Road Safety Changes Poll

[Old_Dave]

Followed by another 6 on a motorbike

Which used to be the 'norm'

Bike
Motor bike (except for the guys who's mums said your not having one of them.. their dangerous, whilst dad just shruged his sholders and walked away from a battle he couldn't win)
Car

 

[indalo]

You missed out -
Mandatory cycling for 6 months for all motorists.

That's similar to an idea I rather fancy which is that a cycling test should form part of the driving test. No driving licence is issued until both tests are passed satisfactorily.

I have never understood why a driving licence should be for life, give or take. If our system demanded re-testing at intervals with failures immediately banned till passing a subsequent, more rigorous examination, people would soon come to appreciate the freedom and value conferred by the right to drive.

We already know that for many, indeed, most of us, growing older means eyesight deterioration and frequently, a slight loss of hearing ability. Our other senses as well as our mechanical movement are all affected by ageing so our response times and spacial awareness are almost certainly not as sharp as when younger. Common sense suggests that check-ups, ie, tests would be a sensible provision and for professional drivers, their employers could foot the bill for more frequent testing, perhaps biennially.

Overcrowding of our roads demands that we strive for higher standards from all road users so it's probably inevitable that changes will come to pass at some point in the future. Let's hope that any changes are properly motivated and not simply seen by government and the exchequer as a further opportunity to rake in some more revenue with no perceptible benefit on our roads.

Indalo

 

[Scimitar]

Jeez, for a moment I thought we were in some Teutonic state, with all the calls for extra rules and regulations and the desire to control-freak everybody.
If you like Square-headedness so much, go off and live there and leave us Anglo-Saxons/Celts to our own peculiar muddle-through way of doing things.
There's always some closet nanny-stater or control-freak creeping around, sticking their oar in, whispering their poisons.

 

[103Alex1]

On the licences for life thing, I think one of the points is that despite many drivers never having sat a test (you know who you are !) they have sufficient experience to be qualified by way of same. Driving is a practical skill so I'd use the analogy of a student getting through a degree after passing exams versus someone who's been on a vocational training programme. I know which one can do the job better - at least for a few years in the early years !

The fitness to drive through health assessment point is valid but different. That can be relevant to people of all ages for various reasons but ageing is a very strong risk factor so I can see the sense in age-related health assessment, to be fair. As much for the safety of the individual themselves as anyone else - your bones heal better when you're younger if nothing else !

It is a cert that an experienced driver who has been on the roads every day is a lower risk than the same person having taken the tube/bus to work every day and taking the car out on weekends. Those who have driven in challenging environments (abroad, in cities, off-road, on race tracks and all manner of other situations) tend to be far more adaptable to road conditions and situations. Sadly, none of that is really taken into account by insurance companies (not measurable / always some fancy counter-argument to ramp premium revenues up) to any meaningful extent. Every Saturday and Sunday the horrendous reality of occasional drivers taking to the streets with their minds on Homebase, Mothercare or getting back in time for the Match is there to see on Britain's roads. They are the ones I fear most and give the widest berth.

I am surprised, and pleased, that at least the speed limiter idea has not been dismissed out of hand. It is refreshing that people are at least seeing it as an option.

I'm not in favour of it at all. Best system is the German one applied to motorways - no speed limits on Autobahns but the cops are probably the best trained motor police anywhere in Europe and if your driving is bad you can be pulled aside and sanctioned whatever speed you were doing. Trouble is in Britain you can't even trust the cops to exercise good judgement and not to abuse their power with a book of rules, let alone with a free rein. We are victims of our own culture (institutional, political, judicial and civil) and as a result on occasion wind up feeling like we're trapped in something resembling Orwell's 1984.

 

[flecc]

Every Saturday and Sunday the horrendous reality of occasional drivers taking to the streets with their minds on Homebase, Mothercare or getting back in time for the Match is there to see on Britain's roads. They are the ones I fear most and give the widest berth.

Too true! One of the greatest blessings of retirement is that I can just do my driving through the working week and leave both cars garaged at weekends, avoiding this very real risk factor. Weekends I walk in the countryside far away from the madding crowd.

 

[dmcgoldrick]

i used to drive 50,000 miles per year all over europe....fast........from being a young man until an old geezer.........
i guess i was lucky that i never had a serious accident, in view of the time spent on the road......however i could spot a cop car at half a mile away, a bad driver easily and had an advanced driving training update about every 3 years or so........
driving in big cities at rush hour is a mugs game and something i always avoided due to the number of extremely bad drivers doing the 'commute' and that was before the mobile phone epidemic.
do people need retesting ??? of course they do.........probably 80% of road users are poor drivers doing short distances and making phone calls or dealing with in car 'aggro' (kids)......just look at the rush hour traffic from 7 till 9 and 3 till 6..........very scary even in a car never mind if you are on a bike with the chelsea tractors................

of course we cant afford continual restesting.......we cant even afford the national health service......
did i mention austerity ?????

 

[Scimitar]

I drove for a living for many years and made a point of avoiding the roads at the weekends (although sometimes I didn't have that luxury) because it was glaringly obvious the general standard of driving plummeted dramatically from weekday users to weekender muppets.

 

[flecc]

I don't think retesting could do any good.

What do drivers do when they see a police car behind them? Drive carefully.

What do drivers do when they see a speed camera? Obey the limit passing it.

So how would they drive on a retest?

That's right, it wouldn't prove anything. They'd passed a test previously and could do so again, but still be a menace.

 

[themutiny]

Does anyone recall the EU SAFERIDER initiative?
Saferider | Start

It seems to have died a death, but it did gather momentum for a while.

Personally, whilst it is entirely hypothetical, I resent the limiting of my ZZR1400 to 300kph on principle. I mean what possible purpose can it serve? What, 80% survive spills @ 186 mph, whilst 80% die @ 200 mph?

 

[jazper53]

I would not worry about new laws to make the roads safer, in the next 10/20 years, people on low to average income will not be able to afford their own transport due to the diminishing oil reserves, the only question is whether affordable, viable alternatives will be found in time, if not, our roads will empty and create a safer place for the cyclists, Just a thought for the future

 

[flecc]

I would not worry about new laws to make the roads safer, in the next 10/20 years, people on low to average income will not be able to afford their own transport due to the diminishing oil reserves, the only question is whether affordable, viable alternatives will be found in time, if not, our roads will empty and create a safer place for the cyclists, Just a thought for the future

There's already a large reduction taking place both in the USA and Britain, but due to the costs of insurance for young drivers. In the USA the number of youngsters taking up driving has astonishingly halved in the most recent years for this reason, and in Britain there's been a large reduction too. I imagine this will be similar in Europe.

However, these things won't affect company cars as much and we could see increasing numbers trying to negotiate a company car in lieu of part of their salary.

 

[spiro]

I voted for 1 & 4. I think all cyclist should have some form of training & test and I would include parts of the driving test (theory and hazard perception tests) because I think they apply equally to any road user. I would also require all cycle owners to have third party insurance.

For car drivers I think the relevant part for a retest is primarily theory and hazard perception tests because road signs change and our reactions slow.

 

[NRG]

Why do I feel this is a waste of forum bandwidth...

 

[flecc]

Why do I feel this is a waste of forum bandwidth...

Probably because it is.