RE: Government blamed for increase in road deaths
Discussion
Am I suprised with the increase of pedestrian casulaties, no.
I am actaully amazed it has stayed so low. I ride into London daily on a motorbike and as you hare normally at the head of the traffic you see some "amazing" things.
The responsibility of crossing the road seems now to be with the road user to guess what the pedestrian will do. We had the Green Cross code drummed into us as a kid and it made it YOUR responsibility to find a same place to cross the road. To cross quickly and check for traffic as you crossed to road.
It is a very regular occurance for a pedastrian to walk straight up to the traffic light and cross (assuming the traffic is not phsically moving). The fact the crossing man is red and they have no idea how long for does not seem to come into the equation. Normally this person will have a mobile to their ear or be updating the "status" as they cross the road.
There is also the diaganol-crosser who will cross a busy double width road after a quick (and once only) glance over their shoulder. Normally seen wearing headphones and will never check the traffic again as they make their way across a 4 lane road oblivious to any noise around them.
I also think the "youth" ( a term I find hard to use as I have only just turned 40) has grown up blase/arragant about road deaths. The figure has been low for most of their lives as cars and driving standards have improved so much over the last 20 years.
I am sure the smart phones will lead to a further increase in deaths and casulaties as those users make their way onto the roads. I already see a staggering amount of people texting and updating their accounts while driving.
Because I overtake 100's of cars every day you can determine what the driver is actually doing by their car position. 99% of the time the car that has a irregular following distance and is unable to stay straight in the lane will be texting (writing or reading). Actaully talking on the phone does not have such a definate pattern.
Get people to take responsibility for their actions and we should be OK.
Rant over
I am actaully amazed it has stayed so low. I ride into London daily on a motorbike and as you hare normally at the head of the traffic you see some "amazing" things.
The responsibility of crossing the road seems now to be with the road user to guess what the pedestrian will do. We had the Green Cross code drummed into us as a kid and it made it YOUR responsibility to find a same place to cross the road. To cross quickly and check for traffic as you crossed to road.
It is a very regular occurance for a pedastrian to walk straight up to the traffic light and cross (assuming the traffic is not phsically moving). The fact the crossing man is red and they have no idea how long for does not seem to come into the equation. Normally this person will have a mobile to their ear or be updating the "status" as they cross the road.
There is also the diaganol-crosser who will cross a busy double width road after a quick (and once only) glance over their shoulder. Normally seen wearing headphones and will never check the traffic again as they make their way across a 4 lane road oblivious to any noise around them.
I also think the "youth" ( a term I find hard to use as I have only just turned 40) has grown up blase/arragant about road deaths. The figure has been low for most of their lives as cars and driving standards have improved so much over the last 20 years.
I am sure the smart phones will lead to a further increase in deaths and casulaties as those users make their way onto the roads. I already see a staggering amount of people texting and updating their accounts while driving.
Because I overtake 100's of cars every day you can determine what the driver is actually doing by their car position. 99% of the time the car that has a irregular following distance and is unable to stay straight in the lane will be texting (writing or reading). Actaully talking on the phone does not have such a definate pattern.
Get people to take responsibility for their actions and we should be OK.
Rant over
JohneeBoy said:
"It is shocking that road accidents are the main cause of death amongst young adults aged 16-24"
Why does this surprise anyone? The average 16-24 year old in the UK is unlikely to die in any other way.
Suicide? Drugs (including alcoho etc)Why does this surprise anyone? The average 16-24 year old in the UK is unlikely to die in any other way.
Anyway, it's not the Government's faulty, it's the drivers' fault. They're the ones who drive into other objects. it's hitting something else that causes the death, not the Government.
The thing is, it doesn't seem to be a motoring offence to drive into someone else. I've been clocked speeding countless times and paid the fines/got the points and injured exactly no one. Some years ago, however, someone drove into the back of me at some speed and got nothing! I (genuinly) had a sore neck for about 2 weeks.
Mr Whippy said:
...That aside, the poor roads in many places doesn't help matters. I wonder how many cyclists get bumped when they go around a pot hole and end up having a driver hitting them for instance.
Hmmmm
Dave
+1 on the point about road surfaces. Hmmmm
Dave
I very much doubt there's a single person here that can honestly say they don't spend more time scanning the road surface ahead than they used to, to avoid potholes etc.
That's on top of reading the road ahead in terms of junctions, all sorts of traffic, and in some cases, bewildering amount of excess signage. Sure, some of that is roadcraft, but arguably we pay for the roads to be in a fit state, and many are not and getting worse, which means more driver overhead in reading those issues too, which should not be there. That all impacts on overall safety in my view.
Add to that the clots that use earphones, phones and text on the move, whilst eating a burger - with precious few years experience behind them, and it's an increasingly dangerous mix.
Back to the point about road quality though - if the government is serious about whatever initiative comes out of this, then that aspect has to be a part, otherwise quite frankly they are taking the p*ss.
I'm just waiting for the anti-car/common sense pressure group 'brake' to start spouting utter nonsense on the news this evening.
I'm sure they have been busy ringing round recently bereaved parents asking them to appear all tearful on camera to say how their nearest and dearest might not of died if the speed limit was lower,regardless of how it actually happened.
I'm sure they have been busy ringing round recently bereaved parents asking them to appear all tearful on camera to say how their nearest and dearest might not of died if the speed limit was lower,regardless of how it actually happened.
Seems like a natural knock on effect of the scrap page scheme.
People traded in older cars where they had a healthy respect for safety while driving and replaced them with new cars where they could throw caution to the wind. Probably wouldn't cause that many deaths, maybe just a 2 to 3 percent increase over the previous base.....
People traded in older cars where they had a healthy respect for safety while driving and replaced them with new cars where they could throw caution to the wind. Probably wouldn't cause that many deaths, maybe just a 2 to 3 percent increase over the previous base.....
Fartgalen said:
51 more deaths ?!
Out of how many journeys ?
51 million ? 510 million ? 5 billion ?
51's a drop in the ocean.
I can hear it now...Out of how many journeys ?
51 million ? 510 million ? 5 billion ?
51's a drop in the ocean.
"51 is too high regardless of how many trips are made. I dont think we can just BAN motor vehicles...I know. We will add more "safety cameras" increase road licence and add some fuel duty. That will cut the people on the roads to only the wealthy who by fortune of birth are born with more sense and can operate such complicated machinery".
Does it sound like i hate MP's/bureaucrats much
theJT said:
Surely 51 deaths in a figure of 1900 is going to be within expected variance? It's like 2.5%.
Agreed. If it was stable for ten years with a flux of 2.5% either way at the same time as the number of journeys was increasing then it could be considered acceptable. This sounds like a political attack.UK roads are the second safest roads in the world. It could be a lot safer still if they could seperate cyclists from fast car traffic flow (with dedicated cycle routes off the road) and by improving motorcycle statistics through better road design, maintenance and a change of driver attitude towards bikes. Perhaps the road engineers that have wiped out visibility over the last 40 years need to be lambasted.
Ali_T said:
The more people are regulated, the less they think for themselves.
I was backpacking around India and nepal a couple of months ago. It was mental - but refreshing. The drivers drove with stereotypical mentalness but it seemed to work. More importantly everyone LOOKED and were aware of their surroundings. I made sure to look left and right and double check again before i crossed the road. There was no blithe stepping out into the road because i would get squashed. It was my personal responsibility to be safe, not the driver's government's.That is what is missing in the UK. personal responsibility. we should be making our surroundings more dangerous, not safer. instead of sanitising the world to the level of the lowest common denominator (or moron) we should be raising danger levels so these morons are eliminated (preferably before they reproduce - like bloody rabbits).
/rant over
Seems they spend a lot of time and effort on reducing road deaths. I reckon if they wanted to save another 2,000 odd lives they could simply shut a few of the worst hospitals. 
IMHO what is clear is the continuing lack of investment in roads is creating generally more dangerous driving conditions for all road users.
IMHO what is clear is the continuing lack of investment in roads is creating generally more dangerous driving conditions for all road users.
I remember specifically the other day...
I was driving along without a care in the world then something about the government wanting to let more foreign ethnic minorities, single parent families live in mansions on the tax payer (insert any Daily Mail headline really)... I took my eyes off twittering to my close aquaintances about how the government were imbosils for not having implemented a blanket 40mph zone everywhere in the last 2 years they have been in power (makes sense, we all drive that speed everywhere anyway...) to turn up the radio.
I came up behind a slow moving vehicle on a country lane and decided to overtake (at 40 of course) the car on a blind corner then bang!!! Some lunatic doing 60 coming the other way plows into me...
I blame the government for getting me riled up in the first place causing me to do something stupid!
I was driving along without a care in the world then something about the government wanting to let more foreign ethnic minorities, single parent families live in mansions on the tax payer (insert any Daily Mail headline really)... I took my eyes off twittering to my close aquaintances about how the government were imbosils for not having implemented a blanket 40mph zone everywhere in the last 2 years they have been in power (makes sense, we all drive that speed everywhere anyway...) to turn up the radio.
I came up behind a slow moving vehicle on a country lane and decided to overtake (at 40 of course) the car on a blind corner then bang!!! Some lunatic doing 60 coming the other way plows into me...
I blame the government for getting me riled up in the first place causing me to do something stupid!
The quality of road manners has decreased markedly in the last 10 years.
Risk taking i.e lawbreaking at roundabouts and junctions has increased and there are more motoring criminals than ever before being chased by the police in heavy traffic..
Coupled with lack of diligence in maintaining a car, i.e. servicing, tyres, lights etc etc people will have more accidents.
Friday/saturday night driving home from the pub seems to be the peak accident time, and then there are emergency vehicles causing accidents in built up areas, include illegal in car phone use and finally poor if any road repairs, these are the reasons for the increase IMHO.
Risk taking i.e lawbreaking at roundabouts and junctions has increased and there are more motoring criminals than ever before being chased by the police in heavy traffic..
Coupled with lack of diligence in maintaining a car, i.e. servicing, tyres, lights etc etc people will have more accidents.
Friday/saturday night driving home from the pub seems to be the peak accident time, and then there are emergency vehicles causing accidents in built up areas, include illegal in car phone use and finally poor if any road repairs, these are the reasons for the increase IMHO.
I think the report is correct.
As successive governments have made us all more wealthy and motoring more affordable we have all gone out and bought high powered cars which we can't handle.
Witness the decline in sales of Economical cars and the huge surge in registrations of Bugattis & Paganis.
This has been aided by the recent lowering of fuel prices at the pumps and of insurance.
Shame on you Mr Cameron
As successive governments have made us all more wealthy and motoring more affordable we have all gone out and bought high powered cars which we can't handle.
Witness the decline in sales of Economical cars and the huge surge in registrations of Bugattis & Paganis.
This has been aided by the recent lowering of fuel prices at the pumps and of insurance.
Shame on you Mr Cameron
pagani1 said:
The quality of road manners has decreased markedly in the last 10 years.
Risk taking i.e lawbreaking at roundabouts and junctions has increased and there are more motoring criminals than ever before being chased by the police in heavy traffic..
Coupled with lack of diligence in maintaining a car, i.e. servicing, tyres, lights etc etc people will have more accidents.
Friday/saturday night driving home from the pub seems to be the peak accident time, and then there are emergency vehicles causing accidents in built up areas, include illegal in car phone use and finally poor if any road repairs, these are the reasons for the increase IMHO.
There has been a steady decline in deaths over the past 10 years, from ~3500 to ~2000 which sheds some doubt on your theory. Don't know why - I suspect cars which are better in accidents and are more pedestrian friendly. Risk taking i.e lawbreaking at roundabouts and junctions has increased and there are more motoring criminals than ever before being chased by the police in heavy traffic..
Coupled with lack of diligence in maintaining a car, i.e. servicing, tyres, lights etc etc people will have more accidents.
Friday/saturday night driving home from the pub seems to be the peak accident time, and then there are emergency vehicles causing accidents in built up areas, include illegal in car phone use and finally poor if any road repairs, these are the reasons for the increase IMHO.
The increase this report is banging on about refers to the increase from 2010 to 2011. It's circa 50 deaths, comparing two years. I suggest it has next to bugger all to tell us about road safety trends so I'm obviously not qualified for a select committee.
jimbobsimmonds said:
Boydie88 said:
sidaorb said:
Also as I've said before, 18 year old nephew trying to insure his 1st car, base model saxo £3500, VTR saxo £4000, which one is he going to choose.
How on earth are 17/18 year olds paying for these £3000+ policies?!(allegedly...)
Seriously though he earns nearly £18k a year, lives at home, all he has to pay for is his car and his nights out (after a smallish housekeeping amount to his mum) so £4k insurance is easy for him.
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