Safe Speed Forums

Given that many think that there is a problem with road safety currently what would you like to see done to improve the situation on the roads in the UK?

Presume that the answer 'more traffic police' would take quite a long time to implement as there are almost certainly too few trained officers available, not enough equipment for them to use or money to fund them and yet a 'solution' is still needed to be implemented now.

What ideas do you have? I really wonder if the 'problem' can ever be solved and how would I know if my solution was actually working?

Harder driving test and retest every, say, decade.

Getting rid of the low skilled seems a better way of managing traffic levels than pricing the poor off the road, and would also make the roads safer.

I hasten to add that this is only my own opinion, and has been shouted down here before

But would it get rid of the low skilled? Or would they simply learn to pass the test and then carry on driving in their own way?

Or would they simply carry on driving without a licence?

I do like the idea of retesting but there are getting on for 25,000,000 car licence holders in the UK so you would also need to find at least another 1400 examiners to test them! (Not including truck, PSV and motorcycle licences!)

Will your idea work?

The trouble is that real improvements will take time. There are no overnight quick fixes. Unfortunately politicians are only ever looking to the next election.

If I were in charge.

More road space, to reduce frustration, the most dangerous roads are single carriageway A roads in rural areas which could easily be upgraded to dual. And it doesn't just have to be new roads, re-open bus lanes and HOV lanes to all traffic.
Abolish the HGV 40 limit, again to reduce frustration and frustration inspired overtakes.
Start putting safety ahead of cost, e.g. stop taking the cheap option of at-grade junctions and start building grade separated junctions, even on SC A roads.
Better training and better targeted training.
Policing based on risk/behaviour and not solely on numerical speed.
Provide some real alternatives for those who don't want to drive or shouldn't be driving (e.g. late buses so people don't have an "excuse" to drink and drive).
A re-emphasis on being safe, watching where you are going instead of the current easily defined "risks" such as speed/drink/drugs.
Make driving legally more affordable (vs driving illegally) by including 3rd party insurance in fuel duty.

Bring back the Green Cross Code adverts on television on all channels between 4:00pm and 8:00pm

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Prepare to be Judged

i am dead ageinst it. assessments, yes, retests, no. i am adamant that all that ten and two oclock position is rubbish. push and pull, blah blah blah. normally, i use one hand to steer and it has served me well so far. the test proves you can steer a car etc but you are at your safest when you are more relaxed and comfortable. you dont need to be worrying about where your hands providing you have good control of the vehicle. it is not often i do assessments (my agency colleagues do but for some reason, i am not required to undertake them with clients) but if i failed for something like that, my temper would fly and i would get banned from the clients premises. there is safe driving and then there is a jobsworth

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Richie

SSAFA supporter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126025031585

Scanny - 40 years on , (and i ain't got a HGV/aint got IAM/PASS PLUS / any other silly titles , but i have got 35 years NCB and i AGREE with you .
In my day - you passed tour test, dad/uncle/ etc mentored you ,till they thought you fit to drive alone - worked then - but today it seems out of date.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Safe Speed has a published manifesto.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Well that depends. If the objective is to ensure that the direction of change is positive, then that is pretty much an overnight thing. Once things are actually getting better we would have to sit back and wait for the results of course.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

am i right in thinking that you started driving alone when someone decided you were ready? that sounds like a more positive method than todays (lucky half hour) test method. sounds like yet another backwards step from those in charge

i can see a hurdle that we face in improving the standards on the uk roads. it basically comes down to why we are all here on this site. as one of my previous posts has proven, we are all from different walks of life and involved in all sorts of different professions. what do we all have in common? our desire to conduct ourselves in an acceptable manner on the roads.
the point i am making is that we are all here because we WANT to be good drivers. none of us want to get the test out of the way so we are legal. the big difference that i see is attitude towards driving in general

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Richie

SSAFA supporter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126025031585

No -Scanny - not quite that old - the test was around when i got my licence - but from what i remember we were not only taught to pass the test, (i learned in a driving school in Glasgow) the instructors went a bit further, I know mine were into getting learners to look further ahead) teaching additional things. What i was referring to was that in my time there was usually some relative who "assessed " or mentored newly passed drivers. Lots of little tips to get you thinking. Possibly also fortunate that my father, who was seen in our village as a good bloke to get to teach you was also red hot on my little faults, and being a little village these soon found their way back. Added to which i lived next to the local police station - and the local Sergeant (not a traffic cop) had a good line in acid.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Improved driver training at inception that incorporates elements of IAM and motorcycle training can only be a good thing. If nothing else, it promotes good observation and the good practice of "giving" information to other road users.

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Simon