Hmmm... I thought my comments might awaken some of you
Apologies for playing the devil's advocate. Yes, they were
deliberately inflamtory, yes, the metaphors were designed to grab attention rather than be 100% accurate. In fact, metaphors rarely accurately describe the situations and behaviours they attempt to describe. My views on driving, and the way to improve driving would be a little less draconian (honestly... they are!
). But there are people who have that very attitude, and it seems to be gaining momentum. Pressure groups, politicians and god knows who else jump on a bandwagon (not always for the right reasons, especially the politicians
) because being nice to people and asking them to be more careful doesn't seems to have an imediate and lasting effect.
But there are a few salient points to bear in mind.
For most people (please not that I say "most" and not "all"), driving is a means to an end. It is not the objective, it is merely a means of getting to that objecive. For most, driving itself is not something they actively pursue, and in many cases, they don't enjoy it. If we are told that by passing your driving test, you are able to drive on the roads, that is as far as people will go. Compare that to those who participate in this (and similar) forums. We are looking at it from a fundamentally different viewpoint. Our view is as valid as those of the majority of drivers, but we have a different mindset. Advanced drivers and those that aspire to be, see driving differently. Some of you do it for a living, some of you do it for safety and some for their own personal satisfaction. Rightly or wrongly, we are also in the minority.
Owing partially to the fact that there is no compulsory re-testing of driving standards, we all develop bad habits. We are all human (well mostly... I have my moments
) and we all have an ego. We also drive a ton of metal at speeds of 70mph (we never speed do we?). We have been certified as good enough to drive a car. We are all "adults" and we "know" how to handle a car I have the license to prove it)... just as we "know" our limits. We are all sensible. We do not walk around with loaded guns and the safety catch off, because that would be stupid.
For a moment, take a step back from the ideal world, what 'advanced drivers' are striving to do and the ways we are trying to do it.
Quite literally, stupid things happen. Somewhere in the world, somebody will have shot themselves or somebody else by accident. Fortunately, most of us in this country do not routinely carry guns. If we did, there would be a lot of deaths. People do silly things, no matter what you tell them. Chip pan fires, cigarette fires, fireworks burning people, electrocution... some of the things we hear about are so silly, we laugh. Nobody could do something so daft could they? Yes they can, and they do.
Each year, there are over 3000 deaths involving motor vehicles. Think about it. Take the pupils from three or four inner city comprehensive schools, put them in a car park and detonate a large amount of explosives. How would that read on the news? 9/11 all over again and it's a headline for years. Spread it over a country in small numbers, and it's hardly worth anybody's time. But it's a huge number. I looked at some of the figures for previous years, and it scares me. The number of deaths and serious injuries each year are huge. Forget the numbers as a percentage of all road users etc... just look at the numbers. People. Family members, mothers, fathers, children etc. Lives wrecked and changed forever. By people using cars. Mostly it is people who are at fault, not the cars. Driving is a BIG responsibility, but not enough emphasis is placed on reinforcing this.
I wouldn't want speed cameras everywhere, but I can see it coming. I don't want a car who's speed is electronically limited or controlled by boxes by the roadside to make sure we bahave properly. I don't want satelites monitoring my driving. These are draconian methods. We SHOULD be allowed to make sensible choices. The real question is "can we be trusted to do it?"
Looking here on the forums, I would say yes, we can. Looking on the roads each day... I'm not so sure. Cars are a recent invention. They are not part of our natrual world, we have to
learn the right skills to use them. It's the nature of people to take risks and shortcuts. Quite how we tame or undo a few million years of evolution in a few decades is something we haven't figured out. How we compensate for that is just a big a mystery. Back to speed cameras then?
ipsg
ipsg.glf Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 10:28 am Post subject:
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Gromit37
You say that we should put cameras everywhere.
Presumably you are OK with the idea that as long as collisions occur at or below the speed limit, this is acceptable?
Are you aware that the majority of collision occur at below the relevant speed limit?
If speed over a given limit accounts for 5% of collisions, how will cameras deal with the remaining 95%?
Actually, I am not happy that collisions occur at all. But imagine if those accidents that did occurr had actually occurred at 10 - 20mph faster. We have limits in place and if they are seen to be enforced, people by and large drive with SOME regard to that limit, even if not at the limit. Now imagine that everybody left a sensible gap, watched the road carefully and drove as they should. Now find a way of reconciling the two. Easy as pie
**** more inflamatory comments *****
crr003 Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:38 pm Post subject:
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Gromit37 wrote:
... but a vehicle is like a loaded gun without the safety catch being engaged....
Haven't heard that for a while.
Not on an advanced driving forum.
Maybe we're all to
'advanced' to think of the similarity. It may not be a pleasant or exact comparison. But the effects can be similar. Enter a crowded area, carelessly point a lump of metal in a given direction, apply acelleration to relatively high speed (compared to human walking) and see the carnage that *can* happen. If it's not advanced enough for you, or you don't like to think of it in that way, that's fine. Unfortunately, most people don't. Hence the 3000+ deaths per year.
(too much Pro-plus)