Safe Speed Forums

The Highways Agency are currently running a survey on driver distraction which can be found here:

http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/17859.aspx

It seems to be rather slanted to prove a point about roadside advertising being distracting, but does give you the opportunity to mention other sources of distraction you might find along the roads.

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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

On question 20, do we suppose they've added an extra '0' by mistake?

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

I did go on about the b****dy little signs that tell you what hours bus lane regs apply.

Around here some stretches are Mon-Fri 7am - 7pm and some all day everyday and the signs are too small to be easily read from a moving car. Stupid! stupid! stupid! But then so are bus lanes.

Barkstar

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The difference between intelligence and stupidity is that intelligence has limits.

To put it mildly!

It is like a lot of surveys.

Someone has a bee in their bonnet and decide to produce figures backing up their point of view.

Then they can produce a report "89% of people against whatever-the-hell I am trying to have banned" and use those figures to back a call for action.

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

LISTEN!!!!..................

If I want an accident, I'll ruddy well have one.......

Just DON'T try to analyse me!.................OK?

Is there an option in this survey for speedo and hunting for little yellow boxes up on poles?

edit: just done it and the answer is: not really, however I did add this to the comments section at the bottom:

One important point worth mentioning is the use of the overhead information signs to display information that, whilst driving related, does not relate directly to the road conditions at the time eg. "think - always wear your seatbelt".
I was under the impression that the purpose of these signs was to provide warning of something important going on ahead, so when I waste time reading it only to be told something that has been drilled into my head since childhood, not only does it provide an unwelcome temporary distraction, but it also makes me less inclined to read them at all, though to be honest, given the number of times they are left of after the hazard has cleared, or are stating the bloody obvious (eg. fog) I tend to take them with a very large pinch of salt anyway.

The section asking how you think drivers in general react to signs is ridiculous.

I used the comments sections to point out that signs that flash on as you approach a hazard can be very distracting e.g. VAS

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

It seemed to be a way of finiding out how much drivers are distracted by signs by asking them, rather than by trying to find out.

So I answered a lot of the questions by putting 'don't know'; how do I know how much other drivers are distracted by signs?

Likewise, I commented something to that effect also.

You can imagine the results. In a recent survey 90% of drivers think that 82% of other drivers are affected by advertising.

In the 'what do you find distracting' section I put Other - "I find other road users behaving in a hazardous manner distracting. VAS that flash as you approach a hazard are also distracting."

Told them that the only time I really notice advertising is when I am stationary in a queue.

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

Expect some time in near future a survey result that says "British drivers find road side advertising distracting /dangerous " Someone somewhere has a research grant to prove that advertising is dangerous (IMHO) - they might as well add excessive signing/ misuse of gantry signs/fake camera signs / vehicle parking on motorway bridges and pseudo marked police vehicles to the list, and of course the unconscious camera seeking tendency of the motorway driver.

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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

specs camerasare distracting...

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

I find watching your speedo and the average mph readout as well as resetting the latter as you pass the cameras more of an issue.

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

The messages I like, which I have only seen in Scotland to date, are the ones about being a considerate driver, not tailgating and the like. Much like those white chevrons they can cause people to realise they are inadvertently following too closely, though unlike the chevrons they do not provide an ongoing distraction.

The gantries round here are now generally used to display the time and distance to the next major junction, which is far more useful and less irritating than patronising "safety" messages.

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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

As are those further south -- either trying to tell us that we can drive at xx mph, or a challenge to some to beat that time -

What bothers me is that sooner or later the goodies will decide that this is gospel and make it their business to make all observe it .

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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

Absolutely - the survey may WELL be tainted later to sau that a survey was done showing that only 1% of people find that cameras are distracting !

They have deliberately got you thinking about other things and small bus lone signs - not cameras at all -- these things are seriously geared up to give then the results that they seek. Mind I am sure that an FOI (freedom of Information) aimed in the right direction should maybe help give us the answer's in full for us to look into too !
It was shown once how 2 chaps driven a certain route both came up with a logo almost identical to the one that Paul Mackenna had done before they left to go on the route. It is all pyscological profiling make 'understanding' the human mind and behaviours, and consequential behaviours ..... very sad that they want to play these games with people's lives at stake and for their own greedy goals ....

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

This is a cognitive processing issue. It can be measured.

-Define distraction, put different versions of it into a controlled experiment.
-Compare distracted performance against non distracted performance.

Why are people's attitudes to distraction being asked for? The discrepancy between good drivers who manage risk (and distractors) effectively and those who don't in terms of accident frequency is well established.

Too much focus on distractors themselves and not enough focus on drivers' responsibility to pay due attention to the road won't achieve much. I might be slightly distracted by lifting a buttock to break wind but it will only cause an accident if I let it. The term 'distraction' isn't defined and as such the survey is placed on even shakier scientific footing.

The omission of speed enforcement as a potential distractor further shows that corporate agenda is limiting any real attempt to be open and engaging with the public.

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"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."