Safe Speed Forums

Driving along today, traffic news cut in from South Wales - "Real Radio" whoever they are - announcing the traffic news "sponsored" by South Wales Camera Partnership (interesting use of funds) with the slogan... wait for it....

Its not an accident if you're speeding !!

WTF ???

I've been to enough fatalities where speed was in no way a factor to be getting really p*ssed off with the mixed messages being sent to drivers. The whole thing of telling people by implication that however they drive, it is perfect as long as it's within the limit is crazy.

So next time I go to an RTC where a car has pulled out without warning, I can expect to be told it's the other drivers fault for going one mph to fast, and they heard it on the radio.....DOH !!

You know what they say: "When ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise, better to be ignorant like them".
Never has it applied more than to the Silly Camera Pratnerships

Does this apply to Derbishire police......

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Speed camera policy Kills

Daft. Why not a radio advert about the two second rule and it's going to be a nasty accident if your're tailgating.

Or nags to use your mirror


- and I now have a catchy little jingle to go with me catch phrase too. Trying the get the choir to sing it at then end of the concert do.

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Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

cant you contact REAL radio and educate them? as a police officer, surely they would listen to you and do something about it???

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Richie

SSAFA supporter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126025031585

I've asked our local Fed rep to take it up with them - we'll see what happens. It's not my force area so you never know...

Depends how big a "bung" they're getting from the scamera lot I suppose...allegedly

Um, have you perhaps misunderstood the message?
From your response, you appear to believe that it is saying that, if you have a crash when you are driving over the speed limit, then it can't be called an accident. In other words, it's definately going to be your fault because you were speeding. But that's not how it reads to me.
What they seem to be saying is, if you are driving over the speed limit then you are not doing so by accident. I.e. you should be monitoring your speed and driving below the limit; in other words, you are speeding on purpose, not by accident.
The 'accident' to which they are referring is not an actual crash, but the intention behind the act of speeding.

OK, what do they really mean then?
Here we have two completely different interpretations within our little group, so WTF do they think the general public is going to make of it?
But in any case, the message is wrong, and this is simply another example of the 'dumbing down' of road safety.
And they wonder why casualties are increasing.

Cheers
Peter

Its difficult to know what they really mean. If the slogan was "Its not an accident if you're speeding", without any reference to or suggestion of a 'crash', then to me the message is clear - if you are speeding you're not doing so by accident.
I suppose it's meant to counter the claim made by many NIP'd drivers that they didn't realise they were breaking the speed limit; to remind them that they are supposed to be driving under the limit and if they don't then it's their own fault.
You are correct though, its still daft slogan that doesn't convey any real road safety message.

To my mind the implication behind this is clearly that, if you are involved in a crash when speeding, the crash will be as a result of your reckless behaviour, and therefore cannot be considered an accident.

(However, as an aside, this is twisting the meaning of "accident". It means an unexpected event, one that could not be reasonably predicted or foreseen. It doesn't exclude the possibility of fault. If you have a crash half the time you exceed the speed limit, then it can reasonably be said to be deliberate. If you have a crash 1 out of 2 million times, then it is an accident, even if you are entirely to blame)

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Interesting point, Rigpig - must admit I hadn't thought of it that way. But then if I, as a trained professional (allegedly ) can't interpret it the way it's meant, so much for sending clear and unambigous messages to the public!



This is why we abandoned the phrase "accident" a few years ago - they are now RTC;s (Road Traffic Collisions) which more accurately reflects the causes. True accidents, i.e. events which could not be forseen, are incredibly rare - the odd falling tree perhaps, but not much else. Even mechanical failures aren't automatically called accidents - if due to lack of maintenance, then that certainly isn't unforseen...

There's nothing wrong with the word 'accident'. We've been got at by PC twerps who couldn't read the dictionary. Here's the full text from the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary:

accident /"aksId(<schwa>)nt/ n.LME. [(O)Fr. f. L accident- pres. ppl stem of accidere happen, f. ad AC- + cadere to fall: see -ENT.]

I A thing that happens.1 An event. obs. in gen. sense. LME.

b An event that is without apparent cause or unexpected; an unfortunate event, esp. one causing injury or damage. LME.

2 Chance, fortune. LME. <unknown>

3 Med. An unfavourable symptom. LME–L17.<unknown>

4 A casual appearance or effect. LME–M18.

5 An irregularity in the landscape.

Obviously we're interested in the 'b' defintion (which I emboldened) - there's nothing there to make the term is less than appropriate for road crashes.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Yes, precisely. If you do something on the roads that is highly likely to result in a crash, then it is not an accident. If you do something that slightly increases your risk, and you have a crash, then it is an accident - even though, as I said, it might still be your fault. The use of the term accident does not exclude the possibility of fault or negligence.

The distinction is between "deliberate" and "accidental".

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

It's not an accident: They realise that ordinary speeds can make them a great deal of money by abusing the law.

Thats another appauling message that is sent out to drivers - much like the Lancashire one "If it's your speed it's your fault" that I posted about in the Road Safety section.

I must admit that I thought the intended meaning was what Cotswold implied. Yes there is another interpretation, so isn't it worrying that it is a very ambiguous message that is been sent out?

Instead how about a message to tell people to use the crossing which is 10 yards further down the road?

Be interesting to find out just what they did mean and whether the fact that it can be interpreted to mean a couple of different things will:

a. Surprise them and/or
b. Persuade them to change it for something more meaningful

Real Radio is a joke - its akin to hospital radio.

They are based in a flash new office block in Radyr, Cardiff. About 2 miles from the Scamerati's PR company offices.

No doubt the PR firm bung a lot of business through Real, and the tie in was a favour for a hearty sum of OUR money.

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6 points for speeding - higher insurance costs. Its the £120 for the B&W photos of the car I object to!

Any one else old enough, like me, just, to remember those short films on black and white steam driven telly from The Central Office of Information.

Even now I can remember watching one with the old man where a copper on a motor bike pulls two drivers over and gives them a lecture on their driving. Sent on their way looking a bit sheepish but thanking the copper.

Not in the least bit patronising but it got the message across because people were shown being spoken to as if they had a brain and not as if they had a two second attention span.