Safe Speed Forums

ROADA Care on the Road magazine October 2005. Here's some snippets from the Courting Disaster column.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded on an 83 year old man who died when he was hit by a police car answering an emergency call in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

A police firearms specialist escaped a driving ban despite speeding at 100 mph after a court was told that driving was a key part of his work with Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism unit.

A teenager caught driving at 102 mph has escaped a ban after telling Perth Sheriff Court his speedometer was faulty. He thought he was travelling at no more than 90 mph and tests showed his speedometer was out by 10 and 14 mph. He was fined £250 and given four penalty points.

A teenage girl who was caught driving a Ferrari at 100 mph in Norfolk has escaped a ban after a court was told it could damage her ambitions of becoming a Formula 1 racing driver.

A driver who had been smoking cannabis ploughed into a car killing a four year old girl an inquest in Dorset was told. The West Dorset coroner warned that smoking cannabis severely impaired a motorist's ability to drive.

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Anyone who tells you that nothing is impossible has never bathed in a saucer of water.

What is just as interesting in the dorset case, was the response of the 'gentleman' whom pulled out in front of the cannabis user. Although the druggy was speeding, the driver of the car with the 4 year old girl, pulled out in front of him.

The Police indicated that although the druggy was speeding, because thhis chappy pulled out, the crash would still have occured and the girl would still have died, thus the conviction for speeding only.

The reply of the dick who pulled out on the car, thus killing the wee girl said "if he [the druggy] was going at the 'NORMAL' speed, then I would have made it out in time." The Police found otherwise and personally I think that both the druggy and 'normal' speed man, both, have contributed to this poor girls death.

True, just because someones exceeding a speed limit shouldn't automatically mean all the liability is on their shoulders. Proper observation from the driver that pulled out would clearly have avoided this accident. Not that I in anyway condone drug driving, but a clear failure of observation is also a very serious error.

that's a very interesting point. I think way too many people pull out based on just the distance a vehicle is from them when what they should be doing is watching the vehicle and working out its closing speed.
From the number of near misses I've had on my bike, and the number of accidents I've heard of happening to other cyclists where the offender has said something along the lines of "I didn't think bikes could move that quick" I can only guess that, scarily, this really is the case.

Yes indeed.

If you're at an intersection and see a vehicle coming, you would normally wait if it was such a distance that you pulling out would cause it to have to slow down. This being the case, for the other driver not to be able to stop in time, you would have to severely underestimate either its speed or the time you would take to cross over.
If it's a bit iffy then surely one can afford to wait the two seconds or so it would take the other vehicle to pass.
Although, in this case, the druggie probably would not have been able to perform an emergency stop, the primary blame has to be on the other driver.

Cheers
Peter

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

I'd also question whether he really was speeding. Cannabis tends to have the opposite effect on you, or so I'm told. It sounds more like a 'blame the other guy' excuse. He MUST have been speeding because I'm the world's greatest driver...

1. Witnessed an accident (coincidentally in West Dorset) about a year ago, when a lady in an MPV pulled out right in front of a guy doing ~60-70mph on an A road. Oddly, she waited until he was quite close before deciding to go. I was going in the opposite direction at the time, so I am glad he opted for ploughing into the back of her, rather than swerving in to me (jokes aside, his driving could not be faulted).
A policeman rang me a few days later to arrange getting my statement, and said that apparently the lady had said she thought the other driver was going "far too fast". When the officer questioned why, in that case, had she pulled out on him, she had no answer.

2. In my irresponsible youth, I drove a few times while stoned, and I can only say I was Captain Careful. Mild paranoia and an altered perception of speed made me drive very slowly and carefully indeed. If I remember the Dorset story referred to, the drug driver had also had a fair skinful.

I'm not excusing smoking weed and driving at all, but in my experience it doesn't have as deleterious effect on motor functions as drinking. In aforementioned irresponsible youth, I used to play a lot of driving games on the Playstation - high as a kite - and do very well. Attempting the same thing when pissed was usually a disaster.

The main reason that I believed at the time that my real-world driving would be adversely affected by cannabis was worsened peripheral vision, but I didn't think it greatly affected my reactions.

I hasten to add that this was ~ten years ago - I'm a good boy now!

I don't mind someone pulling out a little close if they then put their foot down to make some space. The ones that really get on my nerves are those that pull out then dawdle, usually wandering towards the centre line so you can't see past them well enough while they trundle along at 35 in a 60. I assume it is down to poor speed perception of some people. They basically assume every car is doing 40 mph towards them rather than any other. This makes sense in 40s but not in nsl 60 limits where you end up right behind them very quickly. When someone does this I don't honk them with the horn even though I'd dearly love to give them a long blast to say 'I am here, dopey!'.

Is there are non aggressive way of commicating to someone that has just pulled out too close that they should jolly well get up to a sensible cruising speed rather than dawdling?