D.ckheads in "lesser" vehicles

[zarjaz1991]

gregf40 said:

You don't have kids do you?

Irrelevant. Emotion has no place in discussions of car crashes, it simply muddies the water.

[Durzel]

Adults and OAPs in particular have lived at least a reasonable portion of a life, children have not. Children are also innocent and likely have no agency about being in the vehicle whereas adults could choose to put themselves in a risky situation that could result in loss of life.

It is objectively worse when there is an accident involving 4 children vs 4 OAPs. An extreme example for sure, and both situations are tragic, but one is manifestly worse. I don't think you even need to be a parent to recognise that. This fact does not diminish the respective grief of friends & family left behind in such a situation.

What a thread tangent..

Edited by Durzel on Wednesday 22 July 14:24

[V8KSN]

zarjaz1991 said:

Why throw the "young family of four" bit in?

Are accidents somehow worse when it's a young family involved?

Am I ok to drive like a tit as long as I only crash into a single bloke with no passengers?

I think the point is that as car driving ADULTS we are collectively responsible for the safety of ourselves and others.

If two adults get into a car crash (for example) because they were racing on the road or one of them was doing something else irresponsible then that is a sad situation that could have been avoided if the adults behaved like adults.

If in the same scenario they have an accident and affect the lives of some kids then yes, that is substantially worse than if they just 'took themselves out' in a crash.

Surely you can understand that?

[zarjaz1991]

V8KSN said:

I think the point is that as car driving ADULTS we are collectively responsible for the safety of ourselves and others.

If two adults get into a car crash (for example) because they were racing on the road or one of them was doing something else irresponsible then that is a sad situation that could have been avoided if the adults behaved like adults.

If in the same scenario they have an accident and affect the lives of some kids then yes, that is substantially worse than if they just 'took themselves out' in a crash.

Surely you can understand that?

None of that relates to what was said, which wash simply that an accident could happen involving a family of four, and I question the need to specify a family of four as opposed to just an accident in general. It implies that such things aren't actually that important unless children are involved, which is a commonly used tactic and one which I deplore.

[mattf93]

zarjaz1991 said:

None of that relates to what was said, which wash simply that an accident could happen involving a family of four, and I question the need to specify a family of four as opposed to just an accident in general. It implies that such things aren't actually that important unless children are involved, which is a commonly used tactic and one which I deplore.

Well I think your attitude is deplorable. People made valid points and you sought to cause grief when its completely unnecessary imo.

[mrloudly]

Valid points from both camps there. It does however, rightly or wrongly, for me, pull at the heartstrings more on reading that youngsters have been killed in accidents.
I think we can all agree, nobody wants to see anybody hurt, or indeed killed, in road traffic collisions. Just remember folks, don't pull silly overtakes in "Lesser Cars" on Supercars just for bragging rights!

[rubystone]

zarjaz1991 said:

Why throw the "young family of four" bit in?

Are accidents somehow worse when it's a young family involved?

Am I ok to drive like a tit as long as I only crash into a single bloke with no passengers?

Just a family of 4? You'd get off lightly. That road is well known for the large population of nuns using it as a pilgrimage route.

[zarjaz1991]

mattf93 said:

Well I think your attitude is deplorable.

I find bringing emotional attachments (notably children) into an argument deplorable.

[Wilder]

Funniest thing I ever saw was on a hot and busy Friday evening in August a few years back (lots of people about doing the rounds of the many bars in the area) I came up behind a Ford Capri 1.6 that was at the traffic lights on Lord Street in Southport Lancs, on the outside of as Aston v8 Volante. The Capri had 3 occupants, and the driver of the Capri was looking over at the driver of the Aston. He was reving the engine so much thatit was bouncing off the rev limiter, with his janspeed exhaust spitting and popping for good measure.. The V8 blipped a couple of times ( sounded like a Rotweiller gargling with petrol) and the lights turned green. In a cloud of white smoke the Capri fishtailed away from the lights, nearly hitting the central reservation bollard as he took off, whilst the Aston simply flicked his indicator left and turned off at a sedate 5 mph. All time classic, and the perfect response to a chav menace.

[Wilder]

davek_964 said:

The OP does seem to have got a pretty hard time in this thread.

Of course there are bad drivers in all types of cars, from Robin Reliants to LaFerraris. But it is also a fact that if you're driving a "supercar" you are much more likely to have somebody glued to your rear bumper and desperate to overtake you than if you're driving a Ford Focus.

The best example I had was several years ago when a people carrier seemed to be attached to the rear of my car in a 60mph limit. As we approached a 30mph limit, I obviously braked - not emergency stop type braking by any means but I certainly used brakes to slow down rather than gradual engine braking. At the next set of traffic lights, the driver got out of the car and started shouting abuse at me (and threatening to hit me) because I'd caused him to brake hard, and he had his young kids in the car!

I did try pointing out that if he had young kids in the car he probably should leave a sensible gap to the car in front but that didn't seem to get through.

Completely agree. I only twice had anyone wanting to race, but one in particular was insane..I had some kids with a Honda Civic type R driving so dangerously to get past me on a country road, I had to slow down for them to get past or he would for sure have totalled the car, probably killing himself and the 2 others with him. All because I was in a chrome Ultima GTR and as mentioned by others, any performance car is seen as a trophy to some...insane logic

Edited by Wilder on Thursday 23 July 20:17

[zarjaz1991]

That's another good one...why should people leave a bigger gap from the car in front because it, or they, have a child on board?

Those "keep back, child in board" stickers are the epitome of that.

So, it's quite ok to tailgate someone if there are no children in either car? What sort of crap is this? And people seem to spout it in all sincerity.

[purpleperil]

[Pooh]

That picture reminds me of when I was on a slow speed classic car convoy run with my TVR S and I was overtaken by a Reliant Robin, when we got back to the site I met the driver and he was absolutely over the moon that he had overtaken a TVR.

[davek_964]

zarjaz1991 said:

That's another good one...why should people leave a bigger gap from the car in front because it, or they, have a child on board?

Those "keep back, child in board" stickers are the epitome of that.

So, it's quite ok to tailgate someone if there are no children in either car? What sort of crap is this? And people seem to spout it in all sincerity.

No, however if an adult feels that the fact they had to brake hard is unreasonable enough to threaten violence because THEY had THEIR children in the car then THEY should be leaving a gap that THEY think is safe and leaves reasonable stopping distance.

[gregf40]

zarjaz1991 said:

That's another good one...why should people leave a bigger gap from the car in front because it, or they, have a child on board?

Those "keep back, child in board" stickers are the epitome of that.

So, it's quite ok to tailgate someone if there are no children in either car? What sort of crap is this? And people seem to spout it in all sincerity.

You need to get over the fact people care more about children than adults. Seriously.

[Wilder]

Agreed , these dumb stickers would be more representative if they said the truth "back off - arrogant dhead on board"

[br d]

I think Marge Simpson said something like "We should get one of those 'Baby on Board' stickers so people don't deliberately crash into us."

[KFC]

I don't quite know the answer and I don't care to think about it enough but I'd rather crash into a bus load of OAPS and kill all 20 of them, than crash into a bus with 20 school children and wipe them all out. Just first instinct is the kids one would be worse, even if I didn't know any of them.

How many kids equal an OAP though Not sure if I could decide if it was only a Picasso full of 5 year olds v a minibus of wrinklies..

[Wilder]

Ok from a totally neutral point of view reading some replies here, I find the fact that based on a bumper sticker, people are willing to speculate as to who should live or die in a crash on the basis of supposed worth or merit (if you have to choose) staggeringly arrogant and awful. Just because some have kids and some don't, and because some think others have lived long enough already, I find that pretty despicable

Edited by Wilder on Tuesday 4th August 19:52

[fatboy18]

Beni997 said:

The main problem with owning a supercar is that you get an awful lot of people who want to race you and it goes from Vauxhall corsa's to super bikes and for one I'm not interested in racing you

No its not just owning a Supercar, its more a case of having something you don't see on the roads every day

My second car in the 1980s was a 1976 Chevy Camaro, at almost every set of lights people wanted to race me to prove a point. The Camaro had a single carb 4.1 straight six engine, Performance was not great, the car weighed a ton but it looked good At the time XR3i's had just come out, the amount of them that wanted to race was an absolute joke!

Then the Dax Tojeiro (cobra replica), same thing, hot hatchbacks wanting you to perform at any given opportunity. What annoyed the hell out of me is when I put my foot down and the bloody thing coughed and spluttered and I got beat by the peugeot 205!

But here's the thing, one of the reasons I love Pistonheads is it covers pretty much every car, we all started off in what one might call a lesser car and worked our way up the ladder. My Son now has a Kia Picanto (cheap road tax and insurance) but he is itching to climb the ladder to get something a bit faster

There is always something faster out there, (might not have the pedigree of a prancing horse) but as long as they don't cut you up I normally find myself smiling and remembering working my way up that ladder to what I wanted (Still saving for an additional Saleen S7)