Safe Speed Forums

In another topic, Oscar mentions 'the first rule of the road'.

But what is 'the first rule of the road'? Or what do you think should be 'the first rule of the road'?

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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

Drive on the left?

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It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished

Interesting, I would say something along the lines of "assume nothing"

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It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.

Upton Sinclair

I'm thinking: Take responsiblity.

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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

First rule, engage brain 1st, engage gear 2nd.

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

Look both ways before crossing the road. That's the first one I was taught anyway

everyone else is an idiot ?

THINK BEFORE YOU DRIVE - "Can I afford all the charges?"

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It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished

What about?........Take responsibility, take the points.

Or am I just being silly now?

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It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished

Do unto others....

Since this is brainstorming, I quite like 'save yourself'.

People think, 'oh no, that's far too selfish', but actually in the process of saving yourself you also save those around you. I think it's actually very important to road safety that selfish motivations deliver 'good' results.

Sometimes a so-called vulnerable road user group will accuse 'others' of putting them at risk, but drivers' risk assement cannot usually distinguish between a light scratch and a big crash. This is for two main reasons:

1) Crashes are amazingly unpredictable. After that first impact anything can happen.

2) We don't get to practice crashing, instead we have to learn to avoid all contact.

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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

The 1st rule of the road MUST be 'Keep Left' (and not just left of the centre line:evil: ) and I was always taught 'Safety First' as the 2nd one.

Without these, the rest go by the board!

I'm not so keen on this one - Wouldn't the potential be that, a misjudged act of avoidance might cause someone else to suffer?

Nope, I've been racking my brains and your first offering Take responsibility takes some beating. For me it sums up everything.

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It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished

It feels really wrong doesn't it? I wouldn't have put it forward except in the brainstorming context (although similar stuff has come up before).

Trouble is that I can't really find the flaw, and I do believe that it's doing us a lot of good in the lower quarter of the driver quality scale.

If anyone can blow it out of the water on rational (as opposed to aesthetic) grounds, I'd be delighted.



I think it's a foundation to build on - and all good buildings require solid reliable foundations.

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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

"Don't hit anything"? Probably should be something positive though.

I'm not sure I agree with "keep left" because it has too many exceptions, like if you're in another country or there is more than one lane to chose from. And if there's noone else around it doesn't really matter where you are.

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Andrew.

For the experienced I say "Keep one or more step(s) ahead".

For the inexperienced I say "observe and learn".

The one thing that sticks in my mind in Roadcraft is "can you stop on your side of the road in the distance you can see to be clear?"

If you can do that then every thing else will fall into place

"Never forget that a vehicle is a lethal weapon"

I didn't mean I THOUGHT Keep Left was the first rule of the road in this country.

It IS the first. You just don't see or hear it any more. It's taken as read.


If you think otherwise, try driving on the right!


.....then I'll hand in my license.

The trouble I have is that it doesn't quite sit in the catagory of Rules. It's more of an objective. It's a bit like telling a football striker to score goals without imparting to him any knowledge on the rules of the game.

With very few exceptions, we all drive with the objective of saving ourselves from harm. As an overall safety guide, it falls down because of our perception of our own vulnerabiliy. If we perceive ourselves to be "stronger" we may well sacrifice a "weaker" unit for our own wellbeing. E.g. Car v. motorbike or lorry v. car

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It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished