DENNISTHEMENACE Posted October 15, 2003 Posted October 15, 2003 The Association of British Drivers has claimed that the government's speed camera policy has been responsible for 5500 deaths since 1993. Based on an analysis of road death rates over the last ten years, the ABD found that 'as the numbers of speed cameras soared from 1993 onwards, the downward trend in road deaths that had existed for decades was almost completely lost.' Year-on-year decreases of around six percent were standard until 1993, says the ABD. Applying this to the number of fatalities since then, it claims that the levelling off of death rates on the road accounts for approximately 5500 people who would be alive today - were it not for 'the significant reduction in broad-based road safety education and police road traffic patrols in favour of revenue-generating speed cameras.' The news article can be found here http://www.topgear.com/content/news/stories/466/ Quote
XTR2Turbo Posted October 15, 2003 Posted October 15, 2003 And apparently speed bumps too because they slow down emergency vehicles. David Quote
S8ight Posted October 15, 2003 Posted October 15, 2003 its logic really, if im speeding along i slow down when i see a camera. if im traveling in the same direction as a police car i drive like my dad Quote
John Dolan - Wirral & North Wales AO Posted October 15, 2003 Posted October 15, 2003 if im traveling in the same direction as a police car i drive like my dad Your dad's quicker than you!!! Quote
S8ight Posted October 15, 2003 Posted October 15, 2003 you deffinately havent seen my dad drive (nothing personal dad) Quote
Bob Green Posted October 15, 2003 Posted October 15, 2003 There are statistics, more statistics and dam lies (spelling) Quote
S8ight Posted October 15, 2003 Posted October 15, 2003 dam lies (spelling) damn 75% of ststistics are made up though Quote
Nick M Posted October 15, 2003 Posted October 15, 2003 There are statistics, more statistics and dam lies (spelling) I believe the correct quote, from Benjamin Disraeli, is : "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics" PS Google rocks Quote
Buzz Billsberry Posted October 16, 2003 Posted October 16, 2003 I'm not a big fan of speed cameras out of town apart from accident Black spots and approach to schools in villages etc but I am for them in city's just because of the volume of traffic and pedestrians. Near schools,shops,hospitals etc the speed limit should be reduced to 20mph by what ever means. I really don't have to explain the reasons why, they speak for themselves. I have seen 2 poeple killed and one injured. in my 26 years of driving. It wasn't a pretty site in particular for 1 woman who was hit by a Hi-lux toyota 4x4 which hit the women well in excess of the 30mph. It wasn't so much the impact of the Toyota that finished her off, it was when he ran over the top of her.It was said in court the driver was doing about 45mph.(in a 30mph zone) Its the same as Motorway road works. there's always drivers that speed excessively to the point they are saying f**k the poeple who are working here they are not important I'm to busy to slow down. I'd rather be 10 mins or even 15 mins late or whatever, than to be sat in that court house having being charged for manslaughter and the guilt for the rest of my life just because I didn't give a flying F**k about the speed limit in the road works. I'm not saying that I'm an angel but I tend to leave my speeding for the motorway or A/B roads ok you can still kill pedestrians on A/b roads but the 'Chance' is much reduced. Sorry to go on but everybody says "it will never happen to me" and ususally it doesn't, but it happens to someone. Will you be next? Buzz Quote
Matt Seabrook Posted October 16, 2003 Posted October 16, 2003 I would second that Buzz. Only thing about towns are the b****y speed bumps. It seems to me that the speed bump slow up the 999 services and make the boy racers go faster. They cost thousands to put in and round our way they seem to think it a good idea to put more speed bumps between speed bumps . Quote
highwayman Posted October 16, 2003 Posted October 16, 2003 I agree whole heartedly with Buzz too. I for my sins design highway schemes and generally we are being directed to install such devices and I too think it is not the best solution. When I lived in Dorset the County Council spent a huge amount of money on traffic calming the town centre killing off trade in the middle of town and the money could have paid for two traffic cops fulltime for 5 years. The government are soley financing traffic calming (promoting 20mph zones) bus and cycle schemes these days. One major problem which is truly a myth is that parents are afraid their kids are going to be molested on the way to school so drive them and hurry to get there kids there, park outside the school causing accidents. T eonly accident I have ever been involved in was a parent rushing her son to school. You can see the effect of this when its school holiday time. Quote
hilux Posted October 16, 2003 Posted October 16, 2003 1 woman who was hit by a Hi-lux toyota 4x4 Wasnt me Quote
chumley-warner Posted October 16, 2003 Posted October 16, 2003 I agree with Buzz on everything except motorway roadworks. The amount of protection offered to the guys that work there *should* be enough to look after them. The reason there may be incidents is the people who are not concentrating on what they are doing. I must admit to feeling very angry to seeing 2 miles of cones and a 40mph limit before reaching anyone working, then to see them leaning on their spade. The general competency test doesn't seem to want to be used. The concept of Speed Kills is simply not true, it doesn't take much carelessly directed speed to kill. But now I'm getting boring...sorry... Quote
Chris.B Posted October 16, 2003 Posted October 16, 2003 One major problem which is truly a myth is that parents are afraid their kids are going to be molested on the way to school so drive them and hurry to get there kids there, park outside the school causing accidents. T eonly accident I have ever been involved in was a parent rushing her son to school. You can see the effect of this when its school holiday time. It may be a myth in "your" opinion. I'm a School Governor and there are recorded "facts" about incidents in our (and well over 80% of other English) LEA area(s) concerning attacks on juveniles on route to / from school. I've been involved in a LEA & central government initiative entitled "safer routes to school" to encourage cycling / walking / walking buses etc etc. It's great for John Prescott’s' speeches at his party conference to say they are committed to this, but the reality is that they don't give a t**s when practical suggestions are proposed. Whilst I personally find it annoying, many parents "choose" to drive their children to school because of the safety aspect - not simply as you suggest molestation, but (as the stats demonstrate) a fear of injury caused by other road users - as there are such poor safety features including walking / cycling facilities available. You can see the effect of this when its school holiday time. My company does "a lot" of work with the Highways Agency on road traffic modelling. Extremely detailed models of roads in England & Wales show that a 5% reduction in traffic volume at peak hours increase flow rate by 25% (i.e. in simple terms the roads are clogged up at rush hour). This ties in with the school run argument and if you like single occupancy cars driving to / from work - surely these should attract equal criticism? Quote
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