Tiggs

this whole post is why scoobynet and other "anti gov propoganda" motoring sites/clubs/etc will never win and more and more laws will be passed in favour of slowing drivers down.

speeding is a factor in accidents and its an easy one to police and to identify so either except that in some of your logic or you're wasting your time.

on my way to work there is a 30mph section that i (and most people) normal do 35ish down, this morning two kids on their way to school happened to be larking about and one fell in the road in front of me, as it happened i was fiddling with the satnav at the time and only doing 25ish so stopped just short of caving his head in.....had i been doing 35 and concentrating like an F1 driver i could still not anticipated the situation or stopped in time....by now some doctor would be removing my alpina alloy from his scull.

the fault was the kids but its easier to police me with a camera than it is stopping kids being kids.

now the gov clearly goes to far but to take yourselves to the otherside of the argument is pointless...you think the gov is gonna meet you half way? i doubt it, unless some concession to speed being a issue is made motoring groups are on a hiding to nothing.

T

NotoriousREV

According to the Transport Reasearch Laboratory:

Failure to judge other persons path or speed 10.7%
Behaviour - careless/thoughtless/reckless 8.8%
Inattention 8.0%
Looked but did not see 7.5%
Excessive speed 7.3%
Lack of judgment of own path6.3%
Failed to look 6.2%
Following too close 4.1%
Impairment — alcohol 3.8%
Slippery road 3.0%
Inexperience of driving 2.8%
Behaviour — in a hurry 2.7%
Site details — bend / winding road 2.2%
Surroundings — stationary or parked vehicle 1.9%
Crossed from behind parked vehicle, etc 1.8%
Surroundings — bend / winding road 1.8%
Behaviour — panic 1.6%
Aggressive driving 1.4%
Behaviour — nervous / uncertain 1.2%
Other — (personal) 1.1%
Impairment — illness 1.0%
Distraction — physical outside vehicle 1.0%
Surroundings — buildings, fences, vegetation 1.0%
Failed to see pedestrian or vehicle in blindspot 1.0%
View — glare from the sun 0.9%
Impairment — fatigue 0.8%
Weather (eg mist or sleet) 0.8%
Distraction — physical in/on vehicle 0.8%
Site details — narrow road 0.7%
Distraction — stress / emotional state of mind 0.7%
Inexperience of vehicle 0.6%
Surroundings — moving vehicle 0.5%
Animal out of control 0.5%
Site details — steep hill 0.5%
Other vehicle defects 0.4%
Tyres — deflation before impact 0.4%
Tyres — worn / insufficient tread 0.4%
Other (Local conditions) 0.4%
Site details — poor road surface 0.4%
Site details — roadworks 0.4%
Interaction or competition with other road users 0.4%
Defective brakes 0.4%
Site details — inadequate signing 0.3%
Impairment — drugs 0.3%
Ignored lights at crossing 0.3%
Person hit wore dark or inconspicuous clothing 0.3%
Disability 0.2%
Site details — poor / no street lighting 0.2%
Tyres — wrong pressure 0.2%
View — windows obscured 0.1%
High winds 0.1%
Defective lights or signals 0.1%
Earlier accident 0.1%
View — glare from headlights 0.0%

ozzy

And I wonder how many of them would be affected by speed

A m8 of mine was hit by a Deer, so the Animal out of control is partly his fault

Stefan

NotoriousREV

According to the Government, Speed is responsible for 33% of accidents, which they figured out from the above report.

To get 33% they added together the following categories:

Excessive Speed - fair enough
Failure to judge other persons path or speed -
Following too close -
Slippery road -
Behaviour — in a hurry - covers a multitude of sins
Aggressive driving - maybe if you stick to the speed limit you can;t be aggressive?
Weather (eg mist or sleet) -
Other (Local conditions) -

Jerry*

Worst ones for me are "rubber-neckers" on the motorway that want an eyefull of things happening on the other side of the road.. they cause accidents and tail backs...

The others are the peeps that simply do not understand lane discipline. They think that if they are doing 70mph that they are intitled to drive on the outside lane, and that everyone else should wait behind them. w4nkers !!

vindaloo

My tuppence...

Not being able to see through the vehicle in front (Van, 4x4, lorry etc). I always change lane so I can see or stay well back. I suppose this comes under the driving too close and appreciation of others' path and speed headings.

People changing lane without looking properly. A coal lorry nearly totalled my Astra on M4 in South Wales because of this. These days I always look at the front wheels of any lorry or bus as I find it gives the quickest sign that they're moving out.

I dunno what caused them but in the twisties above my house, somehow a Porsche and an mk2 Elise managed to park in the trees (not at the same time). It might have been speed/lost control but there's a lot of horse riders and stuff going on up there so it's possibly just down to not hitting the kid on the horse.

Weirdest sight: A transit van "parked" 15 feet up a tree, in the central reservation of the Hogsback (A31) on the way to Guildford.

Vindaloo.

Ajax

Accidents that are caused by driving to close to the car in front.

The reason cars drive to close to the one is front is because everybody can do 70 mph in their motors from small old wrecks to a high performance cars, this gives the natural effect of bunching up of vehicles.

I have been doing a leisurely 70 mph on the motorway and lorries have come up behind me in the inside lane while others lorries are trying to over take me.

Really pissed me off, trying to make a Subaru sandwich out of me.

So what do I do? your right look in the mirror and see two spec in the rear view mirror getting smaller and smaller.

Sod the speed limit if my life and my passengers life’s are being put in danger.

This is not getting at lorry drivers but happens with cars to, just a bit more intimidating when lorries do it.

Comments…………………..?



[Edited by Ajax - 9/19/2003 6:00:12 PM]

unclebuck

NotoriousREV's post says it all. Once again the Government lies and spins to make a point that it is unable to back up with *facts*.

UB[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Ajax

Unclebuck:

Just read both NotoriousREV's posts again and understand what you mean

I can’t believe anything anymore

Spoon

Nacro say's 5mph!!! ffs, you could have thrown in 2 broken legs too if you'd had a baseball bat handy.

boomer

One Third = 7%

mb

Leslie

For Poor Guy's information, an enormous number of serious accidents are caused by young and inexperienced drivers who drive their cars recklessly and at speeds that they don't even know that they can control the car at. They rely on luck to get away with it but are risking other peoples lives. Taking risks round blind bends and racing each other is just not safe on today's crowded roads. Allowing impatience to cloud your judgement is also stupid.

Corradoboy, the racing drivers I know agree that it is easier to keep the concentration going at higher speeds but few would drive really fast on public roads because they reckon it is not safe. Some of them are getting on a bit but they can still drive safely as fast as most. Driving fast on a track is the best way to get it out of the system, apart from the odd spinner, most of the cars are going the same way.

Les

DaveD

iTrader: (2)

I can't understand how speed can cause many accidents on the motorway. I think difference in speed would be a better term.
After all, a car travelling at 110mph (40mph faster than limit) is probably less dangerous than a vehicle travelling at 30mph (40mph less than the limit). Assuming the driver in the fast car is not breaking any other laws, and driving sensibly, then he/she would be aware of surroundings and planning ahead.
A vehicle travelling at 30 (legal minimum) would cause tail backs as lorries need to pull out and overtake, eventually leading to start-stop traffic......thats when the main culprets - those who are tailgating and paying no attention to the road ahead/either side of them suddenly find they have no where to go, except into something.
Of course the government would then say the accident was caused by the speed of the vehicles involved in the accident, not the speed of the vehicle which caused it!!

I can't understand why people feel the need to tailgate, or why people dawdle along and take 3 miles to overtake another vehicle. I always leave plenty of space (typically 2-sec gap) between me and the car in front - which is often 2 or 3 times that of traffic travelling at nearly the same speed in a different lane!! I also try to avoid being parallel to traffic in other lanes - especially lories, since they can have a large blind spot (although some just appear to be blind!).

So there you go...tailgating and basic inattention (not looking ahead/immediately adjacent/behind) are probably the two main causes!!

Ajax

DaveD:

Look on the bright side, if you tailgate you wont get zapped on a speed camera.

The lucky person in front gets the lot, the NIP and you up his *** if they they stop to quick