'Hypocrisy' of speeding middle-class motorists

[spindrift]

Sorry, but I disagree with this entirely. There are many occasions where someone going faster than the posted speed limit has absolutely no impact on anyone else. .

 

The only possible way you could know for sure if this is true is if you went back along the road you had sped along and asked every other road user, pedestrian, cyclist, child, if you're speeding had intimidated, scared, bullied or harrassed any of them.

[HeadingNorth]

The only possible way you could know for sure if this is true is if you went back along the road you had sped along and asked every other road user, pedestrian, cyclist, child, if you're speeding had intimidated, scared, bullied or harrassed any of them.

 

It wouldn't matter anyway. There are many occasions when a drunk driver has absolutely no impact on anyone else, but we still don't allow drunk-driving.

[alchresearch]

Whats the view like up there on the moral high ground ?

 

So your so perfect you have never strayed a couple of miles over the speed limit .

 

Great comeback

[truman]

The independent has an interesting article today on oxfordshire's experience in the 5 days after they said they would on longer be using the speed cameras. What they found is that the number of people speeding increased 20%. this should be worrying for all of us it increases danger for other road users whether they are cyclists, pedestrians or other motor drivers

 

Obviously not in Swindon or do you think the motorists there are keeping to the limit...?

[jeppers]

When the day comes that there are zero crashes on the motorway in a day, then we can start to review the limits. But as long as people drive too fast and too close, nothing will ever change, and that's a damn shame.

 

I'm not sure we can ever realistically strive for a zero accident rate - there are too many uncertainties, and not just from a driver capability issue. You will never be able to stop mechanical failure/environmental influencers/animals/someone sneezing/being stung by a bee etc etc. The best we can do is properly train and educate drivers, and ensure the engineering of the highway is as good as it can be. Combine this with a well thought our speed limit, that is relevant to the environmental conditions, and monitored and policed appropriately.

[jeppers]

Again, this is untrue, we have one of the worst child casualty rates in Europe, the deaths and injuries young people suffer on the roads in the UK is a national disgrace.

 

You're talking rubbish.

 

Sorry spinny, but I'm not. You cannot pull out one particular subset of statistics just to denigrate the entire lot. There are multiple organisations that state that overall, UK roads are some of the safest in the world.

 

http://www.aneki.com/safest_roads.html (source: the World Health Organisation)

 

Wikipedia has multiple pages on the subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate (source: multiple)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_traffic_safety#KSI_by_country (source International Road Traffic and Accident Database)

 

From our own DFT

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.dft.gov.uk/about/faq?page=1

 

From a cyclist blogger based in the Netherlands

http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2009/05/worlds-safest-roads.html

 

I could go on....

 

The only possible way you could know for sure if this is true is if you went back along the road you had sped along and asked every other road user, pedestrian, cyclist, child, if you're speeding had intimidated, scared, bullied or harrassed any of them.

 

Sorry, but again, not true. On my way home tonight, I could quite easily go faster than the posted limit for a period of time, and if I was the only user on that stretch of road when I did it, then a victimless crime would have happened. No other road users, no pedestrians, just me and a car. The crime is going faster than the posted limit, but there would have been no victim.

 

Conversely, I could have stayed well within the speed limit previously on my journey, and quite happily have intimidated/bullied/scared harassed other road users and pedestrians - not speeding, but driving poorly and dangerously. All of which would not have been picked up by a speed camera.

 

People cannot honestly say that speeding is the cause and root of all of these problems, as it is wholly and totally dependant on the conditions and driver at the time. Road safety must be a combination of many tools, not just the big hammer that is a speed camera.

[spindrift]

I'm not sure we can ever realistically strive for a zero accident rate - .

 

Yes, we can.

 

That is exactly what Sweden are doing.

 

Whilst recognising zero road deaths is unachievable, they have produced fantastic results:

 

http://knowledge.allianz.com/en/globalissues/safety_health/road_safety/road_safety_vision_zero.html

[L00b]

Yes, we can.

 

That is exactly what Sweden are doing.

 

Whilst recognising zero road deaths is unachievable, they have produced fantastic results:

 

http://knowledge.allianz.com/en/globalissues/safety_health/road_safety/road_safety_vision_zero.html

So, they are using more roundabouts and sleeping policemen, to better 'control the kinetic energy' (i.e. speed) factor in crashes. Colour me impressed, why didn't UK authorities think of these...

 

...oh wait

[spindrift]

Sorry, but again, not true. On my way home tonight, I could quite easily go faster than the posted limit for a period of time, and if I was the only user on that stretch of road when I did it, then a victimless crime would have happened. .

 

Can you name a road where nobody would hear you speeding, nobody would see you speeding, nobody is walkiing, cycling or driving, trying to cross the road, walking on the pavement or trying to get to sleep in a house within earshot of you speeding?

 

Thought not.

 

You claimed the UK has the safest roads in Europe.

 

You are wrong, and claiming children to be a "subset" is pretty distasteful, I would suggest that the number of children killed or seriously injured on our roads (Fifteen. Every day) is a national disgrace.

 

Britain has fallen well down the European league table on road safety, despite being on course to meet its own targets for 2010, according to figures released by the Department for Transport.

 

A decade ago Britain had the best road safety record in Europe. By 2006 it had fallen to fifth place behind Malta, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway. Even Germany and France, countries where the road death rate was traditionally much higher, have almost caught up with Britain.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6135983.ece

 

 

It is ten times more dangerous to cycle in the Uk than Denmark.

 

The UK has one of the worst child pedestrian fatality rates in Europe with 1.3 deaths per 100,000 children - 15 children are killed or seriously hurt each day on its roads.

 

 

Put it this way, the murder of children by paedophiles happens around 8 times a year, a shocking figure.

 

Twice that number are killed or seriously injured every day on the roads.

 

What gets more press coverage?

 

You're in denial jeppers, there is no room for complacency on the carnage wrought on our roads and the injuries and deaths inflicted on the most vulnerable among us.

[truman]

 

Put it this way, the murder of children by paedophiles happens around 8 times a year, a shocking figure.

 

Twice that number are killed or seriously injured every day on the roads.

 

 

I wondered when we'd get round to comparing motorists with paedophiles...I think it's becoming a new "Godwin's Law"...