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scamera van caused near miss/accident
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A couple of years ago I was overtaking a pair of cars who were about to go past a speed camera. Both were doing approximately 60 in a 70. I breezed past at 70, while the first car broke hard and the second went into him. I continued as I couldn't be bothered getting involved.
"Oh but I wasn't speeding officer" as I'm sure the protestations will have gone ... I'd have loved to have been a fly on the wall when all that came out. They would probably have referred to me "speeding" past the idiot pair.
Very often the "safe" driver, going well below the limit, is even less safe than the speeder. These two morons (I attribute blame evenly between the two) are living proof.0 -
Not that its all their fault. The driving test establishes only one thing: that you could pass the test. The strange thing is that many seem to believe - or at least drive like they do - that passing the test magically confers the benefit of experience and skills both at car handling and reading the road (a skill relatively few can really demonstrate, and is not taught to any extent before the test) it actually takes years to acquire.
well..it is, really.
The law doesn't chose to make a distinction based upon so-called 'experience' either.
To 'pass' the driving test......the candidate must demonstrate competence under a variety of conditions...
in other words, demonstrate they are a 'competent, careful driver'.
which is the criteria applied when assessing 'careless driving'.
What is missing in the above quote is the duty of a driver to maintain that competence.
However, it is all very well, a driver who has held a licence for years, passing judgement over the actions..or more importantly, the 'mind-set', of new drivers.
And..just what constitutes 'experience' in driving terms?
Is someone who has held a licence for 30 years, and who has driven an hour a day most days of the week....more 'experienced' than someone in their very early twenties, who has passed a Cat C+E test, and drives 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, month in month out?
Is 'experience' garnered 20 years ago, relevant to 'experience' gained in today's traffic environment?
One of the most useful self-help guides to advancing one's driver skills, is the old tome 'Roadcraft'....written by someone who has sat down and serioulsy thought about what 'driving' really is all about....when beforehand, driver training was simply achieved by dint of someone deciding [or being compelled] to give others driver skills...
Within its pages can be found very useful thoughts on how people [drivers/riders] go about acquiring 'experience'....
and when teaching someone to 'drive'...at what point does one stop, and say, 'you can now drive'?
When they can maintain the required test standard?
Or, when they can meet the highest Police driver standards...continuously?
at what point does someone be deemed 'competent?'
Your idea of 'competence' may not be mine, for example....
oh..and if you see a camera van or Police vehicle...it's probably too late to worry about what speed you were doing anyway.No, I don't think all other drivers are idiots......but some are determined to change my mind.......0 -
About 10 people a day die on our roads, none seem to be killed by stationary cars so speed has to play its part.
Get some balls and accept when you have/are doing something wrong and stop bleating everytime someone tries to prevent this unnecesary loss of life.
No speed prevention is perfect except for your right foot.0 -
About 10 people a day die on our roads, none seem to be killed by stationary cars so speed has to play its part.
Get some balls and accept when you have/are doing something wrong and stop bleating everytime someone tries to prevent this unnecesary loss of life.
No speed prevention is perfect except for your right foot.
The problem with that is having some arbitrary point on the road does not prevent speeding, once you have passed it you can in theory put your foot down and not get a ticket.
The location of speed cameras should be at points where they are needed like outside schools for example, not for income generation which so many are! There are no easy answers, but average speed cameras are used up near Newport on the M4, its amazing that people stick to a maximum of 50mph for a whole stretch of the road.Excel Parking, MET Parking, Combined Parking Solutions, VP Parking Solutions, ANPR PC Ltd, & Roxburghe Debt Collectors. What do they all have in common?
They are all or have been suspended from accessing the DVLA database for gross misconduct!
Do you really need to ask what kind of people run parking companies?0 -
Difficult to find fault with this.About 10 people a day die on our roads, none seem to be killed by stationary cars so speed has to play its part.
Get some balls and accept when you have/are doing something wrong and stop bleating every time someone tries to prevent this unnecessary loss of life.
No speed prevention is perfect except for your right foot.0 -
Although I do wonder if that stretch of road encourages people to spend more time looking at their speedometer than the road itself.There are no easy answers, but average speed cameras are used up near Newport on the M4, its amazing that people stick to a maximum of 50mph for a whole stretch of the road.
To be perfectly honest I can't help but wonder why the limit is 50mph for such a distance on a motorway like that.0 -
clever_username wrote: »Although I do wonder if that stretch of road encourages people to spend more time looking at their speedometer than the road itself.
To be perfectly honest I can't help but wonder why the limit is 50mph for such a distance on a motorway like that.
Me neither, but as all vehicles are doing the same speed you just go with the flow of traffic, as I said no easy answersExcel Parking, MET Parking, Combined Parking Solutions, VP Parking Solutions, ANPR PC Ltd, & Roxburghe Debt Collectors. What do they all have in common?
They are all or have been suspended from accessing the DVLA database for gross misconduct!
Do you really need to ask what kind of people run parking companies?0 -
average speed cameras are brilliant, A127 about 6 mile stretch, used to be a few deaths a year and holdups every evening, now all that has gone and average time on the road for commuters didnt go up cos traffic now flows at 50 with less tailbacks. People still moan and whinge about it of course.0
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clever_username wrote: »Although I do wonder if that stretch of road encourages people to spend more time looking at their speedometer than the road itself.
To be perfectly honest I can't help but wonder why the limit is 50mph for such a distance on a motorway like that.
It doesn't take much to fleetingly glance at one's speedometer, for a hundredth of a second, every now and then.The greater danger, for most of us, lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark0
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