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Joined: Mar 11, 2004 Posts: 1199 Location: Park Gate
Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:09 pm Post subject:
Lost_Property wrote:
4 x 4's. I have no problem with them, other than when trying to park between two in a car park and then can't open my door to get out. Maybe there should be a special area where the parking bays are a bit wider, especially for them.
There are plenty of them around every town with a soft green covering. _________________ Graham.
TT Go720, App:9.510(1234792.1) OS:842337
GPS: V1.20, Boot: 5.5279, Home: V2.9.5.3093
Map: Europe V910.4892
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Nokia 925 Windows 8
Joined: 26/03/2003 20:15:33 Posts: 502 Location: United Kingdom
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 12:16 am Post subject: Re: Road Safety Measures - Any Ideas ?
999tommo wrote:
I think instead of an airbag to cushion your pretty face in an accident, there should be a huge spike, sticking out the wheel at chest height. If you crash you get impaled on the spike. Perhaps this will encourage folk to drive safely ?
Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 14889 Location: Keynsham
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 8:29 am Post subject:
From the responses, it looks like most folk decided Tommo wasn't looking for serious suggestions, so let me spoil the party.
There was a village somewhere where the local authority experimented by removing the road markings - centre and edge lines - and the result was apparently a dramatic reduction in speeding through there.
Average speed cameras from here to breakfast time - if we can't learn to drive at reasonable speed, make it inescapable.
Super chips in all cars - variable speed limiters operated by roadside boxes to reduce your speed without even asking you!
Free lottery tickets for me. _________________ Dennis
Joined: Jan 14, 2005 Posts: 19638 Location: Blackpool , Lancs
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 8:57 am Post subject:
I will go with a very controversial idea, this is for a number of reasons:
Compulsory periodic re-test every 5 years, I am not talking about a full blown driving test as per the one you have to pass to get the licence in the first place, although I don’t see why the full test couldn’t be re-taken. Rather a test geared to prove you do in fact understand the road signs and what to do at specific junctions, have good situational awareness, reaction times are up to a specific level, if this test is failed then the driving licence can be removed.
I would like to see the overall standard of driving increased on British roads, some of the scenarios I encounter on a daily basis are pathetic examples of driving standards combine this with modern arrogant attitudes towards others.
Availability of skid car training, not a skid pan these days rather the car fitted with outriggers and a hydraulic ram system that can pitch the car into various skids, the same car was/ is used for Police advanced driver training/ escort driver training - If you ever get the chance at having a go in one of these go for it as it is very worth while, I thoroughly enjoyed the hour I had a few years ago at Finingly airfield - Mike
Joined: Feb 07, 2006 Posts: 616 Location: Midlothian
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 10:47 am Post subject:
Although I started the thread with a tongue in cheek airbag scenario, I was looking for genuine suggestions to improve road safety, although stupid ones are good too to make the topic interesting.
mikealder
I agree that there should be some form of periodic testing, but I don't know how this could be implimented when there are millions of drivers in the UK, not including the ones who don't have licences !!
A theory test in one idea. When I sat my driving test the was no hazard perception test that they have now. Some of our guys have sat their HGV or PCV tests recently and had to do the theory test and hazard perception. They were not very good at the hazard perception, because they looked too far ahead !! The software is designed around a novice driver, who looks only two or three car lengths ahead. Advanced drivers press the button to indicate they have seen a hazard that the software hasn't even registered is present yet.
Here's another thing. When traffic lights are out of order and you have these boards with an image of the lights with a red line through them, telling people the lights are out of order, have you noticed how co-operative people become. The junction becomes one big give way. I have been to many accidents at junctions where the traffic lights are not working, but NEVER where there are signs to tell people they are not working.
Dennis's comment about the town with no road markings is very valid. If people are not sure, they tend to slow down. Perhaps road engineers are making it all too easy for drivers.
On motorways or dual carriageways, I think there should be a high central divider, so people on one side cannot see the people on the other. Traffic jams and accidents caused by rubber-neckers, cause huge unnecessary delays. If people had no option but look where they were going, these would be reduced drastically.
Lost_Property wrote:
Bald cross-ply tyres
Great. I wouldn't need my tyre gauge to measure them before handing out tickets. _________________ Tommo...
Although I started the thread with a tongue in cheek airbag scenario, I was looking for genuine suggestions to improve road safety, although stupid ones are good too to make the topic interesting.
Glad to be of help. _________________ TomTom Go 60
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Joined: Mar 11, 2004 Posts: 1199 Location: Park Gate
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 5:42 pm Post subject:
mikealder wrote:
Compulsory periodic re-test every 5 years, I am not talking about a full blown driving test as per the one you have to pass to get the licence in the first place, although I don’t see why the full test couldn’t be re-taken. Rather a test geared to prove you do in fact understand the road signs and what to do at specific junctions, have good situational awareness, reaction times are up to a specific level, if this test is failed then the driving licence can be removed.
A commendable idea, but like everything else the government gets involved with it very quickly becomes just another means of fleecing the motorist and lining somebody else's pockets. _________________ Graham.
TT Go720, App:9.510(1234792.1) OS:842337
GPS: V1.20, Boot: 5.5279, Home: V2.9.5.3093
Map: Europe V910.4892
Map: Europe_Truck V870.3421, Kingston 8GB SD
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Joined: Jan 04, 2007 Posts: 2789 Location: Hampshire, UK
Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 8:03 am Post subject:
999tommo wrote:
Some of our guys have sat their HGV or PCV tests
I guess that this is so that your guys can jump in and move a vehicle if the driver is injured or unable to continue driving that vehicle for some reason.
One thought that I had was to give drivers of certain cars specific training so that they can be shown to be competent to drive the vehicle as it was designed.
For example, at the moment a 17 year old can pass their test and jump straight into a high powered car and drive it legally without prior experience.
What about cars above a certain power level requiring driver qualification from a racing circuit, 4x4 requiring off-road qualification and caravans/trailers above a certain size requiring towing qualification.
I would have thought that at least the first two would have an element of fun involved as well as just the requirement to 'pass a test'. There are probably a lot of drivers out there who'd love to drive round a circuit or go off road Darren-style.
This might have a double effect:
1) give drivers the appropriate training
2) make drivers think more carefully about whether a certain vehicle or caravan/trailer is appropriate for their needs
3) if this training was more widely available, it might become more attractive to other drivers too because the price might come down and there might be 'one around the corner'
The stereotyped 'boy racer' may be attracted to a day or so on a circuit even if they don't have a high powered car, so it could possibly have a positive knock-on effect _________________ Andy
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Joined: Feb 07, 2006 Posts: 616 Location: Midlothian
Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 10:13 pm Post subject:
GPS_fan wrote:
What about cars above a certain power level requiring driver qualification from a racing circuit, 4x4 requiring off-road qualification and caravans/trailers above a certain size requiring towing qualification.
Whilst I see where you are coming from, I think the last thing we want is for boy racers to have compulsory track days. Once they know how to handle a car without risk of damage, they will treat the streets as their own race track. They practically do already.
4x4 Drivers getting trained to drive off-road ? Why ? So they can take their kids on the arduous journey to the school ?
Caravans / Trailers over a certain size requiring a towing qualification ?Well they already do. Since about 1997 or 1998, new drivers do not get automatic trailer entitlement on their licence.
I think there should be a staggered authority to drive various sizes and power outputs, alternatively an extended driving test for these vehicles. If new drivers passed and were restricted to 1300cc for a year, then up to 1600cc for the second year, then they could learn the basics of motoring in a slow (ish) car at first and progress later. Perhaps a further test for cars over a certain weight (i.e. large 4x4). _________________ Tommo...
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Maybe there should be a special area where the parking bays are a bit wider, especially for them.
