Safe Speed Forums

Clearly, road safety attitudes are split into 2 camps according to personality type. Those of us supporting safespeed are all clearly intelligent, lateral thinkers, instinctively aware of the real-time, real life factors that determine safe driving - and the need to focus one's attention on the conditions of the road ahead, not on one's speedo.
Hence we are frustrated to the point of despair by the other camp - those naive, small-minded jobsworth types (perhaps borderlinbe autistics?) that believe in simplistic, rigid models and who will argue that if something is 'The law', then that automatically makes it infallible.
Do we have any psychologists out there who are in a position to conduct a psychometric test to estatblish he actual scientific pattern behind these different types of thinking. It would make interesting reading...

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Dave Lucas

my wife swears i'd be well in the spectrum.... but then we suspect most engineers are on it somewhere.

anyway, i think you do autism an injustice.

Silly question, but do you get autistic girls?

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

Yes but approximately ten times less often as boys.

Agreed.
Autism is a BROAD spectrum of widely differing sensory issues.
I'll post more on this late on, as my youngest son is on the spectrum, and it makes for fascinating situations.

The justice issue is one worth exploring however - he has a keen sense of right and wrong - but hates speed cameras!

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

I don't think it's that simple.

The trouble is, the speed kills mantra has been about for so long that it's become ingrained. 'People' naturally don't like to think for themselves and prefer simply to be told how to think and how to behave, so when told by a figure of authority (the government) that a certain behaviour is bad / dangerous etc that belief becomes ingrained into the masses. Most people don't really care about the issue, certainly not enough to research it and think about it for themselves, so they simply swallow the 'official' line without question.

We are, at the end of the day, a marginal pressure group who are seen to be opposing the government stance on the issue, so 'people' will naturally be sceptical about what we have to say as a result. We've also been branded by some camps as speed merchants, boy racers etc which unfortunately undermines our position further by making us look like 'the people your parents warned you about'.

I think the differences are more likely to be between attitude towards authority, free thinking and the willingess to question.

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

My brother is quite severely autistic and will never be able to drive a car safely. He is able to learn the mechanics of how to move, steer and control the speed of a car quite competently, and indeed has driven an automatic over 50mph under close supervision in a dual-controlled car. But the reactionary skills, need for quick thought and awareness of others are just not there. If, for example another car was to stupidly pull out in front of him, his reaction would be a bit of flustered panic but with no thought or attempt at all to hit the brakes until after the crash. Same with the split-second decision to proceed or stop at a marginal green-amber light change. Basically, he would be far worse than even the most incompetent licensed driver on the roads.

As Ernest has mentioned though, autism has a wide range of symptoms. And one sufferer can exhibit a completely different set to another sufferer. Some may only have one or two symptoms and be capable of very competent driving, whereas others can have the full range and never be capable of interacting with anyone at any level.

So although I understand what the OP means - (I see lack of awareness and black-and-white obsessive behaviour all the time with my brother), I'm not sure that autism is the correct comparison. I would say that a combination of low IQ and apathy is the most common cause of the behaviour described.

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Why can't we just use Common Sense?

I heard somewhere that all males can be placed on the spectrum to some degree.

In recent weeks - and as a result of certain posters - I have wondered about the psychology of those that come on to the forum to make mischief.

All too quickly when their often rather generalised views get analysed they will very quickly get into semantics and arguments regarding the detail or veracity of a piece of research or the meaning of 'peer review' etc etc. They rarely answer questions regarding specific events or examples that challenge their arguments and opinions.

Having failed to get us all to agree they start to throw in insults, which once they have reached a certain level gets them a warning. At which point they fail to acknowledge they might have been insulting and claim they are being gagged for not being 'on message'.

With a rather dull inevitability they resort to the sort of language that would get them a slap if they used it to strangers in public, and get barred.

The thing is I don't get it.

Do they come on here thinking that they will change out minds and get angry when we don't. Or were the insults the intention in the first place?

What is going on in their heads?

Barkstar

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The difference between intelligence and stupidity is that intelligence has limits.

Those who want to and/or do improve their abilities to observe, assess risk, and learn from experience ...
and those who can't or won't.

Have terms for either type been coined yet?

Anyway, even if the latter may tend to be more susceptible to accept redherrings and other fallacies as truths, that doesn't necessarily draw any correlations between good drivers and those who understand the difference between good road safety policies vs profitable ones, or those who think data has its own intrinsic merit versus those who attach credibility to data based on who presented it or that data's truthiness, etc.

Sixy ... +1.

"Engineers are always honest in matters of technology and human relationships. That's why it's a good idea to keep engineers away from customers, romantic interests, and other people who can't handle the truth." -Scott Adams

By the way, is there any real correlation between flameposters, bad drivers, those who can't tell between profitable and dangerous road safety policy, and the autistic?

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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

Pretty much the same story with my eldest (just turned 12), only instead of braking being the issue it's maneuverability.
In a straight line he is text book perfect on stopping, starting, and changing gear, yet the minute an obstacle appears that requires him to turn the wheel then it all goes down the pan.

Hopefully he'll master it by the time he comes of legal age to drive on the public highway, but that is something that only time will tell.

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

just for the heck of it...

autism quotient test

(and yes i was sceptical but it was developed by autism researchers sooo...)

and i score 27.

I like that - I like that alot! (And its frighteningly true in my case!!)

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

13 here. It'd be interesting to know others scores.

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Smokebelching,CO2 making,child murdering planet raping,granny mugging,politically incorrect globally warming (or is it climate changing now it's getting colder?)thug.
That's what the government want you to believe of me. If they get back in I'm emigrating.

...27...

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

26 here. I then re-did the test, giving the answers I would have given 10-15 years ago, and scored 30...

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Chris

21

thought I would score higher somehow.

I liked the Scott Adams quote too.

What I'd be REALLY interested to see would be Gatsos Forever's score and all the C+ trolls we see.

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Smokebelching,CO2 making,child murdering planet raping,granny mugging,politically incorrect globally warming (or is it climate changing now it's getting colder?)thug.
That's what the government want you to believe of me. If they get back in I'm emigrating.

27

Though I think a lot of my answers were attributable to laziness & general grumpiness rather than autism......

27

Probably explains why I can get more sense out of a pocket calculator than I can from my three daughters!