What are the main causes of Motorway and road accidents?
18 September 2003, 06:31 PM
#3
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Driver with lack of awareness I think its called.When you just plod along at the same old speed your thoughts tend to wander off to other things. How many times have you been on the phone for 10mins then thought it was strange how far youve travelled in no time. Same thing happens when your thoughts wander off elsewhere.
F1 and rally drivers especially find it easier to drive at 95% than say 60% as they can concentrate more on the job in hand ratherthan have time to think of other things as well.
Chip.
F1 and rally drivers especially find it easier to drive at 95% than say 60% as they can concentrate more on the job in hand ratherthan have time to think of other things as well.
Chip.
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18 September 2003, 07:51 PM
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talkin of old drivers, just picked up my GT6, bombing down the motorway and get stuck behind an old fart in his rover 400 doing 40 mph, YES 40MPH!!!
stupid git.
stupid git.
18 September 2003, 08:43 PM
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People who drive in a switched off condition, on autopilot forgetting they are driving a steel missile weighing hundreds of kilos.
Wake up you to55ers it is time to die.
Wake up you to55ers it is time to die.
18 September 2003, 09:39 PM
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Not Concentrating. Simple really. If you're REALLY concentrating you won't be up someones ar$e, middle/outside lane hogging, not anticipating events etc.
Ooops, hang on. Note to self, must believe government propaganda, must believe government propaganda...right, here we go.
Correction: It's all caused by driving at 71mph rather than the stated maximum of 70. I mean, 71mph! What bl**dy nutters they must be to be travelling at this highly dangerous speed.
Ooops, hang on. Note to self, must believe government propaganda, must believe government propaganda...right, here we go.
Correction: It's all caused by driving at 71mph rather than the stated maximum of 70. I mean, 71mph! What bl**dy nutters they must be to be travelling at this highly dangerous speed.
19 September 2003, 07:15 AM
#22
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About 5 years ago TopGear stated that official Met Police figure quoted speed as a primary factor in only 5% of RTA's. So of the 3500 deaths/year, thats only 175 caused by speeding. Of course, you could argue that 1 is too much, but that's purile. FFS smoking kills 125000/yr, alcohol 60000. More people are killed in street assaults. We all know that p!55 poor driving is the primary cause, along with adverse weather, mechanical failure and drinking. Yes, there are many p!55 poor speeding drivers, but nearly every accident or near accident I have ever seen usually involves some coffin dodger who can't see past their cataracts and have the reactions of a 3 toed sloth. But of course, it's far easier to isolate speeding as the evil in our society. Like one guy said previously about motor racing drivers, I am more alert and drive far better at speed than when forced to pootle by traffic conditions.
19 September 2003, 08:53 AM
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The drivers I blame, are the ones that always drive like they are taking their driving test or under instruction in a driving school car. These people rarely have an accident themselves, but cause 100's of them!
I have a friend who drives like that and by no means am I a nervous passenger, but she scares the **** out of me and it's got to the stage where I won't go in her car. You can physically see the impatience she causes to drivers behind her and this makes them take chances, that they perhaps wouldn't normally take, just to get past her.
I have a friend who drives like that and by no means am I a nervous passenger, but she scares the **** out of me and it's got to the stage where I won't go in her car. You can physically see the impatience she causes to drivers behind her and this makes them take chances, that they perhaps wouldn't normally take, just to get past her.
19 September 2003, 09:13 AM
#24
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Speeding may not initiate the onset of many accidents but its 100% safe to say that speed becomes a major factor in whether it stays a near miss or becomes a RTA.
You need to look at the whole picture, not just the initiating factor. You just need to know that stopping distances increase in a non linear fashion relative to speed to see that its obviously a major factor.
Therefore speed IS a factor in all accidents and many 'could have been' incidents. If you ignore this then your sticking your head in the sand.
The fact is that only a very small proportion of people are good drivers all the time, therefore you need to take the view that all drivers are not proficient. The speed limits are set not for the best driveres but for the average drivers. You may wonder why a Dual Carrigeway is a 50 limit when you feel you can safely drive it at 80, however you are much safer at 50 that you are at 80 if something that could cause an accident happens.
[Edited by camk - 9/19/2003 9:17:22 AM]
You need to look at the whole picture, not just the initiating factor. You just need to know that stopping distances increase in a non linear fashion relative to speed to see that its obviously a major factor.
Therefore speed IS a factor in all accidents and many 'could have been' incidents. If you ignore this then your sticking your head in the sand.
The fact is that only a very small proportion of people are good drivers all the time, therefore you need to take the view that all drivers are not proficient. The speed limits are set not for the best driveres but for the average drivers. You may wonder why a Dual Carrigeway is a 50 limit when you feel you can safely drive it at 80, however you are much safer at 50 that you are at 80 if something that could cause an accident happens.
[Edited by camk - 9/19/2003 9:17:22 AM]
19 September 2003, 09:32 AM
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Government propaganda is wrong. Speed is not the cause of most accidents. It is the cause of ALL accidents.
If your car wasn't moving, you wouldn't have an accident, would you?
If your car wasn't moving, you wouldn't have an accident, would you?
19 September 2003, 09:45 AM
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If your car wasn't moving, you wouldn't have an accident, would you?
19 September 2003, 09:45 AM
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Hmmmn nice idea Brendan but unfortunately a bit ridiculous-following that logic then the only course of action is to stay in a darkened room!
I was involved in accident where my car was stationary and some to55er in a Shearings coach decided to reverse into me at about 5mph.
I suffered whiplash and various other problems including the car being a write off. All told it cost the other parties insurance about 20K excluding legal bills.
I was involved in accident where my car was stationary and some to55er in a Shearings coach decided to reverse into me at about 5mph.
I suffered whiplash and various other problems including the car being a write off. All told it cost the other parties insurance about 20K excluding legal bills.
19 September 2003, 09:50 AM
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too many cars on the road, how can u leave a sensible gap infront of u and the car infront cause if there is a decent size gap the car int eh middle lane for example pulls out and the fact is if we all drove to them standards we'd be forever backing off and slowing down to let the gap increase forhte prat that just pulled out on you... and when u do back off the car in the left lane pulls out and ur backing off again and then the car behind gets pi55ed off cause ur not driving up some1's ar$e like the rest of the prats who use motorways.....
19 September 2003, 10:05 AM
#29
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I would say the majority of Motorway accidents are inappropriate speed and driving without a sufficient gap to the vehicle in front.
There's loads of things which effect those things - weather, volume of traffic, poor lane discipline, etc..
90% of my driving is motorway and out of all the accidents I've witnessed they would have been avoided if a) they were going slower or b) weren't driving as close to the vehicle in front.
As for A/B roads, then I would say speed was the main contributing factor. I'm sure the excuses would be valid - wet conditions, mud/oil on the road, someone pulled out in front of me, etc...
But, most of them I guess would have been avoidable if they were travelling slower. If I can get round a wet corner at 40mph, but lose it at 60mph the cause is my speed. Just because it's wet simply means I should reduce my speed.
Oh and I do speed and do take risks, but I do understand that launching half a ton of metal down a road at speed isn't naturally very safe
Stefan
There's loads of things which effect those things - weather, volume of traffic, poor lane discipline, etc..
90% of my driving is motorway and out of all the accidents I've witnessed they would have been avoided if a) they were going slower or b) weren't driving as close to the vehicle in front.
As for A/B roads, then I would say speed was the main contributing factor. I'm sure the excuses would be valid - wet conditions, mud/oil on the road, someone pulled out in front of me, etc...
But, most of them I guess would have been avoidable if they were travelling slower. If I can get round a wet corner at 40mph, but lose it at 60mph the cause is my speed. Just because it's wet simply means I should reduce my speed.
Oh and I do speed and do take risks, but I do understand that launching half a ton of metal down a road at speed isn't naturally very safe
Stefan
