Are the police tackling the cause of accidents?

[El Cid]

What is the number one cause of accidents?

 

The main causes of death and injury on Irish roads remain speeding, drink driving and non-wearing of seat-belts .

 

Distracted driving continues to be the number one leading cause of car accidents in America.

 

According to a Department for Transport study, Contributory Factors to Road Accidents, 2005, the main causes of accidents are as follows:

 

Failure to look properly – 18%

Failure to judge another person's path/speed – 10%

Being careless, reckless or in a hurry – 9%

Poor turning/manoeuvring – 8%

Loss of control – 8%

Going too fast for conditions – 7%

Slippery road – 6%

Following too close – 4%

Sudden braking – 4%

 

I am aware of the police speed cameras, but speed is not the main cause of accidents, unless you live in Irland. What can the police do to make people see other road users, and not misjudge their path/speed?

[Xt500]

mate people cant even drive in a straight line anymore but ask them if they are good drivers and they will tell you they are.

Ask them a basic question like when do the lines in the middle of the road get longer they havnt a clue.

There is only one way forward and thats forced re education with grades.Grades will then force them and their insurers to take on board just how crap they are.

 

of course that isnt going to happen,the only thing we have judge on our driving is where the speedo points but most of us know in most cases its not an indicator of safe driving or indeed dangerous driving.It means speed not match to sign nothing more.

unfortunatly theres a lot of money being made from it and with conflicting interest.Its hardly likely to be stopped any time soon,infact the rate of capture has shot up over recent months.

this is pretty much all the road safety we have.....

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2863893/Ex-police-questioned-1-9million-paid-motorists-speed-awareness-courses-Crime-watchdogs-order-firms-open-books-investigate-murky-deal-struck-forces.html

 

As a driver its your duty to make sure you are armed with the knowledge and skills to keep you and other road users safe.many drivers know they fail miserably but they arnt made to do anything about it.

time it changed if you ask me.

[L00b]

I am aware of the police speed cameras, but speed is not the main cause of accidents, unless you live in Irland. What can the police do to make people see other road users, and not misjudge their path/speed?

speeding in Ireland is a main cause of death or injury, not accidents (per your own OP). I'd hazard a guess that the contributory factors there won't be much different to here, and that the main causes of death or injury in the UK won't be much different to the Irish ones

 

Though they are pretty shocking drivers alright, all things considered

 

On-topic: nothing much, it's a factor of ever-increasing congestion on non-expanding networks. Perhaps ramp up the penalties to really punitive levels (currently, they're pretty much slap-on-wrist TBH)? I never thought it would, but it has worked in France.

[Xt500]

speeding in Ireland is a main cause of death or injury, not accidents (per your own OP). I'd hazard a guess that the contributory factors there won't be much different to here, and that the main causes of death or injury in the UK won't be much different to the Irish ones

 

On-topic: nothing much, it's a factor of ever-increasing congestion on non-expanding networks. Perhaps ramp up the penalties to really punitive levels (currently, they're pretty much slap-on-wrist TBH)? I never thought it would, but it has worked in France.

 

i would want to see the details of a few accidents put down to speed before i took sweeping statements like speeding as the main cause of death or injury.Of course speed is involved in ALL accidents,but very few accidents are actually caused by it.

[El Cid]

i would want to see the details of a few accidents put down to.

 

24 percent of cars involved in accidents were speeding. Not sure if that means the cause of the accident was speed, it could be alcohol or lack of training.

If a driver without a licience has an accident whilst speeding, the cause of the accident must be poor training.

 

Is

Failure to look properly – 18%

Failure to judge another person's path/speed – 10%

lack of training, an excuse for speeding.

 

I dont think prevention is happening at all, just making people drive slower.

[Xt500]

24 percent of cars involved in accidents were speeding. Not sure if that means the cause of the accident was speed, it could be alcohol or lack of training.

If a driver without a licience has an accident whilst speeding, the cause of the accident must be poor training.

 

Is lack of training, an excuse for speeding.

 

I dont think prevention is happening at all, just making people drive slower.

 

24% lol where you get that on a speed course with the rest of the stuff they make up?

 

5.0% of all collisions involved a vehicle that was speeding

 

7.4% of KSI collisions involved a vehicle that was speeding

 

13.6% of fatal collisions involved a vehicle that was speeding

 

 

 

http://speedcamerareport.co.uk/01_speeding.htm

 

 

.

[L00b]

i would want to see the details of a few accidents put down to speed before i took sweeping statements like speeding as the main cause of death or injury.Of course speed is involved in ALL accidents,but very few accidents are actually caused by it.

nobody said speed was a cause of accident, don't conflate that with it being a cause of death/injury (the OP and my point).

 

If you look at the OP, you have speeding, drink driving and no seat bealt as causes of death, not accident. Either of the first two combined with the third is most likely to result in a worse outcome, all other factors being equal. Our bodies are not designed to withstand multi-G hard deceleration and trauma.

 

Either of two also decrease observational time and capacity, that said. Travelling fast, you don't have the same amount of time to process changing conditions and environment, so you just compensate with faster reaction times, and a greater amount of experience will help with that. Driving drunk, well...there wont be much spatial awareness and balance to begin with, never mind 'deadened' by the comforts of a modern car under way.

Edited December 8, 2014 by L00b

[Xt500]

nobody said speed was a cause of accident, don't conflate that with it being a cause of death/injury (the OP and my point).

 

If you look at the OP, you have speeding, drink driving and no seat bealt as causes of death, not accident. Either of the first two combined with the third is most likely to result in a worse outcome, all other factors being equal. Our bodies are not designed to withstand multi-G hard deceleration and trauma.[/QUOTE]

 

Which the seat belt aids greatly.

[aliceBB]

El Cid, please explain how you think the police can usefully 'tackle the causes of accidents' when your own citations demonstrate that the major causes of accidents (and therefore of injuries and deaths on the roads), are driver misjudgment, inexperience or arrogance.

 

What are the police supposed to do?

 

Surely the government has more relevant powers. They could (for example)

 

• make cycling in the UK far safer
  
• make the driving test more stringent
  
• insist that newly qualified drivers are accompanied for a year by someone over 30
  
• increase the penalties for drink driving and speeding (as a deterrent)
  
• prosecute doctors who sign off alleged whiplash cases without physical
  medical evidence
  
  • make in-car black boxes/cameras compulsory
    

   

  All the police can do is enforce the law.

Edited December 8, 2014 by aliceBB

[Xt500]

Please explain how you think the police can usefully 'tackle the causes of accidents' when your own citations demonstrate that the major causes of accidents (and therefore of injuries and deaths on the roads), are driver misjudgment, inexperience or arrogance.

 

What are the police supposed to do?

 

put them through a proper driving test adn grade them that manage to pass.The low grades will then have incentive not only to stop kidding themslefs,but reducate by insurance pressure.There is aposulutly no incentive in this country to go back and get further training,after all they all THINK they are good.