National Road Safety week - That means speed checks

[Fallout]

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Lets say you have a car with a turbo hose which keeps popping off under the pressure. The real answer to the problem is to make the turbo hose stronger. All our government would do is leave the turbo hose as it is, but reduce the pressure the turbo connected to it produces.

Which would be an absolute travesty of justice.

Tis a good analogy!

Originally Posted by Spank86

Although back when the speed limits were introduced there was a hell of a lot less traffic about so there is some justification for not having the limits keep pace with cars ability.

If there was such a debate or focussed research into this then I might be inclined to agree but this has never been the reason. Its mostly political, beurocratic and money.

Political - which government will make the first move to apply some serious forward thinking to the way in which we currently use and will use the transport network in say 50 years time?

Beurocratic - who's going to admit that all the signage overkill on the roads, that (IMO) is a smack in the face of common sense, is a huge waste of resources? How will the government justify an increase in the speed limit in line with their Euro Emmissions targets (80% reduction of harmful "greenhouse" gases by 2050)?

Money - All of the above really and, were we to have a proper debate on the subject, I would put forward the ridiculous state of some of the roads and useless policies facilitating a "patchwork" maintenance philosophy of the road network.

I'm not suggesting it automatically makes current speed limits the perfect ones, merely that cars increasing capability is only one factor and can't be used alone to justify a speed limit change.

[keith_d]

The government has been working for many years to reduce the numbers of KSI accidents. Given that we can't reduce the number of accidents, all that's left is to reduce the severity by ensuring that nobody drives too fast.

As a move to reduce casualities (and unemployment) the government plans to introduce legislation to require all motorised vehicles to be precedeed by a person carrying a large red flag. The flag bearer will be required to walk five yards ahead of the motorised vehicle in all built up areas and warn pedestrians that a mechanically propelled vehicle is about to pass. In other areas a separation of two yards may be sufficient.

With this measure the government expects road deaths to drop almost immediately to zero.

Originally Posted by keith_d

... As a move to reduce unemployment the government plans to introduce measures to require all motorised vehicles to be accompanied by a man carrying a large red flag. The flag bearer will be required to walk five yards ahead of the motorised vehicle to warn pedestrians that a mechanically propelled vehicle is about to pass.

With this measure the government expects road deaths to drop almost immediately to zero.

Lol

Originally Posted by keith_d

With this measure the government expects road deaths to drop almost immediately to zero.

You jest, but some clowns with no understanding of either risk or economics think this [reducing road deaths to 0, irrespective of the cost/negative impact] is a good idea.
http://www.visionzeroinitiative.com/