Safe Speed Forums

http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/news/ ... ruth.shtml

Speedy Chronicle hack Ruth Kelly avoids three points on her licence
By Ruth Kelly, Bath Chronicle

When Bath Chronicle reporter Ruth Kelly was caught speeding on her way from Bristol to Bath, she was offered the chance to pay a £60 fine and have three points on her licence, or pay the fine and attend a speeding workshop. She chose the workshop option...

"Hi, my name is Ruth, and I was speeding because I was in a hurry to get to a concert and I just didn't notice my speedometer creeping up." The first five minutes of the Avon and Somerset Safety Camera Partnership's SpeedChoice workshop at Western Power Training Centre in Taunton felt similar to what an Alcoholics Anonymous club must be like.

I was caught on a speed camera doing 38mph in a 30mph zone.

I couldn't say I felt angry because there was no real excuse for my speeding - I was just taking advantage of the open road.

When we were told to introduce ourselves to the group, it soon became apparent that my sin was one that had been committed by most of the 11 men and women I was on the course with - we had all been caught breaking the speed limit, but not by a vast margin.

"You are not gross offenders," the leader reassured us.

"You are ordinary people who we have singled out as low-end speeders.

"Today is not about making you feel uncomfortable, it is about taking something positive from what has been a negative experience."

After breaking the ice, we were told that the purpose of the course was to teach us to recognise different speed limits for different roads, to talk about the consequences of speeding, and to teach us to take responsibility.

We were hit by a barrage of numbers listing the human cost of collisions and shown figures showing the impact speed cameras have. Further facts given to us from the Department for Transport for 2003 showed that even a relatively minor collision was a huge drain on the area's emergency resources, costing £17,500.

But what stuck in my head was the video and diagrams showing the damage collisions can do. A video in slow motion of a child stepping out from behind a car and being hit by oncoming traffic was horrifying.

We were told how nine out of every ten pedestrians were likely to die if they were hit while your car was travelling at 40mph, while one in five would die if you were going at 30mph.

With these hard-hitting videos and facts, it was clear that members of the group who started off the three-hour course full of excuses and anger at being caught were feeling less confident.

Filling in the feedback form at the end of the course, I definitely felt the course had hit home.

I didn't want to be a driver like the one in the video. I checked my speed the whole way home.

Quoting the article:

So staring at your speedo stopped you noticing if you'd hit any children, caused any near misses and is a convenient way to say you are now a safe driver..... dumbass.

Agree with Hobbes. Constantly staring at your speedo is something that I would class as inattention. And inattention is a major cause of accidents.

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Anyone who tells you that nothing is impossible has never bathed in a saucer of water.

How many pedestrians have been hit by vehicles travelling at 40mph?

At point of impact?

And how many could have been avoided if the driver was not paranoid about speed and spent more time looking out for problems -oh he might get to 45, at times, but instead of looking up from his speedo and panicking, he will have a chance to slow down in plenty of time to avoid the hazard and hence his speed at the colision point will be zero - the extra second or two not looking at his speedo saving a life.

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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

Just the sort of people that need to be targeted.....not.

The report is total rubbish. It even smacks of being made up.

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Speed camera policy Kills

Yeah showing a video of a child hit at 30/40 is really something positive



So she was setting a speed appropriate to conditions which just happened to be higher than a number on a round metal plate which she passed earlier (or perhaps it was recently a 40 limit).



Yep makes you a much safer driver

As I read the article I was dithering over whether to post it, but that last sentenced clinched it!

Well thinking of it again now a few hours later, it sounds as though the partnership is in a way saying, "If you make sure that your speedometer is never pointing above 30 in a 30 limit then you won't need to worry about a child dying if you happen to hit one." (Well, most of the time)

Do these partnerships actually know how often children really are hit by vehicles at 30+ mph? They make it sound like its the most common accident on the roads.

[quote="madroaduser

Do these partnerships actually know how often children really are hit by vehicles at 30+ mph? They make it sound like its the most common accident on the roads.[/quote]

Shows just how far behind the times the pratnerships are - streets with kids - 20, and at 10 you're chancing it with the kids hiding behind their parents cars .

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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

A lot of the media have taken the bait - during any report on a serious/fatal pedestrian collision you inevitably hear the words "the driver is not thought to have been speeding".

Gareth