RE: Government blamed for increase in road deaths

RE: Government blamed for increase in road deaths

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Discussion

carinaman

21,224 posts

171 months

Wednesday 18th July 2012
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Didn't the ONS slap down some govt. dept. last year for misusing statistics?

The ONS act like the IPCC but correct and rebuke government departments when they use statistics incorrectly?

KM666

1,757 posts

182 months

Wednesday 18th July 2012
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Oooh i'm aged between 16 and 24.

Had a big slide today coming off a roundabout, I can only assume there was oil or diesel on the road as I wasnt speeding (heavy traffic) although I did take the correct route around the island whereas everybody else cuts into lane 2 to go straight on (traffic calming roundabouts really, but big ones with designated lanes) so assume I got caught out by the residues left by a lorry (who also take the correct route around the island to get the swing angle for the trailers). No damage to the car, and happened at such low speeds it was more startling than scary, still it managed a 270 degree spin even at 25mph.

I blame the gov't myself.

KimZ

225 posts

213 months

Wednesday 18th July 2012
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?? Bloody useless TSC and their equally useless statistics/conclusions! Does this take into account the annual increase in population and as someone hinted at earlier, does it include non-impact road deaths too?? (Bloke died in a petrol station forecourt just around the corner t'other day, poor chap, just flaked out in the driving seat). The demographics would make interesting reading.

ellisd82

685 posts

207 months

Wednesday 18th July 2012
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Government and statistics mentioned - Moves swiftly on...

heebeegeetee

28,591 posts

247 months

Wednesday 18th July 2012
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Tyre Tread said:
Further to my ealier post I have been pondering what would happen to the number of road deaths if it was announced that as from midnight tonight any pedestrians that were hit whilst on the road would be held responsible.
There'd be a huge increase in deaths of pedestrians, because only bad drivers have problems with pedestrians and so your idea would be giving the opportunity for bad drivers to become worse.

I also believe a significant number of pedestrians are killed on the pavement.

boxerTen

501 posts

203 months

Wednesday 18th July 2012
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A process which produces 'events' at random intervals and which in a year averages 1900 such events has a standard deviation roughly equal to sqrt(1900), that is about 43.5.

Two standard deviations from the mean is usually regarded as the point at which something becomes significant, in this case that's 87 events. Since the difference was 50 odd thats well inside what would be regarded as significant.

Nothing to see here. Move on.

Dischordant

603 posts

200 months

Wednesday 18th July 2012
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Maybe because of the crappy weather - be it snow/ice/rain it's all seemed to be on the increase.

I don't know about you but I find weather effects my driving more than who happens to be PM + Any political changes take god knows how long to have an effect any way - it certainly wouldn't be evident yet. Odd thing to comment on.

RoadRaider

102 posts

161 months

Wednesday 18th July 2012
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On road death numbers coming down, this figure is misleading. Collisions are UP, but So is SURVIVING due to almost universal use of airbags. Very serious injuries have shown a rise; where a driver would previously have been killed they now are VSI instead. We haven't got any better at driving, but the cars have got better at crashing. Sadly no good news for bikers; it's still poor.

MadDog1962

890 posts

161 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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Lies, damned lies, and statistics...

This story is just more crap from the anti-car lefties. They won't be happy until they get the red flag act re-introduced and the motorway limit is 50mph.

CV35Ian

16 posts

164 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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Road deaths up, think this is possibly a cunning Cameron lead plan so they can get the blanket 50mph speed limit through.............

Not surprised really!

2mad

180 posts

178 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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It's the Governments thought to many u- turns , every one's going around in circles.

motorheadstu

2 posts

157 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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[quote=Dischordant]Maybe because of the crappy weather - be it snow/ice/rain it's all seemed to be on the increase.

Totally agree, weather is the most likely cause for a rise in accidents over a 1 year period
Stu

Johnnytheboy

24,498 posts

185 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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0a said:
Tak


As you can see the last 2 years have been well below the falling trendline.
My own feeling is that the downward trend since the 60s has been predominantly down to improvements in vehicle safety/pedestrian protection.

Maybe the continued recession combined with the shortlived scrappage scheme explains a sudden dip then levelling out in the casualty rate?

Or else it's all within the range of normal fluctuation.

Hatchoo

211 posts

202 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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Louise Ellman, chair of the Transport Committee. "It is shocking that road accidents are the main cause of death amongst young adults aged 16-24."

Is this shocking? She does realise that there has to be a "main cause of death amongst young adults aged 16-24" doesn't she?

Given that the number by which deaths have increased is so small that it's statistically irrelevant and that this age group is not particularly vulnerable to death from other causes except suicide this story seems like not much of a story.

What it does do is help ramp up support for the reduction of rural speed limits. This crappy statistic WILL be quoted in defence of those proposals.

Edited by Hatchoo on Thursday 19th July 11:38

allsop83

113 posts

189 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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There are a lot of good points on this thread- the state of the roads, poor road policing, the whole "speed kills" nonsense (inappropriate speed kills- not just generalised speed)

I have been caught, paid fines...but ALL on clear dual carriageways at 85-90mph with good visibility and light traffic in a well maintained vehicle....the people that do 30-40 mph through town centres that are LITTERED with people and kids "because that's the limit" are the problem.

The same people that sit at 45mph on national speed sections of road and then when they reach the town village that drops to 30mph they don't even drop their speed! Where's the sense in that?

But the singlemost problem I see is nobody "cares" about the standard of their driving. I enjoy driving, and so, pride myself on being a good driver- a responsible driver and continue to try and improve where I can. Most people don't give a st whether they are a good driver or not, they are selfish and don't care what pains or issues they create for people around them on the roads- they only care that they get where they want.

Going back to the fog scenareo- how many do you guys see in fog or dim lighting flying about with no lights on? I have actually travelled with some of these idiots:

"mate, it's a big foggy eh- not want your lights on?"

"why- I can see far enough"

"yeah, but nobody else can see you!"

"that's their problem"

NO- it's your fking problem! I'm not a biker but if there's one thing that helps avoiding other's stupidity it is to make sure you are seen....

Right, better go cool off- I could go on all day....

hairykrishna

13,159 posts

202 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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RoadRaider said:
Very serious injuries have shown a rise; where a driver would previously have been killed they now are VSI instead.
Doesn't seem to be reflected in the stats, serious injuries follow much the same trend as deaths;



I think it'd probably make more sense if they lumped them together with deaths. In a serious crash death vs major injury probably has a great deal more to do with luck and the promptness of medical attention than it does to road safety.


iain1970

239 posts

161 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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Don't forget that the UK population has grown massively in the last 30 years or so, just as the road death and injury figures have decreased. It's a blip.

Louise Ellman would prefer the main cause of death for certain age groups to be something she isn't associated with.

irocfan

40,153 posts

189 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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MadDog1962 said:
Lies, damned lies, and statistics...

This story is just more crap from the anti-car lefties. They won't be happy until they get the red flag act re-introduced and the motorway limit is 50mph.
you're being too generous there - 50??? That's just lunacy!!! Cars should go no faster than the average human can run ... EVER!!!

robinessex

11,046 posts

180 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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If you drive to fast, you get fined, 'cos doing so will cause an accident. Cause/have an accident, and it's highly unlikely you'll get a summons at all unless it's a biggie. Lady rear ended me on the M4, wrote my car of. No injuries. Cops just happened to be a few vehicles behind. Ascertained we were both insured, MOT, driving license, not been drinking/drugs. Made sure we exchanged insurance info. Lady admitted she was going to fast, and couldn't stop. Cops not interested in issuing any sort of traffic offence/summons whatsoever.

zebedee

4,589 posts

277 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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robinessex said:
If you drive to fast, you get fined, 'cos doing so is administratively simple and will generate revenue
Edited that for you...