Friday 27th July 2001

Speeding is Rife

Government persists with tunnel vision on speeding

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[ian]

I don''t think anyone would abject to camera outside schools hospitals and so on, but most cameras seem to be placed where they will catch the most drivers who are just enjoying a drive on quiet roads!

[cjn]

Speeding in dangerous situations is not acceptable - eg outside schools. The only reason people are stopped for speeding on fast A roads & motorways is because such ridiculously low limits are set. If more reasonable limits were set, then they wopuld have more chance of being adhered to. Yet again the govenment targets the soft option - the dirver. Double yellow line parking cameras are next. Why don't people get fixed penalty notices for littering when they can be easily seen on CCTV? Because we don't all have registration number round our necks & we'd be hard to track down. Target the motorist they're soft targets!! CJ

[martin]

It would be interesting to see the actual analysis of just where these accidents happen, who is involved and circumstances surrounding the accident. Without the information it will be difficult to judge and comment on how best to tackle the problem. Placing camaras everywhere is not the answer neither is the overall reduction in speed limits. If ALL camaras were situated for safety and not revenue reasons, then I think a lot more people would tend to pay more attention to their speed.

[mel]

Hmmmmmmmm roughly 0.0015% of the population killed by speeding yet 66% of us do it. I'd say acceptable we've all got to go sometime and thats as good a way as any. Edited by mel on Friday 27th July 16:01

[den]

Today, for the first time, I saw a speeding warning that actually made sense.... "Inappropriate speed is dangerous" Well done Croydon Council, for recognising that it isn't speed per-say that is dangerous.

[ginettafan]

I wish we could make the Government understand this. Unfortuneately, we need speed limits because the majority of people can not drive. I have been on several performance driving tests and it is frightening what you do not see when using the std. test. The IAM test should be the minimum with regualr retraining.

[g-force]

Hell, the motorist is treated like a criminal from the moment he/she gets into their car. Why don't they just shoot us all now and be done with it? Seriously though speeding is bad news when it is not appropriate, i.e. in dense fog, outside of schools, in built-up areas in general. But what is wrong with doing +90mph on a motorway when conditions are perfect and traffic is low? Nothing as far as I can see. Surely these roads are built with high speed transport in mind? If we are trained to drive a vehicle capable of speed then surely we should be allowed to exercise educated judgment on what speed is appropriate for the conditions. The Government saying that speeding is the cause of many accidents shows that they are misinformed and blind to the other factors which cause accidents. It seems that time is ripe for a review of what should be classed as "speeding" and a look at how stupid some of our speed limits are, or the Government and the Police will be further alienated and disliked by the motoring public. Edited by g-force on Friday 27th July 17:07

[jatrichardson]

Arseholes! The researchers in Transport Research Laboratory report TRL 323 looked at almost 3000 police accident reeports and found that excessive speed accounted for only 7.3% of the 6000 causal factors, well behind observation and judgement related causes. [Extracted from the ABD Web Site]

[Dave_H]

I think the speed kills thing is all part of the dumbing down of this country. I'm sure most of us here only speed when the conditions are right (Saftey-fast, the old MG motto)common sense however, seems to have gone from every day life with most of the UK,people do the most dumbest things on the road, I'm sure everyone here meets some dimwit on the road each day. And because of this, we all get treated like pond life. It's not fair, but I dont think it's an arguement us petrolheads are going to win And all the time the speed kills propaganda/accident stats are around, the likes of us get stung by insurance co's because we have sports cars, and are seen to be the cause of the problem.

[Enochian23]

Research?! What research?! Show me the figures, tell me how they were calculated. What size was the group? Did it represent all road users? Any scientist will tell you, depending on how your 'couch' your initial question will dictate what sort of statistic you get at the end of a study. Any vague reference to a study - without quoting references is simply bad science. It they tried these tactics with a good peer review they simply wouldn't be published at all.

[willf]

I think this is simply disgusting. The government are putting the ability to cash in on speeding ahead of road safety. How can such a blatant and dangerous act be allowed. Approx 4 to 6% of all road accidents have excessive speed factored into them. Why ignore the fact that driver training and education, better roads, signs and road markings will be far more help in this challenge? Accidents are cause mostly be careless driving, not paying attention, poor roads etc. But due to Mr Blair not being able to make money out of this they are NOT ADDRESSED!. This simply is sickening and cannot be allowed, how long can the government go on making money out of motoring and not concentrate on road safety? I am sorry but the public have had enough and simply will not comply to the lie that "Speed" is simply the only killer on our roads, it is not. And with comments such as the governments they have led the way into making the roads a more dangerous place to be.

[Bjwoods]

Of the the excessive speed accident related deaths: I wonder how many are: excessive speed and DRUNK excessive speed and STOLEN Car excessive speed and STONED etc, maybe that would be more meaningful. Government ministers in my opinion are just dumb with no understanding of issues, just parroting whoevr briefed them from departments at the mecy of various lobbying. Time to buy something too slow to get a speeding ticket :-( B

[campbell]

I think im luky, i drive 140 miles a day round trip work and back home and the type of road i use varies from contry lanes to bizy single A roads to duel carrage ways then in to city stile of driving and for the past year and a half i have done about 40000 miles and i havent been flashed be one of those money making contraptions of stoped for speeding but ive past plenty of police. Ive seen pleaty of small to serious accedents and non of them speed related, more like the weather or some one falling asleep at the wheel but we all need more education as drivers no mater how good we all think we are and also bloady predestines need there heads sorted and respect the road a bite more and put some sensible adverts on the TV and stop making the drvers look the guily ones. Thanks

[steveab]

There was a posting some time back stating that one intelligent county had a decent speeding camgain, stating something like 'inappropriate speeding kills', which I think that vast majority os us would agree. I would like nothing more than to see more speed cameras in 30 zones, ie housing estates, near schools etc. It would then stop those tossers that cause these accidents. I read some stats about the number of fatal accidents and a high percentage of those are in the 30 and 40 zones. Not motorways. Again sticking cameras on motorways and other good, wide, high visibility roads is an absolute farce. I will admit to doing 80 or 90 on a motorway or 'A' road but anyone that screams around housing estates at 40 - 50 should have their genitals stapled to their head. You know who you are, you RS turbo, XR3i, loud stereo, drain pipe exhaust w*nkers!!! Disgruntled of Milton Keynes. Steve

[smeagol]

Couldn't agree more.

[Jason F]

If many accidents happen in a 30mph limit then for a fatality to occur I`d assume it is a Pedestrian meets car situation, and this is on the Road.. If the Govt is so concerned about 3500 deaths p.a. then why not train kiddies to cross the road safely ? I am often tailgated in a 30mph limit, and overtaken too, but this is mainly by middle aged gents in their BMW or Merc. Edited by Jason F on Sunday 26th August 09:17

[Jazz]

When I bought the Cerbera, I had no experience of driving anything but a Citreon AX gti. So training was a must! I work in IT and finance and through this site I found the High Performance Course. John Lyon is based in Liecestershire and is easily found. When you have done the course you can join the club. http://www.hpc.org.uk hope this is of use. Jazz PS My wife Veena has done the ADI course! cheaper and faster motoring for all! http://www.transnational.co.uk/hpc/index.asp Edited by Jazz on Sunday 26th August 12:26

[steveab]

Jazz, I would agree totaly, I started to do the ADI training a while ago (actually before I bought my Tiv) but ran out of momentum. Will certainly give your chap a look into since my driving experience was limited to euroboxs (oh and a one day rally course at Silverstone). Also my Chim swapped ends a couple of months back in the wet, so decent training is a must. In response to Jason F's, comment. Hmm, yes I know the type, just because I'm driving a high performance car, doesn't me I drive like a tw$t!!. You can see the expression on their faces when you stick the speed limit. The best part is when you get back into 60+ teritory, then hey-presto, they dissapear in dust!!! Steve

[Fatboy]

How can raising the driving age help? All it does is mean that 21 year olds will not have any driving experience - it doesn't really change anything, it just moveas the problem back a bit. A better system would be one that I heard operates in parts of the US: You can start to learn to drive at 16, same rules as UK (R plate, qualified driver beside you etc), and take your test whenever you are ready. Once you have passed your driving test, you cannot drive without a qualified adult beside you for 12 months, meaning that you have had at least 12 months driving experience before you ever get to drive unsupervised - surely that would do more to reduce accidents. Oh that and a slightly better test of course! Edited by Fatboy on Monday 27th August 15:44

[steveab]

Agreed, Or do the same thing that the motorbike test allows. Ie 17 - 21 limited to say 1600cc