Safe Speed Forums

But burglary in 100% of cases results in the deprivation of property. Rape in 100% of cases results in gross sexual violation. Exceeding a speed limit in at least 99.9% of cases causes no actual harm to anyone.

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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

True - but far far more than that.

With 50%+ of traffic exceeding the speed limit at sample sites on most road types, and only 5% of injury crashes involving any speeding vehicle, most speeding vehicles are actually posing LESS risk than non-speeding vehicles.

This counter-intuitive finding is easily explained - speeding take place most where roads are clearest and hazards are fewest. Crashes take place most where hazards are most and speeds are lowest.

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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

At last, I understand. Weepej, you are Richard Brunstrom and I claim my reward.

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

As you ask YES I do think that these crimes do as much damage as bad and stupid driving asyou will have noticed were I live we now have 5 youths on charges of kicking a man to death outside his own home!

Do you think that that is a less culpable crime than driving a couple of miles over a speed limit for a few yards at a speed camera?

Obviously I certainly don,t and neither do I condone bad or stupid driving but as a professional HGV driver (class 1) for over 35 years I profess to be human and OCCASIONALLY and UNINTENTIONALLY exceed a posted limit this called HUMAN ERROR something that can happen to any experienced driver no matter how vigilant you are but IT DOESN,T MAKE ME A CRIMINAL WITH CRIMINAL INTENTIONS OR A STUPID OR BAD DRIVER!

Burglars and rapists and violent criminals are usually habitual career criminals and live that way but just because some poor motorist who has misjudged a speed limit or missed a restriction sign isn,t in my opinion a career criminal in the same category as these criminals.

I totally agree with the ones who openly flout the law and and are habitual speeders they deserve to be dealt with to the full force of the law and rightly so but don,t categorise ALL drivers who pass a speed camera once in 10 or 20 years as criminals or stupid or dangerous drivers as very likely in 999 out of 1000 cases they have made an error or missed a speed sign because of a genuine reason.

This is again another reason for MORE police patrols as they have something a camera doesn,t have JUDGEMENT as to whether a transgression warrants a prosecution or not as they can point out the error of a drivers ways, ask any serving officer.

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"There But For The Grace of God Go I"

"He Who Ain,t Made Mistakes Ain,t Made Anything"

Spannernut

I wasn't asking you to compare that though.

Compare the effects of burglary, rape, and vehicular KSIs (which are often very avoidable) and its obvious where effort should be concentrated.

Er.... they all destroy lives to some extent. The Swiss family did lose one guy in a car crash (not his fault - he was hit at a low speed by a large vehicle - with severe defects and the other one died in a plane crash.). They got over these trauma better than they did the burglaries (over which I had non-stop earache from the victim - Marianna ) .


Rape victims - female and male (it's not just as violent sexual assault against women alone. - there are male victims of this crime ) - the feeling of shame.. guilt .. trauma last a long lifetime without any release or the solace of a grave or shrine for some release of deep emotion.

Police on the beat or on patrol also act as a deterrent to these other appalling and extremely serious crimes just as much as the sight of a police car makes the drivers start concentrating on the driving and complying to the lolly that bit more closely

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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.

Certainly we'd all agree that effort should be put into reducing road crashes. But we're here because - and only because - present policy isn't working.

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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

Well... yes.

Let's take the real examples of two people I know.

Person 1, NEVER exceeds the speed limit. Yet his general roadcraft and driving abilities are appalling! For example, his way of driving away from traffic lights at a crossroads is to watch the lights on the other road and then drive away when the other lights change. Apparently he can't quite get it into his head that this is NOT a good idea, especially if the junction has multi-aspect lights, and it isn't his turn to go, yet. I am surprised he hasn't been caught yet. Perhaps not, as he never speeds.

Person 2, will drive at the speed SHE thinks is safe. If the road says 40 and she believes it is safe to drive at 60, she will. But on the other hand, should she believe the 40 limit is too high for a particular reason, she will drive below 40.

I know who I feel safer with.

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www.thatsnews.org.uk / www.thatsnews.blogspot.com / http://thatsmotoring.blogspot.com/

But are the police always the best people to judge WHY a vehicular KSI happened?

Badly designed roads, vehicle design faults, distracting signs, poorly designed signs, sunlight reflecting off a large mirrored building, etc., all can help cause a crash. But they are not within the experience of a police officer to investigate.

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www.thatsnews.org.uk / www.thatsnews.blogspot.com / http://thatsmotoring.blogspot.com/

Me too. The trouble is, all roads have to be governed/limited to control the worst moron using them which leaves Person 2 wondering WTF is going on?

I absolutely cringe, as a passenger or observer, at some peoples' driving.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Bad and stupid driving can be totally different to exceeding a speed limit. I agree that the effects of bad and stupid driving cause a lot of harm and I would love to see bad and stupid driving reduced/eradicated.

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

I thought the roads were (in places) limited to increase congestion & frustrate motorists?

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

So do you agree that the govt's current policy/mantra that 'speed kills' is wrong and ineffective and that there should be better driver education and more trafpol on the roads?

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

No and no and yes and yes.

Can be, but the two normally go hand on hand from my observations.

It'll be the person that was speeding that approaches the junction too quickly and sticks his nose out, the person that was speeding that dangerously goes around obstacles in the road, the person that was speeding that clips somebody turning left.

Its a mindset, "I'm in a hurry, I'm going to break the speed limit, and I'm going to use inappropriate speed as well".

If you're in a hurry to chortle along a road at 35-37 mph, you're going to be in a hurry when things, like junctions, crossings and people get in your way as well.

I watched a guy approach me from behind once, he was obviously giving it all he could get, and when I slowed down he went around me, across the zebra crossing that I had slowed down for, that a women with a pram was walking across.

Surely you've been around this forum long enough to understand the difference between LEGAL and APPROPRIATE speeds?

I frequently exceed the posted limit when its safe to do so, but I'm also the one looking the furthest ahead, slowing down when appropriate and generally not driving like a ****.

Perfect example. Part of the route I take home consists of a long straight followed by two wide, flat corners. The whole lot is on a perfectly flat hilltop, so as soon as you enter the straight you can see the whole road for about 1 1/2 miles. Last year some time, I got to this stretch, and noticed in the distance (about 3/4mile away) flashing hazard lights on my side of the road. The car in front of me (doing about 50-55mph) almost drove into the back of it before she noticed and slammed on the anchors even though there was nothing coming the other way and she could have just gone straight past the broken down vehicle.

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

Well, if you've observed it then it must be the rule!

The rest of what you wrote is a perfect endorsement for the aims of this campaign. Idiot drivers, who endanger those who share the roads with them, are, in extremis, being sent £60 fines for speeding a fortnight after the fact, when all their other, more dangerous, transgressions are going unnoticed! Meanwhile, those who are driving safely, but marginally (and safely) over the limit, are facing the same punishment. Thus it is impossible to distinguish the real dangers amongst the masses!

To suggest that all those who are above the speed limit exhibit the extreme behaviours you mention (as no doubt you will) is really a stretch too far, but we can agree, without doubt, that those to do display truly dangerous road-behaviours will often also speed.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with Venn Diagrams, but that really would be the easiest way to describe how your sentiments here agree absolutely with those of the majority of the rest of us: ie dangerous drivers are a set that overlaps, perhaps almost in it's entirety, with the set of 'speeders', but the set of speeders is many times the size of the dangerous drivers, and therefore includes many who speed, but are not dangerous.

EDIT: This may help:

I wish Brunstrom would just ...[potentially offensive remark removed ].

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“For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.” - H. L. Mencken

What? Like my brother-in-law and my best mate's wife, you mean? They got cancer and one is dead and the other dying.

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www.thatsnews.org.uk / www.thatsnews.blogspot.com / http://thatsmotoring.blogspot.com/

Ouch! You have said the unsayable.

I know where you're coming from but even so...

I think the comedian Robin Williams said it best when he was talking about the differences between men and women.

He said that a woman wouldn't make a bomb which kills people on such a massive scale; they would make a bomb that makes you feel bad for a while

So maybe something which makes him feel bad for a while to give him time to reflect on the error of his ways?

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.