Safe Speed Forums

They are disscussing speeding again on this show. One person has even said speeding is attempted murder

Perhaps Paul should appear and give a rational balanced input.

This show is very reactionary/sensationalist but has many listeners.

I heard that as well. It was while talking to that lady that spent 2 days in custody while being transported from Aberdeen down to Humberside.

Just goes to show how some people don't listen. This had nothing to do with speeding (apart from that was her original offence), it is all to do with the police/court system being unable to deliver documents after any offence is going to go to court. They still had an arrest warrent out for her even thou they new the original summons had not been received by her (it had been returned to the court).

Once again, does "speeding" constitute inappropriate speed, or excess of posted speed limits?

A strong reaction like that tends to indicate the former. Those with a vested interest in speed camera revenue will always claim the latter.

The word "speeding" should be banned - it's just too ambiguous.

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

I caught a bit of that . I gather she had been doing in excess od 100mph on the M180. There was one comment along the lines of "what if she had hit somebody". But it may be that the motorway was fairly empty at the time, the M180 often is IIRC. Education is needed, there is usually a much greater probability of "hitting someone" in a city street at 30mph than on a motorway at 100. I'm beginning to think that the concept of safespeed (ie being able to stop in the distance you know is clear) is beyond the grasp of a lot of people. If these people are drivers, heaven help us!

I think most of us manage road risks at a subconscious level. As we become moderately experienced as drivers we apply the safe speed rule subconsciously without having to calculate stopping distances or even stopping times.

I notice that risky situations make me uncomfortable. That's the conscious expression of a subconscious risk assessment.

So even if they don't know and can't express the safe speed rule, I don't think that means they don't use it. In fact we know they use it because crashes are far too infrequent to be able to get around without it.

The big problem is that we aren't even aware that we're depending on it. That's how the 'speed kills' BS which works on a conscious level seems acceptable to many, while drivers are instinctively suspicious of it.

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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