Safe Speed Forums

I think we need more deaths.

The Government is stripping every bit of personal and social responsibility away from us. I can envisage a time where we'll have buzzers to press to notify authorities if we're having a heart attack, rather than anybody actually assuming responsibility and helping out there and then.

We're a nation no longer able to learn. We learn from our mistakes, but our mistakes no longer have any consequences. When there are no consequences, we have no responsibility.

Every inch of our lives are legislated. It's no longer good enough just to have "Dangerous Driving" and "Driving Without Due Care and Attention" laws, we have to make specific laws against mobile phone use. We are the country talking of legislation to stop people using their mobile phones while crossing a road in case they get run over instead of blaming the "victim" for being an irresponsible idiot.

This is the country that puts warnings on a pack of peanuts that it might contain nuts.

If a pedestrian gets killed, we'd rather legislate and make rules to restrict the drivers freedom even further. This philosophy has been entrenched in the minds of millions and is now accepted.

Why, even just the other day, some woman and her brood decided to about face and walk directly into the path of an oncoming vehicle (me) without warning.

Apparently, someone running under your wheels is your fault. Lets try and avoid the sniping shall we? I've had enough of people trying to analyse what I have said saying "you should have been more aware" or "you should have been slowing down". Take it at face value, as honest truth, I was travelling 20 to 25 mph and avoided collision with a sucidal woman.

Apparently, as a motorist, it is your responsibly to "guess" the unpredictable.

Perhaps if we had some more consequences, like people dying because they weren't paying attention to the roads, then maybe people would smarten up a bit.

I was always taught about the green cross code and Stop, Look, Listen. Others will equate this to "No Johnny, you can't play outside", whereas the message we should be sending, is "Don't play in the road".

Do Morons Deserve to Die? That was the controversial question I posted the other day to a newsgroup. Perhaps it was harsh. But personally, I believe that I "deserve" (or at least will get what's coming to me) if I die by playing in the middle of a road by being an arrogant ignorant self obsessed idiot.

Bring back consequences, give back responsibility, stop dumbing down britain.

Cya
Simon

It's a stance that won't win you any favours, even though there are elements of truth in it.

Drivers are often seen as the evil in an accident involving a pedestrian or cyclist, and so the pedestrians and cyclists need not be worried about being blamed for an accident, as they are seen as the victims.

If I stepped out in the road in front of a car and got hit, I would hold my hands up and say I was to blame, but some pedestrians would shout and swear at the driver, trying to blame them for their own behaviour. I've seen this happen, including a couple of days ago.

Road safety is the responsibility of all people using the roads, but sadly the focus is on the menace that is the motor car, whereas we need more education for pedestrians and cyclists to act in a more responsible manner.

Road safety campaigners would slaughter me for saying such a thing, and indeed they have, when I suggested a cyclist who was involved in an accident could have avoided the accident by using the parallel cycleway built for them, instead of cycling along the fastest and busiest road with the highest proportion of HGV traffic in the city at rush hour. It wasn't a clever thing to do, and as a result the accident happened. Of course, there are other factors, but if the cyclist had used the cycleway the collision wouldn't have happened, or at least, wouldn't have involved the cyclist.

My message: all road users have a part to play in road safety; there's no room for complacency.

As someone who works in safety (mainly construction) I do find that the two groups who are hardest to keep safe are the malicious and the intentionally stupid.

Looking at evolution, these members of a species would have died off a long time ago by ending up as prey or falling foul of 'nature'.

As a driver I do the best I can to be aware of others on and around the road, but how do we deal with those who step in front of a car as you are nearly level with them? Or the driver who hits you in the rear quarter (effectively the blind spot in your mirror)?

I can sympathise with your comments, but can see that the 'fluffy, we must protect everyone against everything brigade' would a 100 years ago be looking to burn you at the stake.

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Gordon Brown saying I got the country into it's current economic mess so I'll get us out of it is the same as Bomber Harris nipping over to Dresden and offering to repair a few windows.

Chaos, panic and disorder - my work here is done.

http://www.wildcrafts.co.uk

WRT to what Safety Engineer said, I feel for you.

It was a refreshing change the other day to see ROSPA changing their tune and saying that kids should be allowed to climb trees and do other things that carry risk of small injury.

The big problem though, as the OP said is that no one seems to be able to take responsibility for their own actions due to the nanny state.
At the end of the day, if you walk straight in front of a car, it's your fault for not looking, not the car driver's fault for not being "strong in the force."
Obviously things like COAST mitigate this, but if you are trying to negotiate berlin cushions and other state imposed road furniture in a manner that will not destroy all of your suspension, you will rapidly become unaware of the situation around you, at any speed.

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"Are you sh**ing me?"
"John Spartan, you are fined one credit for a violation of the verbal morality statute."

Bladesman, we know that the nanny state has gone to far when the head of the HSE goes in the national press stating that life is not risk free and nor should we try to make it so.

They have just started a 'Myth of the month page' on the HSE website to present some facts and de-bunk the H&S myths going round - the number of sites I go to and get told that ladders have been banned.

_________________
Gordon Brown saying I got the country into it's current economic mess so I'll get us out of it is the same as Bomber Harris nipping over to Dresden and offering to repair a few windows.

Chaos, panic and disorder - my work here is done.

http://www.wildcrafts.co.uk