Safe Speed Forums

First episode, so more to follow.
Haven't seen it all, but it will be on iPlayer later... http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01nqccq/

What I did see was not good!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

The EuroRAP guy was pretty good on re-engineering roads to make them safer. The MIRA guy was less so as they have a vested interest in testing new technology for vehicles (e.g. tracking and autonomous driver aids) and don't provide driver training or road engineering services.

Speed cameras were given a glowing endorsement (except from the vox pop) but no mention was made of the improper siting of most. (You may recall that I am not against cameras per se but I am against poor deployment and the incorrect setting of speed limits.)

The European idea of "clear streets" was shown introduced in Coventry but I liken this to what happens at a junction when traffic lights fail; everyone takes extra care but it slows the throughput of traffic so it is only a solution for a small number of locations. Pedestrians particularly said they looked around more and felt that the junctions were "dangerous" which was excellent.

The high rate of accidents of motorcycles was highlighted and I assume that bicycles will feature in later programs.

Overall, not too bad but they really need to emphasise the driver skill training as the route to safer roads. There was a high level instructor featured and he almost mentioned COAST - almost.

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

There has been an increase in accidents on rural roads so their solution is to lower speed limits further. However, over the last few years there has been drastic cuts in speed limits, many now 30mph and 40 mph were NSL not so long ago, so if accident rates have gone up, then lowering of speed limits seems to have the reverse affect to that trying to be acheived. What seems to be overlooked again is that safe speeds are linked to actual conditions which can change by the minute, and is not based on some arbitrary condition which most speed limits assume.

The thing that came out most from the film was the number of drivers that had poor observation skills and were reactive after to the situation had developed rather than being proactive before. But then if you drive a lot you are seeing this all the time, which would suggest there is something very lacking in driver training.

What's lacking in driver training is the fact that the only thing that seems to get hammered home is "speed kills" and sticking to a speed limit is the be all and end all of road safety....the people I hear bleating on about tailgating mostly, are women and yet the people I see travelling far too close daily are...you guessed it...women! Virtually no-one seems capable of indicating correctly, if at all, these days, either and the number of near misses i see on mini roundabouts because of this is unbelievable.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

I also see it on larger roundabouts( wrong indicating ,i mean). Cars going round with left indicator on . There was a jokey piece on an attachment to BMWs called Bellendtronic in Sniff Petrol some time ago .i fear it's become standard on a lot of cars ( particularly kiddie mobiles)

"With the launch of the acclaimed new 3-series, BMW has also revealed details of a sophisticated new electronics package that is aimed straight at the new car's core market. Dubbed Bellendtronic, the new system is fully integrated into the car's control systems and allows a range of functions including full disablement of the indicators, perilously late activation of the brakes and an adapted radar cruise control that allows the driver to sit 4mm from your back bumper in the outside lane of the M6."

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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