Safe Speed Forums

Anybody else see this programme?

An hour long but very watchable, the characters were excellent and the editing will be annoying to those involved but hilarious!

- woman mini driver saying that roadside shrines were a good idea because it makes people think about their actions - then cut to her eating a sandwich with *both hands* off the wheel and commenting that egg and cress was a bad idea.

- woman in MPV saying that all her driving is about keeping her children safe - no cuts required here - she continues talking with alternating conversational type hand-gestures, sometimes with both hands off the wheel.

- road safety campaigner making stickers for people who drive safely (ie. don't exceed the speed limit). The sticker is like SS's but with a speed camera logo and tiny text around the outside (you would need to be within a metre of the bumper to read it).

The person one was hilarious. It showed her taking her daughter for a "driving lesson". The rear window of the car had two L-plates and two of her stickers, an interesting arrangement.

Daughter approaches parked car, oncoming car and very little room. Daughter doesn't slow - mother doesn't do much, then shrieks, daughter goes for gap and must have made it with inches to spare. Laughter all round!

Mother (the road safety campaigner, remember) says "ok, let's go for fourth gear - press the clutch". Daughter presses clutch and mother actually changes the lever, with lots of grinding.

Next the daughter turns off roundabout (I think) and there is a zebra crossing with pedestrian 1/4 way across. Mother says "oh, you need to stop for this" with daughter barelling towards it at 20+ mph, missed the pedestrian with very little room to spare. Red faces with laughter all round there! (no, I am serious, she was embarassed/shocked but didn't seem to realise how serious it could have ended up)

Earlier we saw her driving around and she was cut up by another driver and screeched to a halt, hitting the kerb. There wasn't enough to know precisely what happened, but perhaps it was preventable by somebody who was a better driver?

NB: The website of the woman selling stickers is www.sticktothelimit.com - It has rather a neutral point of view, but the programme painter her as pro-camera.

Gareth

Yeah, I saw some of it.

I was impressed at the bloke with the specs and tash in the burgendy rover - notice PROPER observation all round?

BUT as for the old geezer in the J reg Cavelear - what was he on? He shouldn't have even been on the road.

Didn't see the learner with "responsible" instructor though - perhapse as well as I would have been screaming at the TV

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

I managed to keep it together for about 5 minutes before I had to turn it off or scream obscenites at the screen. The standard of driving on what little I saw of it was shocking, particularly the MPV woman doing her driving seat disco.

_________________
Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

Have a look at some of the quotes that have been submitted to that website. (My emphasis in bold)


Mrs S: "I was just over the limit when I got my points and am now paranoid about going over 30, so I'm always getting honked at and flashed. This sticker might help."

Mr Sykes: "Now I can replace the notice which says 'Going slowly? This car has penalty points."

Mrs Simnett: "What a great idea. I have points on my licence and won't be hurried."

G. Holloway: "Brilliant idea. Myself and several friends have felt under pressure to increase our speed but won't."

Mr Hodder: "Congratulations, I've several friends who have all been tailgated. Well done."

C and M Burrow: "What an excellent idea, we have a name for tailgaters - haemorrhoids - a pain in the backside."

Mrs W. "I have six points on my licence, it certainly makes driving more tense. Good luck with your venture."



P.S. Hi Paul and everyone else at Safe Speed. I have been lurking on here ever since the forum started and have decided that its time to start making a contribution to the discussions.

The programme showed just about exactly what I thought it would - the scaffolder should be off the road for good, I lost count of the number of offences he clocked up, for example...
Driving whilst using mobile phone (handheld)
Unrestrained children in 7.5tonne GV
Young girl sitting in back of an astra van (no seats)
Wife driving whilst on phone (handheld)

Frightening....

Interesting thing from Melanie Greenwood's website -


So if they all drive at the limits and are so good, where did half the posters' points come from ???

I usually find the people most worried about tailgaters are often those driving significantly under the appropriate speed for the conditions...

And as for her teaching others to drive....learning COAST herself might help. Think I'll drop her a line and offer her a passenger ride...she's on my patch....

Paul - have you thought of getting in touch with Melanie? I assume she wasn't at your recent Bristol meeting - something tells me she's not an Advanced Motorist

Anyway, good to see Steve "Get Me On the Telly" Scothern doing his bit again (SY copper, now on the telly more than the testcard - nice comment about not nicking at 83mph but definately over 90....

Hang on a mo though...just found this on the limits website :



Uh ? Even if we take 4000 deaths per year, that's 800,000 deaths per annum in the UK - with a population approaching 60 million, that sounds a bit low to me....Paul ???

_________________
Never point a speedmeter at a civil or military aircraft, vessel or armoured vehicle. Many military aircraft, vehicles or vessels have target acquisition detectors, some of which initiate automatic counter measures.
Association of Chief Police Officers

Yes, if there are 60 million people in the UK, and average life expectancy is 75 years, we would expect 800,000 deaths a year.

_________________
"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

edit: removed stupid calculation - replied before eating!

1 in 200 chance of dying in a road accident sounds like good odds to me.

They recon about one in three from heart disease and about the same from smoking.

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

Figures from the CIA World Factbook give an estimated 615,000 deaths/year in the UK. Using the 1 in 200 figure mentioned by cotswold would then give a little over 3000 road-related deaths per year - a pretty close fit to the figures released recently...

Wow, all that time! Thanks for 'delurking' and welcome!

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

Yes, 1 in 200 is a reasonable estimate for the lifetime risk of dying in a road crash based on current figures. Of course it isn't really right because the risk changes over a lifetime. In the late 1960s it was about 1 in 100, and in 2030 if we get things right it'll be about 1 in 400.

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

On the other hand if we live longer the probability goes up again...

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

Probability of dying is, and always has been, 1. Everything else is just quibbling.

I think you have missed the point. If there were no deaths from illness due to medical progress EVERYONE would eventualy die in an accident of some sort or another...think about it

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

Ever thought about making that a full time service?

Think about it for a minute......

Take a retired police driver trained copper and offer (say) 1 hour sessions where you & the "customer" drive a preset course.
15 minutes driving by the "customer" (to observe faults & bad habits)
15 minutes driving by the copper (to show the customer how it should be done)
30 minutes to discuss any faults & bad habits and possibly help the customer to eradicate them.

_________________
What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

Wouldn't it be a crowded island with one fatality per driver per 210,000 years or so?

Old age isn't really an accident. A lot of people die because of that.

I do see your point though.

There are 40 odd houses in my street, with a few people living in each one. At those odds, the chances are that one of my neighbours will be killed by a car.

To put it in perspective, if you had time bombs buried in your gardens, and you knew that one would go off at some time, and kill you or one of your neighbours prematurely, and another 40 or 80 would go off over the course of the years, and hurt and/or maim your family or neighbours, you'd bloody well clear the mines if you had any sense!

Yet we are so mesmerised with car culture that the same odds on the roads don't phase some of us!

_________________
I stole this .sig

And would you equate the usefulness and convenience of time bombs buried in your garden, and motor vehicles, BW? You'd have to to draw that perspective.

_________________
Fixed ideas are like cramp, for instance in the foot, yet the best remedy is to step on them.

Ian

Well, we all have to die of something, and a cause that accounts for 1 in 200 deaths is well down the list, certainly behind dying from a fire or accident in the home, or dying from an infection contracted in hospital.

Also if you take your use of the roads seriously, look where you're going and don't accept lifts from drunks and people without licences, your chances will be a damn sight better than 1 in 200.

_________________
"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