Speed Kills . . ?
Author
Discussion

ben

Original Poster:

2,344 posts

268 months

Friday 27th February 2004
quotequote all
Driving near Nottingham yesterday I passed a number of signs reminding me that "speed kills". This was on a long stretch of road where it was easy to do well over a ton (60 limit).
As I was sitting behind an Omega doing a steady 40 mph, I realised that "speed doesn't kill", its people who are too scared to go fast that kill. This car was forcing me and the tail of pissed off drivers to try and overtake in small gaps.
Why drive so slow? Surely they should leave later if they are going anywhere.
Anybody agree?

count duckula

1,324 posts

295 months

Friday 27th February 2004
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The person in front may have a valid reason for driving slowly, but I agree 100% the speed kills mantra is bo11ocks, inappropriate speed for the conditions/road is more of an issue.

Malc

JMGS4

8,876 posts

291 months

Friday 27th February 2004
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It should read
SPEED KILLS...... the incompetent!

RichardD

3,608 posts

266 months

Friday 27th February 2004
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ben said:
Why drive so slow? ...


Also, some people are just too daft/oblivious/ignorant to make decent progress. This isn't good with an ageing population who are going to insist on the "right to drive". Hence as many others have said on PH - we are all getting dragged down to the lowest level...

A couple of days ago it seemed as though I encountered queueing traffic as my speed ended up as about 28mph in a 70 zone! It ended up as someone who had slowed down for the forthcoming 40 zone a tad too early. Grrrrrrr...

PetrolTed

34,461 posts

324 months

Friday 27th February 2004
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Perhaps he did leave later

dnb

3,330 posts

263 months

Friday 27th February 2004
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Inappropriate speed kills.

The trouble is that the preachers out there leave off the first word

leosayer

7,652 posts

265 months

Friday 27th February 2004
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Those signs annoy me intensely. I often drive through a village that sits on a nice stretch of b-road.

I slow down for the village and half way through come across a sign saying "SPEED KILLS - SLOW DOWN". I'm already doing 25mph FFS and there isn't a pedestrian in sight!!!

james_j

3,996 posts

276 months

Friday 27th February 2004
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A menace like that trundling along at below the limit really should be aware of the tailback behing them and move over to let people past.

But of course this rarely happens, my guess is that such drivers either don't care or are oblivious.

david_s

7,960 posts

265 months

Friday 27th February 2004
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Speed NEVER kills, it is the slowing down part that is dangerous ie the rapid deceleration that usually follows an impact. As long as your speed remains constant then the actual value of that speed does not matter.

ben

Original Poster:

2,344 posts

268 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
quotequote all
Good to see I am not the only one then ...

Dwight VanDriver

6,583 posts

265 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
quotequote all
Too much aggression with you guys.

Settle down and read:

http://tinyurl.com/2jedz

... now that's a balanced view is it not?

DVD
(departs whistling the tune to The Blue Lamp....)

mrmaggit

10,146 posts

269 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
quotequote all
ben said:
Driving near Nottingham yesterday I passed a number of signs reminding me that "speed kills". This was on a long stretch of road where it was easy to do well over a ton (60 limit).
As I was sitting behind an Omega doing a steady 40 mph, I realised that "speed doesn't kill", its people who are too scared to go fast that kill. This car was forcing me and the tail of pissed off drivers to try and overtake in small gaps.
Why drive so slow? Surely they should leave later if they are going anywhere.
Anybody agree?


A453, perchance?

Only 25 years late with the dual carriageway. At least three fatals a year, nearly all due to cross-turners or impatience. Only two since I left school due to excessive speed, one of those was in '77, killed a schoolmate of mine, four in a car, left road on the sweeping left-hander just before the hill starts going into Nottingham. But then again, it could just have been driver inexperience and knackered suspension.

Peter Ward

2,097 posts

277 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
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DVD's quote from the Times's editorial concludes:

"...but, in the end, the individual behind the wheel has the lives of others in his or her hands."

I think this is what we've been saying for years. The right attitude is needed. Those who are too aggressive -- or too timid -- need weeding out before they take their driving test.

Overall, I thought the editorial was rather too much on the side of the government for once, but perhaps they assume that the stats for every camera will demonstrate their necessity and efficacy. It will be very interesting to see how many cameras are removed just before the stats are published....

Don

28,378 posts

305 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
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That Times editorial is tosh - hardly a balanced view.

They blithely accept that cameras are only placed in proper locations - suggesting that accountability will weed out the few that are not.

Well I can't ing wait because I'll bet it's not "just a few" that need moving.

Then there's the definition of the location, itself. Its so broad that a camera literally miles from an incident zone can be claimed to be at the location.

Then there are mobile units - these, as far as I can tell, as simply placed where they catch people. There may be guidelines - but that's what they are. You can't have a conviction quashed after an appeal based on the fact the mobile van should not have been where it was. If you could we would start to have accountability.

I also get the feeling that it is with some consternation and dissappointment that the writer grudgingly aknowledges that the public no longer believe the lies and twaddle put out by the SCPs and that something must be done to win back public opinion and respect for the law.

How about some reasonable speed limits? How about an independent body to set them. How about enforcement by officers of traffic law - concentrating on dangerous driving not simply speed.

This supposed "balanced view" suggests too little, too late. I have no problem with taking responsibility for safety on the road - I expect it of myself and other drivers - but I have had enough of technical offences being used to raise cash.

The SCPs are businesses and we are the mugs who pay. I will not be satisfied until every last SCP has been disbanded, every GATSO reduced to molten slag and we have enough traffic officers with a more sensible mandate to deal with the problems of joyriding, dangerous driving and careless and incompetent driving.

Peter Ward

2,097 posts

277 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
quotequote all
Don said:
The SCPs are businesses and we are the mugs who pay.

I think this is going to be a serious problem over the next few years. The SCPs are funded entirely by fines, and their empires are growing exponentially. What happens if the government/police modify the country's approach to speeding? The SCPs will scream very loudly, not because of safety but because of their empires. This is built into the way the government has allowed them to keep the fines.

We've already heard the first murmurings of threatened SCPs: "It would be a brave chief constable who authorised the removal of the camera located there". What will we see before this is done? All because the system requires a level of "criminality" to function.

B 7 VP

633 posts

263 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
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So how do you convince the population, that Govt stats are the truth, the whole----.Never again will we believe any stats they produce.They are compulsive liars, served by liar speak Depts.

B 7 VP

633 posts

263 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
quotequote all
So how do you convince the population, that Govt stats are the truth, the whole----.Never again will we believe any stats they produce.They are compulsive liars, served by liar speak Depts.

WildCat

8,369 posts

264 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
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Wow Don!



Way to go!

Agree 102% (to use the Scammers' Maths and Stats functions! )

andyps

7,819 posts

303 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
quotequote all
What got me the other day was one sign saying "speed kills" shortly followed by another saying "kill your speed". Was I supposed to slam the brakes on and come to an immediate standstill - that seems to be what the second sign was saying. And that was on the A1.

I decided there was enough "killing" going on with the signs and that "killing my speed" would be dangerous so i carried on.

The other thought was that accelerating would kill the speed I was doing so would that be ther ight thing to do?

Lets have some signs that make sense and tell the truth please.

Andy

cortinaman

3,230 posts

274 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
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Peter Ward said:
We've already heard the first murmurings of threatened SCPs: "It would be a brave chief constable who authorised the removal of the camera located there".



just shows again how wrong the scp are.....it would only take a pished-off member of the public with access to either lots of old tyres and a load of old petrol or a scania artic and a thick metal chain to remove them from any place they wanna put them.......hmmmmmm.....seems to me that the most obvious people to put into the office of 'official revinue scamera removal operations' should be given to the auto salvage industry......and then individual breakers could sell tickets to anyone who wants to rip the bugger out the ground with 50% of the removal fee being given to a worthwhile charity.....like the nspcc as they fight people who REALY cause serious injuries and deaths to innocent kids and there isnt a fecking speeder in sight!

>> Edited by cortinaman on Saturday 28th February 23:44