Darrell
Hardcore MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2006
- Messages
- 12,096
- Car
- Gixxer 6, Citroen Berlingo, 911 C4S, Dacia Duster and lots of bicycles.
Hope you feel better.We are using statistics to prove our case but like Darrell has just suggested, do we know what they mean when they refer to 'speed'?
Examples
You are travelling along a country road and as usual, at certain times of the day, farmer Blogs is moving his cows. This road has a speed limit of 60mph and our friendly Mercedes driver negotiates a bend at 40mph when ker-splatt, liver chops for dinner. He has ploughed into those cows, killed a few and he has been taken to hospital just for a quick check-up. Statistic records this as a serious injury road traffic accident where speed is a causation.
Poor Mercedes driver gets a new car as the other one has been wrote-off, this time he is in the centre lane of a busy roundabout, this roundabout is situated on a de-restricted dual carriageway and as he negotiates this roundabout at 30mph, he hits some diesel and poof!! He rams the car in the nearside lane. One driver is again taken to hospital for a check-up as they have a pace-maker and the ambulance crew want this person just to be checked over. Yup, another 'serious' injury road traffic accident and again speed will be a causation.
It is not our Mercedes drivers day because they are now driving on a motorway in heavy rain. Our driver is perhaps not cautious enough as they have 30" low profile wheels and yup there is a very shallow puddle and because they have these wide tyres, everything goes quiet as they aquaplane, go broadside and roll-over. Yup even though they wore a set-belt, the air-bags did there trick, off they went to the hospital for a quick check-over. yup yet another serious injury road traffic accident and once more speed is a caustion.
I have not mentioned fog or that dreaded undertaker but hopefully folks are getting the message? Speed is being blamed but no car is breaking any speed limit!! Yup, I love statistic
Local authorities will use these statistics to justify the siting of speed cameras even though no speed limits were exceeded. To me I still want more average speed cameras outside our schools and at locations where shops are next to busy roads and yes, make sure they only work when these venues are open.
Another quick moan
Near where we live we have a very large roundabout with each junction controlled by traffic lights. No complaint about that but........
This is an open roundabout where a driver can see every junction and every car on that roundabout. I have personally witnessed a car driver being booked for going through a red light at that roundabout at 3am in the morning. The only other vehicle in the vicinity was an unmarked police car behind the offender!! I am not sure but I think these junctions might now have cameras that catch these offenders. During the day when the road is busy, hammer those drivers that drive through a red light but why not switch off these traffic lights during set periods?
If I stand for school idiot and ten folks including me are entitled to vote but I am the only person who voted and I obviously nominate myself. Can I say I won with an overwhelming majority? Only one person voted out of the ten that could but did I get 100% of the votes that were cast? Never in the history of democracy has anyone ever get such a statistic.
Apologies for my daft post but I've been awake all night and am still in a degree of discomfort