Speed Cameras

[Big Jim]

I don't really want to get drawn into a debate about speed cameras etc. I don't have any problem with them sited anywhere near schools, hospitals, old folks homes and the like, what I do have a problem with is the ones sited as cash collectors and the so-called reason for them in the first place.

 

The government have put speed cameras all over the place to stop "our children" getting killed, when did you last see any road safety adverts teaching children how to cross the road?

I remember as a child, the "Look right, look left, then look right again, if nothing coming quickly walk (don't run) across the road" adverts.

Then there was the Tuffty club. Followed by "the Green X code" with the guy in green tights.

What have we got now............Nothing!!

What we do have is a whole decade of children that only learnt how to cross the road from either their parents, other kids, or trail & error!

 

We now have a generation of kids who think nothing about jumping out infront of anyone, and giving the fingers etc. to anyone who doesn't stop for them, because "They have a right, and you can't do anything about it" and the driver is in the wrong for going faster than 5mph anywhere near them!!

 

As Swan jnr said, inapropriate speed kills, but this is just one of the many threads of bad driving.

We have a council who put speed limits on roads because some moron who was driving like a plonker, runs off the road, hits a lamp post and kills himself. It used to be NSL, now it's 40. there's not a house anywhere along it. a lower speed limit wouldn't have stopped him, he'd have broken it anyway.

 

The way we are going on, it won't be long before you'll have the guy with the red flag walking in front of your car.

[will]

Well said Jim.

[Guest lopsylu]

Followed by "the Green X code" with the guy in green tights

 

And he had 'The Force' to help him

[Guest Dredd]

whilst i take your point dred, surely with modern cars containing traction control and abs and the like as well as better suspension, safer tyres, better brakes, there is a link between these devices and a reduction in their likelihood of crashing?

 

Not really because none of them work on their own unless something mechanical is initiated by a human.

 

 

as for the whole speeding deabte, i thought i remembered reading somewhere that speed doesnt kill, but that "innapropriate speed does" making drivers more skillful would be a much better way to reduce crashes.

 

Let's not kid ourselves, speed does kill, the chance of fatality rises exponentially over 30 mph, especially with children. Yes driver ducation is the key. My force, like others spend a lot of time and money trying to get the message home. We give roadside education packages with graphic images to drivers who transgress and the offence is worthy of a caution at the roadside.

 

I'm not preaching here, you pay your money, you take your chance.

[Guest TerryBarry]

And he had 'The Force' to help him

 

But he didn't have a coal scuttle on his head at the time

[Swan Jnr]

dredd,

 

all i meant was about the car improvments is if a fox steps out in front of a car today, and your driving a car with modern tyes brakes and abs etc, you have a much better chance of not killing it than you would 20, 30 years ago travelling at the same speed. the driver reactions are the same, but the machinery does a much more effective job once the human has become involved. the same reaction time, plus more effective machinery would surely produce better results wouldn it?

 

my point about apropriate speed is that a better educated driver stands a better chance of choosing a more appropriate speed.

 

I personally think that driving tests should be much harder, regularly re taken, and severe penalties for newly qualified trangressing drivers. (apoligies guys!) if a new driver knew that he may lose hs licence for a speeding fine in the first two years, and if he also knew that there was a severe punishment for driving without a licence, this might force 2 years of good habits onto drivers. i think the habits of two years would take a while to break down.

 

my2p

 

paul

[Longboarder]

I believe that the current restrictive driving climate denies new drivers from learning the skills to control a car in many emergency situations, making them less safe at any speed. It also encourages the idea that a driver obeying the posted limit is somehow safe and will not have an accident leading to complacency and a false sense of safety. I believe our driving stats compare well with most european countries and the endless quest to make the roads totaly safe by increasing restriction is unatainable. When will the powers that be be satisfied? The 30 limit is a compromise, trading an acceptable level of deaths and injuries for the need to keep traffic moving on the roads. Logicaly if the limit were 25 there would be fewer deaths and so on. Where does it end. I can't see a solution that will ever allow skilled drivers to do anything but go slower and slower till private car driving is banned.

 

Nigel

[enforcer]

New drivers already have tighter controls on their licences - if they amass 6 points within their first two years they revert to being 'provisional' holders and have to get the L plates out again.

 

I think everyone should be made to use Michelin tyres. That way anyone daring to go over 30 mph will be catapaulted into the nearest wall

[Guest Guy]

I think all cars should have the drivers air bag removed and instead have a 6" spike sticking out of the steering wheel pointing at the drivers head, this would make everyone drive very safely and cut the number of accidents and pedestrian deaths. okay, a few people would be spiked in the process but it was their choice to drive the car.