Tonight with Trevor Mcdonald!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Unmarked STI8 I know I'm sad:D

I'm not going to argue with you on that :D

:D

The A59 is a superb road, and is only dangerous if you drive like the vast majority of todays drivers; half asleep, feeling safe & secure in your comfortable safety bubble whilst you make your phone calls, drink your Starbucks latte and apply your make up :mad: As I watched that programme, I could identify every corner, dip and crest along the length of that road. How many other A59 users can say they really KNOW the road :confused: A road which I no longer feel FREE to use, 'cos of that bl00dy unmarked STi8 :( I noticed there was lots of talk of speed :rolleyes: but not much about the quality of driving on todays roads :mad: Driving has become a secondary act, even whilst actually DRIVING. Too many creature comforts, too much reliance in technological safety systems and "get out of gaol free" nannying dummy considerations, and too much persecution for PROFIT over real world solutions to what are effectively ACCIDENTS. They happen ! Get over it ! I'm sorry for anyone whom suffers in the aftermath of a serious accident (a friend of mine came very close on that very road recently, thanks to a farmer leaving half his field on a blind bend) but there is only so much responsibility that can be taken from the individual before personal freedom is lost. The talk of cars which don't permit speeding, and satelite systems monitoring our every move will spell the end of my motoring life, as I simply will not tollerate such theft of my personal liberty.

<rant mode off>

I watched it cos I was nearly killed by a drunk:(:mad: seeing the STI8 just made me laugh.
Cheers
Colin

I waved at said plod in the Sti whilst driving toward him in my Sti8...:eek2: near harrogate...


And he feckin waved back! Cool!:)

Was being mr sensible at the time too!:norty:

lots of odd unmarked cars in yorkshire... especialy Wakefield... plod central!

Saw a dark green sprinter van with blacked out windows pull a mundano the other day... little flashy lights in the back.. bet he wondered WtF was going on!

Dazza

Didn't he have his Rev Bleep set very high ;) I have no Problem with the Cop Scooby, he must have had loads of Nova's overtake and tailgate him :rolleyes:

I'd love to drive the Car restricted speed by Sat Nav :cool: I'd drive around @30mph everywhere I mean everywhere ;) It would show how Dangerous it could be :rolleyes:

As Corradoboy says Bad driving @ 39mph in a 40mph if far more Dangerous than a 'Good' Driver doing 47mph.

Tony

Their is a piece of road that I use daily to work and it is a 60 limit the problem you have is the blue rinsed brigade drive along it at 30, does my friggin head in:mad:
Cheers
Colin

Why can't £10k be spent to save a life? What a stupid question. You have to weigh up where the £10k can be spent most effectively. It will probably be used to re-surface a bit of road and save hundreds of accidents. I wish journos would think through their questions. Having said that, that dual carriageway looked like a good spot for a crossing. If that would hold up the traffic too much then build a footbridge. Whatever happened to footbridges <goes all misty eyed> health and safety concerns of loonies dropping batteries through windscreens I suppose.

Will be interesting on Friday when the speed controlled cars are driven. I wonder if a balanced view will be given with the potential dangers, or will it just be a one-sided advert? Cue hedgehog ...

Speed controlled cars is only the first step on the road to automatic car control what ever happened to the prometheus project? wait till they talk to each other then they should never crash should they?

Surely we've all seen Minority Report?????

The technology is now available although expensive... but as with all technology will soon fall in price.

IMHO I think speed controlled cars are probably a good idea (not on 2 wheels though).... Don't get me wrong I wouldn't want one in a million years... but they would prevent accidents ONLY IF ALL CARS WERE CONTROLLED THOUGH..... PUT A MIX OF SOME CONTROLLED AND OTHERS NOT TOGETHER AND YOU ARE ASKING FOR TROUBLE! The argument against them usually revolves around... "what if i was overtaking/using power to get out of trouble etc.. and I lost speed/power?"..... the point is that if you were in a speed controlled car chances are you wouldn't attempt that overtaking manouvre or get into a situation where you needed to get out of trouble!

Once we get to the minority report level of traffic control and computerisation (which we will.... the americans have had this in thier sights since the 50s) then speed limits will rocket as no human error is possible, as long as mechanical failiure is minimised then speed limits could double overnight.

Now.... for the things that I feel could stop this 'control' in it's tracks...... Just think of a) The cost of building the infrastructure to achieve this control, although I'm sure that will be footed by the motorist and more importantly b) The MASSIVE loss of revenue from speeding tickets! There are also other considerations such as probably 80% of the traffic side of the Police would become redundant etc.etc..

Paul

I only watched the second half of this programme, but saw the blue Impreza ;)

From the rest of the programme that I watched, to be honest I was a little upset at the content of it. All very well showing obviously bereaved parents of children being knocked down by cars demanding crossings etc where their kid died, but I think it belongs in a different programme, not on one promising to show how many deaths could be avoided and roads improved.

Notwithstanding the fact these people seem to be ignorant that there are obviously limited resources in this respect and everybody who wants a crossing even if it is warranted will have to wait their turn. And £10,000 for a crossing? At the end of the programme I thought I heard announced that at one of the sites shown £70,000 was being spent on a crossing.

The whole programme had the look of a cheap womens' magazine approach to the subject, I'm just surprised Princess Di's death wasn't mentioned to dampen more eyes and tug at emotional heart strings. :rolleyes: I suppose the fact thet it was shown on ITV says it all really :(

At no point was the fact that it was their kids more than likely in the road (unsupervised? not educated correctly on the dangers of traffic?)and not a car on the pavement that led to tragedy. In fact if the roads in question were so bad why were the kids allowed to cross on their own? I would think a lollipop man etc would be a constructive and pratical solution rather than having "£10,000" crossings.

A few thoughts ...
 

1. You are in a 60mph limit overtaking a lorry which is only doing 40. Up ahead is a 40 limit so the system starts to slow you down. You are now alongside a lorry both doing 40:eek:, safe?, I don't think so. So you decide to brake, but the car behind has now caught up with the lorry and you have nowhere to go:(.

2. You are in a 60. A tree has fallen across the road. But you don't need to concentrate because your car cannot exceed the limit and so must be safe. CRASH!

3. If all vehicles were controlled then the feeling would be that if an overtake was dangerous that the system would not let you pull out. Therefore if it lets you pull out it must be safe:cuckoo:. Pity the poor pedestrians.

4. Any, and I mean any, malfunction would have very serious consequences. Cars where the regulator malfunctioned overtaking everyone else. Cars limited to an artificially slow speed. Cars that max out at 30mph trying to get past buses as they pull away from the kerb. Cars at 30 overtaking tractors at 25.

5. The cost:mad:

6. The consequences if your install fails, not allowed out until its fixed?

The whole thing doesn't bear thinking about, and IMHO the gross accident rate will increase significantly. I hope that we see some of these questions aired and answered on Friday.

All very valid points.... and as I said... I wouldn't want any part of it....

BUT.....

In your heart of hearts..................

You know it is coming and over the next 20 years or so and there's not a thing you or I will be able to do about it. The concept and sysems will be sold ultimately on thier eco-friendlyness and de-congestionising (call the oxford english dictionary people!) contributions to the traffic infrastructure. The motorway "car train" idea of the 70s where a train of cars in the outside lane travelled at a constant 100mph and computers 'coupled' and 'de-coupled' cars where necessary was a brilliant idea..... the technology sadly was not available.... it was a pipe dream......... Now..... in 2005..... the technology is becoming available and it WILL get used!!

Paul