'Hypocrisy' of speeding middle-class motorists

[spindrift]

A speedophile is one attracted or addicted to going fast.

 

Ah, that word.

 

It sounds like a deliberate attempt to make ordinary "law-abiding" folk sound like some kind of child molesting monster, doesn't it?

 

Well, there is a grain of truth in that: many more children are killed on the roads every year than by child molesters, and of course almost all child abuse is perpetrated by someone known to the child, so the dangerous stranger really is the one in the car rat-running past the playground, but that's not what's behind the use of this word.

 

A speedophile is a particular type of driver.

 

 

The speedophile loves speed, just as the bibliophile loves books; do we complain that bibliophiles are child molesters? Or paediatricians? Or podiatrists? Well, maybe...

Who, me?

 

 

 

Many speedophiles oppose speed enforcement on libertarian grounds, although they are rarely open about this, preferring to use weak arguments about speed in some way not being related to safety on the roads, generally requiring misuse of statistics.

 

 

In the end, the laws of physics are pretty hard to escape.

 

The faster you go the less time you have to react, the more energy you have to dissipate in order to stop.

 

So, a speedophile is not an ordinary driver who occasionally exceeds the limit, they are someone who actively wants to drive fast.

 

The worst kind of speedophile is so obsessed by speed that Mr Sense has left the building. They are in the grip of the "speed imperative" - if a car is going slower than they want to, then they must overtake - if it's not safe then the slower driver has somehow "forced" them to do something dangerous. These are presumably the people who blow up speed cameras and ensure that multiply-convicted speeders have a higher than average crash rate, mileage adjusted.

 

Speedophiles often argue against speed enforcement.

 

 

They paint themselves as law-abiding drivers wronged by the system, though of course there is no such thing as a law-abiding speeder - how can there be?

 

Speeding is an offence.

 

A speedophile refuses to accept constraints on speed other than their own judgement, despite the well-documented fact that most drivers overestimate their own skill; the speedophile considers himself (and they are mostly men) to be an elite driver. One speedophile who was anxious to demonstrate the superior roadholding of his rear-wheel-drive car recently killed two young girls. The public roads are not exclusively inhabited by people protected by steel cages - or perhaps one of the 15% of drivers who are below average skill (85% of drivers think they are above average) might do something unexpected.

 

Above all the speedophile refuses to consider obeying the law as a "solution" to the "problem" of speed enforcement.

 

If you like to drive fast, I urge you to try a track day at a racetrack. Here you can find out what it's really like, probably without killing anyone in the process.

 

Of course, obeying the speed limit is also fraught with dreadful problems. What to do with the petrol money you save, what to do with the money you save on tyres, what to do with the money you save on fines - all problems for the non-speedophile. One thing, though - driving is much less stressful when you don't treat every journey as a competition.

 

↑ Consider: A hazard appears in front of you. You are going to brake at, for the sake of argument, the rate indicated by the stopping distance charts in the Highway Code. If you are doing 30mph your thinking and braking distances will have you stationary after about 23m. If you were originally doing 40mph, you would still be doing 30mph at that point, and you wouldn't stop for another 13m.

 

 

Of course, those figures are based on a Morris Minor. They are also based on perfect conditions - no loose gravel, water, diesel or any other contaminants on the road surface. Either way, if the hazard was between 23 and 36m away when you saw it, your speed alone makes the difference between stopping in time and not stopping in time.

 

 

 

That hazard might be a child.

 

 

 

 

Who cares if the child should not be there?

 

 

 

 

 

You still don't want to hit it.

 

 

 

 

http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/wiki/Speedophile

[DT Ralge]

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

 

They may acknowledge on the quiet that ZERO is unattainable but they can't think of a good reason not to try.

It is down to resources, so I guess the Swedes, typically, are prepared to devote more resources than we are in this country.

Some the work is necessarily funded by the likes of Volvo - did you know, for instance, that whenever a Volvo is involved in an injury collision within a 100km radius of Volvo's HQ, a team from Volvo is despatched to check out what they might do car-design-wise to prevent the next similar injury.

[Tony]

Plus those of us who admit to speeding.

 

A minority of us it seems from the poll. S'funny how it doesn't seem to be like that on the roads. Perhaps the yes/no option was confusing?

[1ofTheseDays]

A speedophile is one attracted or addicted to going fast.

 

Ah, that word.

 

It sounds like a deliberate attempt to make ordinary "law-abiding" folk sound like some kind of child molesting monster, doesn't it?

 

Well, there is a grain of truth in that: many more children are killed on the roads every year than by child molesters, and of course almost all child abuse is perpetrated by someone known to the child, so the dangerous stranger really is the one in the car rat-running past the playground, but that's not what's behind the use of this word.

 

A speedophile is a particular type of driver.

 

 

The speedophile loves speed, just as the bibliophile loves books; do we complain that bibliophiles are child molesters? Or paediatricians? Or podiatrists? Well, maybe...

Who, me?

 

 

 

Many speedophiles oppose speed enforcement on libertarian grounds, although they are rarely open about this, preferring to use weak arguments about speed in some way not being related to safety on the roads, generally requiring misuse of statistics.

 

 

In the end, the laws of physics are pretty hard to escape.

 

The faster you go the less time you have to react, the more energy you have to dissipate in order to stop.

 

So, a speedophile is not an ordinary driver who occasionally exceeds the limit, they are someone who actively wants to drive fast.

 

The worst kind of speedophile is so obsessed by speed that Mr Sense has left the building. They are in the grip of the "speed imperative" - if a car is going slower than they want to, then they must overtake - if it's not safe then the slower driver has somehow "forced" them to do something dangerous. These are presumably the people who blow up speed cameras and ensure that multiply-convicted speeders have a higher than average crash rate, mileage adjusted.

 

Speedophiles often argue against speed enforcement.

 

 

They paint themselves as law-abiding drivers wronged by the system, though of course there is no such thing as a law-abiding speeder - how can there be?

 

Speeding is an offence.

 

A speedophile refuses to accept constraints on speed other than their own judgement, despite the well-documented fact that most drivers overestimate their own skill; the speedophile considers himself (and they are mostly men) to be an elite driver. One speedophile who was anxious to demonstrate the superior roadholding of his rear-wheel-drive car recently killed two young girls. The public roads are not exclusively inhabited by people protected by steel cages - or perhaps one of the 15% of drivers who are below average skill (85% of drivers think they are above average) might do something unexpected.

 

Above all the speedophile refuses to consider obeying the law as a "solution" to the "problem" of speed enforcement.

 

If you like to drive fast, I urge you to try a track day at a racetrack. Here you can find out what it's really like, probably without killing anyone in the process.

 

Of course, obeying the speed limit is also fraught with dreadful problems. What to do with the petrol money you save, what to do with the money you save on tyres, what to do with the money you save on fines - all problems for the non-speedophile. One thing, though - driving is much less stressful when you don't treat every journey as a competition.

 

↑ Consider: A hazard appears in front of you. You are going to brake at, for the sake of argument, the rate indicated by the stopping distance charts in the Highway Code. If you are doing 30mph your thinking and braking distances will have you stationary after about 23m. If you were originally doing 40mph, you would still be doing 30mph at that point, and you wouldn't stop for another 13m.

 

 

Of course, those figures are based on a Morris Minor. They are also based on perfect conditions - no loose gravel, water, diesel or any other contaminants on the road surface. Either way, if the hazard was between 23 and 36m away when you saw it, your speed alone makes the difference between stopping in time and not stopping in time.

 

 

 

That hazard might be a child.

 

 

 

 

Who cares if the child should not be there?

 

 

 

 

 

You still don't want to hit it.

 

 

 

 

http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/wiki/Speedophile

 

You are the worst kind of campaigner. The way you go about it is counter-productive. Far too over zealous, and you irritate and alienate people that would agree with you.

[spindrift]

They may acknowledge on the quiet that ZERO is unattainable but they can't think of a good reason not to try.

It is down to resources, so I guess the Swedes, typically, are prepared to devote more resources than we are in this country.

Some the work is necessarily funded by the likes of Volvo - did you know, for instance, that whenever a Volvo is involved in an injury collision within a 100km radius of Volvo's HQ, a team from Volvo is despatched to check out what they might do car-design-wise to prevent the next similar injury.

 

"Volvos! They're boxy, but they're good!"

[pacman123]

"Volvos! They're boxy, but they're good!"

 

mmm...mine isn't...boxy,but yep it's good.!!!

[Cyclone]

A minority of us it seems from the poll. S'funny how it doesn't seem to be like that on the roads. Perhaps the yes/no option was confusing?

 

I don't think you can draw that conclusion. The poll is about hypocrisy, not about someones speeding behaviour.

I'll admit to speeding at times, but I wouldn't criticise someone speeding in the same situation, so no hypocrisy.

There are other times when I wouldn't speed, in most 30 zones for example, so there's still no hypocrisy if I criticise someone who is speeding in that situation.

[SnailyBoy]

I don't think you can draw that conclusion. The poll is about hypocrisy, not about someones speeding behaviour.

I'll admit to speeding at times, but I wouldn't criticise someone speeding in the same situation, so no hypocrisy.

There are other times when I wouldn't speed, in most 30 zones for example, so there's still no hypocrisy if I criticise someone who is speeding in that situation.

 

Think you've missed the OP's point.

 

For example......Would you criticise someone for having no Road Tax, Insurance, maybe someone who drinks and drives?

 

Now that's hypocrisy.

[alchresearch]

More road misery because of inappropriate driving:

 

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/transport/s/1313861_commuter_delays_after_van_crashes_on_m62_near_heywood?all_comments=1

 

All because one idiot didn't think to reduce their speed because of the bad weather and surface water.

[willman]

Yep its amazing how inappropriate driving causes deaths.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-10910658