The Great Speed Awareness Course Scam

fred990

Knapper wrote: »

This all needs to stop.

It won't, what has the trend been over the years? It's easy money and a cast iron guarantee of plenty more to come!
You'll have to deprive them of income to stop it.

Mercdriver

We all know what the answer is to stop them making money - stop speeding. Stop breaking the law and you won't have to pay any penalty.

Richard53

If 'speed kills' is true, then Concorde would have the worst accident record of any vehicle. It hasn't, of course.

What is true is 'inappropriate speed kills'. 150 mph down an empty motorway can be quite safe. 15 mph past a school at 3 pm could be fatally reckless.

In an ideal world, all drivers would be able to judge the conditions correctly and would adjust their speeds accordingly. They can't, hence speed limits.

Knapper

Richard53 wrote: »

What is true is 'inappropriate speed kills'. 150 mph down an empty motorway can be quite safe. 15 mph past a school at 3 pm could be fatally reckless.

Finally, someone who understands perfectly the situation.


This is gold

Richard53 wrote: »

In an ideal world, all drivers would be able to judge the conditions correctly and would adjust their speeds accordingly. They can't, hence speed limits.

Unfortunately speed limits don't magically change driver's abilities or judgement so they are a relatively poor way to address the problem.


Equally changing speed limits doesn't change the hearts and minds of school children walking along the pavements/roads and walking/running across the roads.


The most appropriate actions around any school is to install iron railings for a good way in either direction along the roadside to pretty much force kids to use the proper pedestrian crossings. I've also seen schools where teachers/officials are posted along the roadside to ensure kids know they are being monitored and behave. All good effective stuff.


A 30mph or 20mph speed limit helps to give pedestrians and drivers alike a little more time but if they aren't paying attention, exercising good judgement, anticipating what might happen at any time then an accident is always a potential outcome. Stiffing a driver for £90 for doing 35mph in a 30mph limit does very little to improve those vital driving qualities/requirements, really solves very little at all and serves merely to make a few fortunate people extremely rich indeed.

Deastons

Richard53 wrote: »

If 'speed kills' is true, then Concorde would have the worst accident record of any vehicle. It hasn't, of course.

You can't be serious.

Nasqueron

Knapper wrote: »

Finally, someone who understands perfectly the situation.


This is gold






Unfortunately speed limits don't magically change driver's abilities or judgement so they are a relatively poor way to address the problem.


Equally changing speed limits doesn't change the hearts and minds of school children walking along the pavements/roads and walking/running across the roads.


The most appropriate actions around any school is to install iron railings for a good way in either direction along the roadside to pretty much force kids to use the proper pedestrian crossings. I've also seen schools where teachers/officials are posted along the roadside to ensure kids know they are being monitored and behave. All good effective stuff.


A 30mph or 20mph speed limit helps to give pedestrians and drivers alike a little more time but if they aren't paying attention, exercising good judgement, anticipating what might happen at any time then an accident is always a potential outcome. Stiffing a driver for £90 for doing 35mph in a 30mph limit does very little to improve those vital driving qualities/requirements, really solves very little at all and serves merely to make a few fortunate people extremely rich indeed.

They don't, no, but a limit with threat of fine/points/course does deter the majority of normal half decent drivers from driving at speeds they cannot do. Despite the usual hyperbole, driving at 150mph on a motorway is not safe unless you are trained to drive at such speeds and have a car that is safe to do so, simply being experienced doesn't mean you can driver fast safely.

A driver caught doing 35mph would have a speedo showing probably close to 40 given the way the speedometer works and such. Nobody caught speeding in an area where they know the limit has an excuse for doing so, no matter how safe they think they are.

warehouse

How naive are you if you think speed isn't the main issue in casualties or deaths?

I have a friend who is a traffic officer and he always tells me that sooner or later the chances are you're going to come across "that" driver who causes an accident that you're involved in. The speed you're doing when that time comes will determine whether you walk away or not.

It's so simple even idiots should be able to understand it.

Cornucopia

warehouse wrote: »

How naive are you if you think speed isn't the main issue in casualties or deaths?

I think with the detailed analyses and statistics, we're probably beyond consideration of naivety.

I have a friend who is a traffic officer and he always tells me that sooner or later the chances are you're going to come across "that" driver who causes an accident that you're involved in. The speed you're doing when that time comes will determine whether you walk away or not.

I'm sure that Traffic Police must get an unpleasantly skewed view of risk on the road. However, one casualty per 1.8million driven miles is a tiny risk - equivalent to 225 drivers' combined annual mileage.

It's so simple even idiots should be able to understand it.

Do you find that that kind of approach wins many hearts and minds?

Knapper

warehouse wrote: »

How naive are you if you think speed isn't the main issue in casualties or deaths?

Clearly nowhere near as naive as the person who thinks the actions of the driver or pedestrian are not the cause of accidents. The main issue in casualties and/or deaths, is how a moving vehicle managed to come into contact with another vehicle, cyclist, motorbike or pedestrian. Doesn't matter what speed any of them were doing, the MAIN ISSUE is how they came into contact in the first place. THAT is the issue that needs to be resolved. It's not an issue of speed, not now, not ever.

warehouse wrote: »

I have a friend who is a traffic officer and he always tells me that sooner or later the chances are you're going to come across "that" driver who causes an accident that you're involved in. The speed you're doing when that time comes will determine whether you walk away or not.

Your traffic officer is quite correct. However, as he correctly highlights, it is "that driver" that is the issue not the speed the driver is doing. There won't be any accident if the driver is acting with proper concentration, using good driving ability, anticipating, looking out for hazards, exercising good judgement and so on. He/she can be doing all those good things AND also speeding and yet there still will NOT be any accident. Speed does not cause accidents, it is merely an attribute of a moving vehicle. Only a driver or pedestrian can cause an accident.


All of this is fairly elementary.

Knapper

If it helps to use other examples then consider the situation with domestic electricity.


Our UK electric power is 240 volts. If you inadvertently touch a live wire, you will receive a huge shock which is potentially fatal.


What then should be the response to that "problem"?


Should we lower the voltage of every UK household to say 12 volts so that no-one can ever die from an electric shock?


No of course not, that would be ludicrous.


What we do is educate people, so that they are aware of electricity and how it works. We train people to be electricians and get qualifications. We also legislate what "ordinary" people can and can not do with electrics in their own home.


Focussing on speed limits and speeding drivers is akin to dropping everyone's power supply to 12 volts. It basically misses the point and solves nothing because people are not being educated and made better drivers.