Speeding Is The New Drink Driving

[developer]

Not using a seat belt
Drink driving
Drug driving
Using a mobile phone at the wheel

Do any of the above and you are a pariah and quite rightly so (though to a lesser degree with seat belts).

All have been campaigned against, with varying degrees of success.

I'm convinced speeding is receiving a greater focus of late and is the next big thing to ensure you're branded more evil than John Christie.

Where I live there are 20mph zones springing up everywhere, along with road narrowing, yes narrowing, forcing dual carriageways (designed to increase progress) into single carriageways (designed to hamper progress), all over the city .

Over the last three days in my locality, I've seen a group of three bobbies brandishing a device aimed at the motorist on a 30mph dual carriageway (which I may have fallen foul of), a "safety partnership" transit van with it's rear window open, lasering motorists on a 40mph dual carriageway, and a PCSO blending in with a tree as he points his device at you.

I guess there's always the revenue raising debate to rage, but I think it's more basic than that - soon, as a speeder, you will no better than the drink/drug driver.

Enjoy that power whilst you still can, before people begin spitting at you in the street as you hit a heady 35mph .

 

[Deleted member 6183]

The latest around here is fencing at roundabouts which prevent you from seeing what is on the roundabout until you stop and look around the fence.
Result - massive tailbacks.

 

[Sp!ke]

The whole speeding thing is designed as a revenue generator rather than to save lives I think.

There was a fatal crash in a 30mph zone near me a couple of years ago. So now the road is a 20mph limit with speedhumps and enforced by cameras. That all sounds quite sensible some would say.

The thing is that the fatal crash involved a teenager driving in excess of *70mph*, not 30mph, so why reduce the 30mph limit further?

I think its fair to say that I probably break the speed limit every day (and so do the vast majority of road users) but it is also only fair to say that I have been doing so for nearly 30 years and that I have a clean accident record.

The key here is appropriate use of speed.

Would a reasonable traffic officer be concerned about my use of speed or my driving generally - probably not.
Would a speed camera be concerned about my use of speed - Most definitely.
Would a speed camera be concerned about the likely lad tailgating and driving like a menace - probably not.

Why is it then that we have such a proliferation of these automated devices that do a poor job of catching bad drivers yet are so successful at catching the generally law abiding and safety conscious populous?

It can only be about numbers and revenue.

 

[c_200k]

Shocked to find a one way 2 lane road which I use daily has now been narrowed to the point where I had to stop and make sure I didn't hit the kerb either side.

This is under a bridge which turns into 4 lanes

WTF there is NO oncoming traffic at all whatsoever and hardly ever any pedestrians.

 

[Wheelsnuts]

The latest around here is fencing at roundabouts which prevent you from seeing what is on the roundabout until you stop and look around the fence.
Result - massive tailbacks.

We have the same sort of thing, only it's the planting of shrubberies in the central reservations of the approach lanes to roundabouts. Visibility zero and standing traffic with tailbacks. Not just stupid but dangerous as well. I suppose the shrubs could be to provide cover for the speed gun toters?

 

[stevehg]

The 20mph limits are just ludicrous, and soon about 80% of the roads here in central Cambridge will be at that speed. The comical result you have is that the cyclists start to over and undertake the cars, buses, vans etc. with the immunity of not being caught for speeding.

Now that really boosts road safety!

cheers, Steve

 

[ckember]

Have 20mph speed limits actually been ratified in law. I thought the national minimum was 30mph and there fore 20mph limits are illegal.

Speed doesn't kill, hitting something at speed does, and that's the difference, the powers that be have been shown that hitting someone at 30 does more damage than hitting them at 20 so let's reduce the risk. Although road deaths haven't actually increased , serious injuries have and they want to limit the cost of those.

The problem is bunching and the standard of driving in the uk generally. If people where taught to drive rather than taught to pass the test, things would be better.

If taught correctly like in Scandinavia driving fast and safe can go hand in hand, Scandinavian flick anyone?

 

[bob6600]

It is really frustrating. I see more and more bus stops changing from having a lay-by to keep the traffic moving, to the bus stop being in the middle of the lane which causes stand still traffic every time a bus stops.

I agree with you John, roads are purposely being made narrower and yet the number of cars is probably going up. I know it's all to try and persuade us to use public transport but that's not going to happen

 

[WDB124066]

Wait till they start adding cycle lanes too.

Here there has been quite some backlash on speeding from the public after the road toll actually climbed following speeding campaigns. Now the [public] focus is starting to turn to competence, in particular driving on the wrong side of the road, not obeying traffic intersection rules etc - which in some provinces is responsible for 37% of road deaths.

 

[moonloops]

Speeding Is The New Drink Driving

Well I combined it all today, whilst totally drunk and on quality drugs I ran over a blind black lesbian/ At 137MPH I'd guess - she was on a pedestrian crossing after she left the orphanage. Good news is my text message got through OK and I am a proud owner of a novelty keyring

 

[balge]

=ckember;2066270
Have 20mph speed limits actually been ratified in law. I thought the national minimum was 30mph and there fore 20mph limits are illegal.

QUOTE]

According to our local council they are legally enforceable, response to an email I sent -

Thank you for your email. Any 20mph Speed Limits which are implemented as part of this scheme will be subject to the usual Traffic Regulation Order and will therefore be legally enforceable. Please let me know if you require any further information

They only apply on non-trunk roads though (had 20 limit here for about two years now).

 

[Giantvanman]

Not using a seat belt
Drink driving
Drug driving
Using a mobile phone at the wheel
Do any of the above and you are a pariah and quite rightly so (though to a lesser degree with seat belts).
All have been campaigned against, with varying degrees of success.

The whole speeding thing is designed as a revenue generator rather than to save lives I think.

It is not a revenue generator. It is entirely down to misreading or manipulating statistics by senior officers and pressure groups. I laughed heartily and openly when a senior officer, trying to show off the an even more senior officer was torn up like tissue paper by a 'lowly' PC who rightly pointed out the disjointed and incorrect correlation between reality (collision figures) and numbers on a screen. Not wearing a seat belt did not CAUSE accidents and the numbers related to the other factors were much lower in total than the accidents caused by bad driving.

The very senior officer joined in, agreeing with the PC but stated it had to be this way because A. they had to be SEEN to be doing something and B. there wasn't the manpower to effectively target bad driving. Go figure (sic).

 

[tron]

Alas, 'twas ever thus. Still smarting from the forty shilling fine from my last brush with the law. Still, taught the peasant not to walk in front of me brandishing that red flag...

 

[G.P]

The latest around here is fencing at roundabouts which prevent you from seeing what is on the roundabout until you stop and look around the fence.
Result - massive tailbacks.

Good fun with no traffic through, trying to stop if something is coming..

 

[BTB 500]

Would a speed camera be concerned about the likely lad tailgating and driving like a menace - probably not.

Why is it then that we have such a proliferation of these automated devices that do a poor job of catching bad drivers yet are so successful at catching the generally law abiding and safety conscious populous?

Out of interest, in Germany they do have automated devices (typically put on autobahn bridges) to catch tailgaters. So the technology certainly exists.

 

[John]

Well I combined it all today, whilst totally drunk and on quality drugs I ran over a blind black lesbian/ At 137MPH I'd guess - she was on a pedestrian crossing after she left the orphanage. Good news is my text message got through OK and I am a proud owner of a novelty keyring

You must be statistically safer doing it altogether than just one thing alone...

 

[SLK32AMG]

The whole speeding thing is designed as a revenue generator rather than to save lives I think.

There was a fatal crash in a 30mph zone near me a couple of years ago. So now the road is a 20mph limit with speedhumps and enforced by cameras. That all sounds quite sensible some would say.

The thing is that the fatal crash involved a teenager driving in excess of *70mph*, not 30mph, so why reduce the 30mph limit further?

I think its fair to say that I probably break the speed limit every day (and so do the vast majority of road users) but it is also only fair to say that I have been doing so for nearly 30 years and that I have a clean accident record.

The key here is appropriate use of speed.

Would a reasonable traffic officer be concerned about my use of speed or my driving generally - probably not.
Would a speed camera be concerned about my use of speed - Most definitely.
Would a speed camera be concerned about the likely lad tailgating and driving like a menace - probably not.

Why is it then that we have such a proliferation of these automated devices that do a poor job of catching bad drivers yet are so successful at catching the generally law abiding and safety conscious populous?

It can only be about numbers and revenue.

Well Put

 

[tjamesbo]

Probably one of the biggest improvements to Road safety would be raising the Driving age for Males to 25 That would save a lot of lives , young lives as well
But much better to pretend to be doing something and spend money doing people for 37 in a 30 or 47 in a 40. Never been on one but anecdotal evidence suggests that most people on a speed awareness course are middle aged responsible people who have temporarily erred I would suggest that they are not the drivers at most risk of causing a serious accident. Any Insurance company or premium will tell you who is at most risk, money always talks. If everybody breaks the law and I would suggest that a large majority / high percentage do (including those that enforce it ) then the law cannot be reasonable.it will punish rather than protect the Majority surely not the function of law. I have never seen a camera capable of stopping someone from speeding unless it can reach out and apply the brakes, sure it can catch someone who has already been speeding, its a bit like catching a murder on film . It "may" help prevent further offences . The camera is also incapable of preventing an accident .
There is no single speed camera out of all of the thousands that can be shown to have prevented a single death or injury not one .
If they were about safety why weren't they first put on the most dangerous roads in Britain according to statistics ? They were not . If I am correct the most dangerous road in Britain only recently got one couple of years ago .
as a road death management exercise its a dismal failure the main contribution to Road Death Reduction has come from the commercial manufacturers along the Lines of ABS / Airbags / Brake Assist / Design /Crumple zones/ Tyre technology / Handling ................ The police ? you must be joking they're bosses are too interested ticking the ethnic / sexual /diversity culture
Rant Over

 

[merc85]

out of interest why is the "not using a seatbelt" so wrong?? i always do and feels un natural if i didnt. But surly if the driver of the vehicle dies in a accident becuase they didnt wear one its there fault so down to them??

Just asking the question

 

[kianok]

out of interest why is the "not using a seatbelt" so wrong?? i always do and feels un natural if i didnt. But surly if the driver of the vehicle dies in a accident becuase they didnt wear one its there fault so down to them??

Just asking the question

The cost to the NHS of repairing someone who wouldn't have been so damaged had they have worn a belt.

Plus road deaths are quite expensive to process.

Lastly, if you do have a crash you are less likely to expire and cause upset amongst your loved-ones.