You should all thank me..

 

The other times I do the speed limit and block the road for other users giving me a sense of superiority ..

 

You should have a X5.....

[MrRalphMan]

It's one of my goals..

[Mcgoo]

i do the speed limit on any road so if i feel like doing 70 in the middle lane i will or the outer lane i will if you want to go faster go around you are breaking the law

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AJI]

'kill your speed' campaigns....I really hate them as they do nothing to road safety in reality.

In my usual daily job (traffic/road engineer, and not the job I wished I was still doing - motorsport intructor... ) I work with the national accident database on a regular basis and its fact that less than 5% of injury accidents are caused by the term 'speeding'.

 

There is a huge amount of time and money spent on targetting 'speed' which in reality accounts for less than 5% of 2,946 deaths.

So this 'less than 5%' means you are looking at a figure of less than 147 deaths per year (taking national statistics from 2007).

 

So this means that over 95% of the main causes of accidents are being ignored by these 'speed' campaigners as they are fixated on just one element of driving.

 

 

It is the usual state of the UK at the moment in which the minority pressure groups are given equal 'volume of voice' and media coverage as that of the majority.

And in doing so the arguments are hugely mis-represented and as a result are very mis-guiding to reflect the true opinion of reality.

 

I mean when you see TV adverts along the likes of "if you hit me at 40 I'll probably die, but if you hit me at 30 I'll probably live"....an advert created to shock and place total blame on speed. An advert which would have cost huge amounts to produce and play on TV etc. etc. But which totally misses the main causese of 95%+ of fatality accidents in the UK.

 

It is also hard to argue against the general public's opinion of 'speed' when adverts like this are being shown. And the government have played this card quite well and are using it continuously to promote their speed cameras and fining systems against motorists.

 

 

Another thing about this 'less than 5%' figure is that even this figure is mis-represnted of the usual motorist.

By this I mean that many of the 147 deaths attributed to 'speeding' in 2007 were drink/drug drivers or criminals trying to out run the police and also these scum 'joy' riders showing off to their 'mates'.

So from this you can see that the figure which the government and speed campaigners are targetting is VERY low and on the point of meaningless.

In effect the majority is being punished for the actions of a few....again the usual state of affairs in the UK.

 

 

Disclaimer:

Most of the above is my own opinion by the way, but backed up with some elements of my line of work and also the national statistics.

 

(If only I could get a job in parliment! )

[stevie_b]

FWIW i don't mind nervous drivers sticking to the middle lane, i used to get onto my wife for it but thats where she feels safe so i think thats fair enough.

...

Its not really nervous from her. She just feels safer knowing she is as far away from the barriers as she can be. Everytime i mention it i get it in the neck so i just stopped mentioning it.

I've heard this from other drivers too. I don't agree with it, but I undertsand your reasons for letting it lie. Personally, I'd rather be as far away from the central reservation as possible, because it's the cars coming at you at 70mph+ (if you're unlucky enough to have an accident and cross the central reservation) where the bigger danger lies. Also, the middle lane is only "safe" if there are no cars around you. If there's a car in the 1st lane and/or one in the 3rd lane, then it's probably not as safe as the inside lane. At least with the inside lane, you have the hard shoulder to your left which should always be empty. If I have a high speed blowout for example, I know where I'd rather point the car.

 

If you took the incompetent drivers off the road you would be lucky to pass 1 car a day.

 

Then they should take those drivers off the road. Seriously. We were all good enough to pass a driving test on the day, but I doubt that a lot of the driving we see would warrant a pass. Make everyone re-take the test every 10 years.

 

A while we are on it, why are people too retarded to turn their fog lights off, when it's not foggy.

 

Drove into work on Wednesday evening and 1 in 6 cars had their rear fogs on..

It was a little bit foggy.. well misty... well drizzly that morning, but it's not too difficult to see that big red light on your dash.. Morons...

I agree. Make them re-take their test every 10 years.

 

I work with the national accident database on a regular basis and its fact that less than 5% of injury accidents are caused by the term 'speeding'.

This is interesting. Do you have info about what the main causes are according to the database?

[martini]

I agree. Make them re-take their test every 10 years.

 

Agree. I have my lazy moments, but I would pass. I know a lot of people that would not pass (parents included). Sounds harsh but I would rather people are kept on their toes rather than thinking they are good drivers because they have driven for so many years.

[stevie_b]

Agree. I have my lazy moments, but I would pass. I know a lot of people that would not pass (parents included). Sounds harsh but I would rather people are kept on their toes rather than thinking they are good drivers because they have driven for so many years.

 

Exactly. Just because a lot of people might not pass, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done (indeed, it's another reason why it should be done). If it's the cost of re-testing that bothers people, maybe they shouldn't be driving at all if they can't afford an extra £30 ish once every 10 years. Harsh but fair I think.

[AJI]

This is interesting. Do you have info about what the main causes are according to the database?

 

Yes, the main causes of injury accidents are down to the following:

(in no particular order)

 

-adverse road conditions (examples :- ice, flood, high wind etc.)

-stupid maneouvres (examples :- reversing around a blind bend, 3point turn on a blind bend)

-lack of concentration (examples :- pulling out from junction infront of vehicles, turning into other vehicles etc.)

-foreign drivers (examples :- mis-interpreting UK road signs/laws, driving wrong side on county roads, even motorways!)

-old, unaware, unfit to drive (examples :- poor vision, dizzyness, sneezing, not physically being able to look and check for traffic etc.)

-breaking the law (examples :- overtaking on double white, car unfit for the road, not having a license etc.)

-pedestrians (examples :- drunken idiots playing in the road, drugged up idiots on the road, people stepping into road and not looking etc.)

 

The above examples cover a large proportion of the 95%+ injury accidents on our roads today. (I have just pulled these from my memory and may have omitted a few - but you get the general idea).

 

The cause factors are determined by the police on the scene of the accident and through their follow up investigations. It is the police that enter the data into the database. (Thankfully not the government in Westminster)