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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 10:05 
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There was a superb article on the Radio 4 Today programme this morning about crash investigation. They interviewed Dr. Chris Elliot from the RAC foundation. The "Listen again" can be found here http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/listen_again/default.stm. Scroll down and find the article at 8:43.

A very brief summary is that the current investigations focus mainly on criminal activity and prosecutions rather than the underlying causes. He makes many interesting points including secondary accidents caused by motorway closures. He said that less than half of all accidents involve any form of criminal activity that could lead to a prosecution.

I sincerely hope that this is the start of a change in attitude towards road safety rather than the money grabbing opportunities that we have seen recently.


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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 13:44 
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To get crash investigation (leading to understanding the root causes of accidents) to be taken forward by the Government, Dr Elliot will need to come up with a proposal which:

- leads to a nett income (i.e. more than pays for itself)
- collects all sorts of data on members of the public and stores it on a database.

He may then have a chance.

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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 14:13 
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malcolmw wrote:
To get crash investigation (leading to understanding the root causes of accidents) to be taken forward by the Government, Dr Elliot will need to come up with a proposal which:

- leads to a nett income (i.e. more than pays for itself)
- collects all sorts of data on members of the public and stores it on a database.

He may then have a chance.



... -and discourages private car use!


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 02:31 
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V sadly I am too late to hear the item. :( Don't suppose anyone has a copy that I could hear ?
Well if we can see a return to driver responsibility and so less accidents then that would save the NHS a whole heap of money and of course a big saving to the Government, so it could be shown as a less expenditure, which should be of great interest to them PLUS then the economic savings to all those that surround every accident, that have their lives effected too, from all relatives / friends to the passerbys and the delays they encounter to all the different routes that everyone then has to often take and in some cases for many hours. Add in the Motorways and major trunk route accidents and that is significant. There was an accident up here in the Highlands the other day and driver had NO other road to take save a 35 mile detour and (as delightfully pretty as it is), many were rather frustrated after taking pictures !
Coupled by the fact that it was a Police car out on a driver training exercise, that somehow, managed to hit a static ambulance, (taking off it's door !!!) and many questions are being asked! Air ambulance had to take both driver and an ambulance person off to hosp. :(

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PostPosted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 08:05 
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The problem you have with this sort of initiative is personified by my local Parish Council.

In the minutes of their May meeting, they confirmed the number one priority for the local police as being "speeding in the village". Mysteriously, the area to be targeted is where one of the councillors lives.

About a month ago, there was an accident on the main road involving a motorcycle and a vegetable delivery van. In the minutes of the meeting, the police were not asked to comment on the probable cause of the collision but instead were asked "Was it the result of speed?". The councillors prejudices are clearly on show.

With this mindset, even if disinterested accident investigation were to become the norm, no credence would be given to the outputs if they conflict with local prejudices.

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 16:10 
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SafeSpeedv2 wrote:
V sadly I am too late to hear the item. :( Don't suppose anyone has a copy that I could hear ?(


It's not the radio 4 article, but here's the link to his reports:
http://www.racfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=665&Itemid=35


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