Safe Speed Forums

Per BBC News - it seem drivers not pull over if feeling yawney. It seem that the government say a fifth of drivers cause the accidents. 18% of 1500 surveyed allegedly pull over if they feel a yawn.

There now a new campaign asking to THINK! if worth continuing to next lay-by if tired already.

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Nicht ganz im Lot!
Ich setze mich immer wieder in die Nesseln! Der Mad Doc ist mein Mann! Und ich benutzte seinen PC!

UND OUR SMILEYS? Smile ... und the the world smiles with you.
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(& other good causes..)

Greatest love & Greatest Achievements Require Greatest Risk
But if you lose the driving plan - don't lose the COAST lesson.
Me?
Je ne regrette rien!

My immediate reaction is that every so often the Government comes along with "Department of Guesswork" figures that X% of accidents are caused by factor Y.

These soon add up to over 100%.

Still, if you believe them, then tiredness causes 3 times as many accidents as speeding. Sleep cameras?

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

I'm sure they'd try to squirm out of the "more than 100%" accusation by suggesting that of the 30% of accidents caused by speeding, a signifcant number are actually caused by people speeding while asleep.

Remind me, where exactly are we meant to pull over to stop?

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Andrew.

Whilst I have no empirical reason to doubt this figure, I do have to wonder if it comes from the same Department of Proportions which brought us a third which is equal to 5%!

Or the same department that decided that the 38% of motorcyclists driving without tax is equal to 6.8%.
They have computer systems with all the info on that they could want, yet they still go by the bean counters on the roadside.
They got cameras everywhere (loads of sneaky little cams on high columns near MK now....) yet they still stick 3 people in a car by the roadside to tick boxes on paper ?
Maybe that's where the near 1 million extra public servants are now.....

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

I've only experienced this once. Shortly after the opening of the Euro-Tunnel. The Ferries then assumed that everyone wanted a superfast crossing and stopped the Calais - Oostend and Zeebrugge services (bunks available) to a Dover Calais 1 hr ish quick service (no bunks)!

Great if you lived in the SE corner of our country......Downright dangerous if you lived further north.

I remember vaguely driving north on the M40 being woken by an observant lorry drivers horn as I began to slow and wander out of my lane.

I've never used that route since.........but, many lorry drivers do, hence the accidents.

at least they are kind of admitting that there is more to crashing than simply exceeding an arbitary number and that there might be other, as yet unknown, forces at work...

If they were honest with us and said all crashes have several contributing factors and no one factor is to blame. They could go on to say that lots of crashes happen when the driver is tired and no able to respond as a more alert driver might and that if we can address this problem by encouraging drivers to not drive when they are tired we might make the roads a little safer for all.

It is no different than with any of the lastest food and or health fads. one day eating food x is great, the next too much x gives you cancer

If polititions and civil servants would just be straight with us for once....

They can't be straightforward with us. This would mean admittting people can use their own judgement about things affecting them instead of having to be controlled by the Government. Control is the ultimate aim of politicians and hence all the new laws passed.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Nearly every message they issue is an advertisement. Thus the resemblance to commercials of varying lengths. Every commercial tries to get you to BUY something.

Individual driver behavior, traffic behavior, and road safety are not straightforward issues, but there is a tremendous incentive for the vast majority of people to sum things up in a sound bite.
Those who generate the sound bites are seldom truly qualified or sufficiently knowledgeable about cars, drivers, or roads, but they know that most of the general public has a similar lack of info.
The vast majority of these sound bites sacrifice varying degrees of 'factuality' for catchiness, which the majority of the audience interprets as 'truthiness'.
The sound bites are generated without all the facts in plain sight. Often, they are also generated to obscure the facts.
Therefore the people generating these sound bites are misusing Occam's Razor as a weapon against the unarmed ... to keep a majority of us simple and stupid.

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The Rules for ALL ROAD USERS:
1) No one gets hurt
2) Nothing gets hit, except to protect others; see Rule#1
3) The Laws of Physics are invincible and immutable - so-called 'laws' of men are not
4) You are always immediately and ultimately responsible for your safety first, then proximately responsible for everyone's
Do not let other road users' mistakes become yours, nor yours become others
5) The rest, including laws of the land, is thoughtful observation, prescience, etiquette, decorum, and cooperation

Statistics shamistics. I’m sick of them! Am I the only one?

Did you know 1 in 4 people are Chinese?

There’s four in my family: Tony, Teresa, Vanessa and Kim Wah. I think it’s Vanessa.

Did you know 5 out of 4 people can't do maths?

(groan)


Like I said once here, about a year ago, statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is interesting but what they conceal is vital. We can talk stats forever; all I want is the truth!

Stats are useful if they take everything into account! But how often does that happen when parties have a vested interest?


(And before a troll comes on with accusations - SS is a 'not for profit' organisation)

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

I don't think that's what they said exactly:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1708872.stm

They say "driver fatigue ... is estimated to be responsible for a fifth of all accidents on motorways and trunk routes".

If there are cameras giving out 3 points and £60 for 10mph above a limit or for using a hand held mobile, are we to see the same for a yawn on camera? Eating a chocolate bar? Rubbing your eyes?

We had a discussion on here a couple of years ago - it was prompted, I think, by the signs on motorway service stations stating that maximum parking length was 2 hours (this is obviously to stop car drivers parking up at services then car sharing to another location? Perhaps the policy should be re-thought now, as car sharing is being promoted more heavily? Anyway, I digress).

I wrote to all of the motorwat service station operators and received replies from a few. I think it was the Roadchef guy who wrote back to say that his parking attendants were instructed never to give a ticket to a car that had a sleeping motorist inside, and the Welcome Break guy who said that his staff were told to use common sense (I had written about 2 things, 1 being that it may be safer to stop for a short nap in the car than carry on with the journey, the second that with 4 very small children, 2 hours to park up, get them out, get them all sat down, fed, numerous toilet trips and ready to go again was easily used up).

I kept the letters for a while, but having moved house and changed car twice, I don't have them anymore. In short, though, if you need a nap, based on my letter writing, choose Roadchef first, then Welcome Break. Moto didn't reply.

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COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

They should have an instant ban on sleeping drivers!

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If you think everyone else around you is driving badly, perhaps it's time to examine your own driving.

Would anyone be opposed to cars that, instead of testing for drunkenness, testing for being awake?

_________________
The Rules for ALL ROAD USERS:
1) No one gets hurt
2) Nothing gets hit, except to protect others; see Rule#1
3) The Laws of Physics are invincible and immutable - so-called 'laws' of men are not
4) You are always immediately and ultimately responsible for your safety first, then proximately responsible for everyone's
Do not let other road users' mistakes become yours, nor yours become others
5) The rest, including laws of the land, is thoughtful observation, prescience, etiquette, decorum, and cooperation

Would that be before, or after they woke them up ?

_________________
The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing