Safe Speed Forums

If so, please sign this, but don't hold your breath:-

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk

What petition?

I certainly don't like the fact that people can buy and play with small explosives unsupervised. I don't like that some of our towns and suburbs become slightly more dangerous for a few months a year but they do. But I would rather they loose fingers and kill a few of themselves every year than sign some killjoy petition to try to stop them.

Hear Hear!

I have no problem with fire works.

Interestingly neither do my pets!! (I suspect that animals that "suffer" from fireworks are not responding to the noise as such. rather they are reacting to the agitation of their owners. Pets can be very sensitive that way!)

Sure, occasionally one gets some To$$er letting of a barrage akin to the bombardment on the first day of the Somme at 04:00Hr but this is not a "firework" issue. This is a To$$er issue! These are the same people who Hoon through housing estates at 04:00Hr in exhaustless Motorbikes/vauxhaul corsas or sit on street corners at 04:00 with sound systems that can rattle the windows at 3 miles and so on!

By all means deal with the To$$ers, but leave the fireworks alone! They are not the problem

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

Indeed, I won't be supporting yet another ban. If you value the freedom to do the things you enjoy, you had better defend the freedoms of others to do the things they enjoy too.

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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 so much the fireworks themselves but the schizophrenic thinking about them that seems daft.

All year the H&S lobby encourages us to do things to make ourselves safer but then, once a year, we all say "Here we are kids, take these explosives and go and play with them."

I agree that it is the "to$$er factor" that is the problem but every day we see groups of youths on street corners which may intimidate some people. Is it OK that they can "arm" themselves with fireworks?

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Youths are already banned from possessing fireworks, and everyone is banned from committing criminal damage or assault, so I can't see how further regulations which will only affect the responsible can help.

There might be a legitimate argument about noise pollution however.

Me too. You risk falling into the "what is an organised event?" trap. The legislation bandwaggon will take hold and the next thing you know it will cost you £20 to go and see an organised event because of the costs involved in staging it.

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Speed camera policy Kills

Sorry I posted this!

I hate the f***ing things. Virtually every night up to midnight for the last 6 weeks (and 15 to go )

I think this is the nub of it. The never-ending use of fireworks is a genuine problem for many people.

Perhaps what is needed is a ban on their use outside of reasonable dates and times, allowing fireworks to be set off at (say) Nov 4,5 and 6th, as well as the Friday, Saturday and Sunday before and after, up to 10 or 11pm.

Although it is another law, what I described seems to me like a reasonable compromise between erosion of quality of life and a bit of convenient fun for everyone.

Whilst not in favour of a ban for the sake of banning them, I concur with this observation.

Just like alcohol or guns, fireworks can bring a good deal of pleasure when used sensibly AND with consideration to others.
The problem of the rat-faced oxygen thieves letting them off at oh-four-fucks-sake is a societal problem as discussed above. As long as they can get their hands on them they'll do it and there's nothing anyone can do to prevent it. Changing the way these individuals think and behave is the key but that'll take 30 odd years even if we started now!
Having said that, I'm a little concerned about the number of instances where fireworks have been dismantled to make 'bombs'. Don't get me wrong, if some sewer dwelling scuzz bucket blows his or her face off with a home-made 'bomb'* I couldn't give a damn (apart from the cost to the NHS) but put one of these things in a confined space and you can have a real problem.
*In our crazy mixed up world, its more likely that fireworks will be banned because a succession of scuffers blows their own face off than if the problem they are casuing in their communities gets too severe
On the subject of actual 'displays' whether private or organised, back when I was a kid fireworks were let off on Nov 5th ....end of! There was predictability about it and the Blue Peter advice to keep your pets in tonight was easy to observe and once the night was done that was it for another year.
Nowadays its turned into a whole season, I've even heard it described as that although I was unaware that bonfire night had turned into a whole season but thats marketing for you I suppose. Organised displays seem to be deliberately timed so that they don't clash with someone else's, and private displays are random starting at any time from late October running through to the second week in November. And then you have the other faith's festivals as well.
There is a chap near me who has two or three 'displays' and another appears to wait until everyone else is done before holding his display so that he can say "THAT wasn't a firework...THIS is a firework". Its obvious he does this because its the same garden from which the fireworks appear at 2am on New Years day after everyone else has finished with their barrage.
So, is this a sign of a free society with people exercising their right to lawfully let off fireworks at a time that suits them?
Or another typical indication of the gratuitous ignorance and rudeness that pervades our 'rights first' society.

A little from column A methinks, and a good deal from column B

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Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical, liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

There's an altogether better petition here:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Bangers/#detail



Interestingly, I've only ever had "firework" problems with one of my dogs (and they've not all been gundog breeds by a long chalk) - I wonder if it can be a "transferred anxiety" thing?

The one who didn't like them but has got over it quite happily with reassurance training is a labrador who "failed" as a working dog and also seemed to have a major problem with the postman and paperboy until we tracked it down to their shoulder bags rather than them, which can only lead me to suspect there was an association with a game bag and someone made a REAL b*lls-up of his training!

It comes as a relief to me that the petitions site is totally ignored by all politicians and lawmakers.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Universal panacea - bring out a new law or ban it.Much as I hate indiscriminate letting of of explosions akin to WMD and would like nothing better than to see the offenders tied to one of their devices --that's my opinion.
On the other hand some form of regulation as to when/how and what is a reasonable time is needed.
Thought that some form of new law to regulate times etc had been brought in last year -so did a google. http://www.dti.gov.uk/fireworks/law.htm -- lists laws from 1875 to 2006.As far as I can see none were ever enforced -and the latest one - do we ever have any police free to enforce it and would the under 18s have the means to pay the penalty?

Pointless having thousands of laws etc unless there is the means and will t0 enforce it -but then that's Britain today.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

i agree with you and i have 4 cats. on top of that i start early hours (01.15 today) so i go bed early. i cant be doing with loud noises at what i consider to be unsociable hours. i dont work 9 - 5 (so rush hours dont affect me ) but does that mean i dont deserve the same amount of sleep as anyone else? especially considering the consequences of a tired driver

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Richie

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

Large numbers of fireworks are available all year round in France, and I have never witnessed or heard of any problem whatsoever with fireworks being let off dangerously, or at unsocial hours.
The only reason I can think of, is that they dont have a bonfire night like we do on one night of the year, and each town/village/commune has an organised display put on by travelling teams of pyro-technicians at some time of year to celebrate some local festival.
Consequently you can see an organised display several times a month if you know where they are.
The major difference is the manner in which French police deal with ANY sort of youth disorder.



These youths were followed and moved on constantly until they dispersed. The public appreciated the attention they got from the police and NOBODY screamed "abuse of human rights".
If a bar, disco or coffee shop becomes a source of youth disorder, it is closed down and boarded up!
Maybe this is the attitude we need here.

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