Parents encouraged to use large 4x4's by the government

[Numptycorner]

It's both, if you ignore speed limits then your more likely to kill sombody if you hit them

Not strictly true, someone at 35 paying attention will have stopped sooner than someone doing 25 and not.

It was actually proven however, in Cumbria I think, that the introduction of speed cameras has actually meant an increase in accidents and road deaths....despite what the government figures say!!!

Of course, you get motorists who slam their brakes on when they see a speed camera. The best way to police speed limits is with police patrol cars.

[gingerjedi]

There are some interesting points made there, on another subject I read somewhere about how the claims by the safety camera partnership don’t stack up against hospital admissions from road accidents, a speed camera is put in place every time there is an unusually high accident rate in a given area but as this rate is a peak the rate is bound to fall anyway yet the SCP take the credit for reducing accidents?? It's a feckin' scandal I tell you!

[Numptycorner]

There are some interesting points made there, on another subject I read somewhere about how the claims by the safety camera partnership don’t stack up against hospital admissions from road accidents, a speed camera is put in place every time there is an unusually high accident rate in a given area but as this rate is a peak the rate is bound to fall anyway yet the SCP take the credit for reducing accidents?? It's a feckin' scandal I tell you!

Most of the stats are done year on year with simple percentages. What if one year in January say it was a harsh winter? introduction of a camera in the interviening period would show as a false positive benefit, when actual fact it was just regression to the mean accident level. They never model the data, so the stats are confounded with all sort of undiscussed factors. Add to that accident rates have been static for a decade, until recently when they have started to rise. Over that period the speed cameras have been breeding exponentially, which may prove they don't actually work.

[angusglover]

There are some interesting points made there, on another subject I read somewhere about how the claims by the safety camera partnership don’t stack up against hospital admissions from road accidents, a speed camera is put in place every time there is an unusually high accident rate in a given area but as this rate is a peak the rate is bound to fall anyway yet the SCP take the credit for reducing accidents?? It's a feckin' scandal I tell you!

But if you look at some of the accidents that occur that get used as an excuse for placing a camera, it is a con. Top Gear did a bit on it and some of these were pedestrian accidents, one guy jumped off a bridge..how is that a justification for a camera?

[dang65]

From Dang in the road pricing thing.............

"On the other hand, we only have a car at all because it's so much more convenient for her to transport our four children to all their different schools and activities. "

and then here....

"I think the school run mum is a myth. Not a complete myth - they do exist - but not to the extent that the press and other drivers make out."

Yes you know they exist as you live with one.

Yes, that's probably why I said, "they do exist". The point I'm making is that it's nowhere near to the extent the press and other drivers make out. My partner takes the kids to and from school on their bikes nearly every day. Some days there are activities after school and to get them there in time she takes the car. That's not "driving 400 metres with the in car DVD on" or whatever the comment was.

Commuter drivers seem to consider every vehicle on the road which isn't commuting to and from work with them to be making an invalid journey, when in fact it's the other way round most the time. There are thousands and thousands of commuters that don't even have your isolated village excuse for using their cars, but they still point at these mythical "school run mums" as the cause of all their problems.

And most of the school run mums that do exist are driving around completely outside of the rush hour. If they're going shopping during the rush hour then they're not school run mums are they. Same if they're going to out of school activities. Or maybe you think that all vehicles are causing congestion, except for you.

[Bluebird]

Not strictly true, someone at 35 paying attention will have stopped sooner than someone doing 25 and not.

I agree, but that doesn't give you an excuse to speed "just because I'm paying attention" - as I said in my post some accidents are "unavoidable" - like the child running out in front of a car from a hidden position - then the car doing 35 will cause more damage than the one doing 25 regardless of the compentency of the driver.

[Numptycorner]

I agree, but that doesn't give you an excuse to speed "just because I'm paying attention" - as I said in my post some accidents are "unavoidable" - like the child running out in front of a car from a hidden position - then the car doing 35 will cause more damage than the one doing 25 regardless of the compentency of the driver.

35 is effectively the minimum speed limit, try driving at 30 and see how long before you get road raged

[angusglover]

I agree, but that doesn't give you an excuse to speed "just because I'm paying attention" - as I said in my post some accidents are "unavoidable" - like the child running out in front of a car from a hidden position - then the car doing 35 will cause more damage than the one doing 25 regardless of the compentency of the driver.

By that rationale, a car doing 15 will do even less. Where do we draw the line and expect the parents to teach the kids not to run on the road?

[Bluebird]

By that rationale, a car doing 15 will do even less. Where do we draw the line and expect the parents to teach the kids not to run on the road?

The line has been drawn, it's 30 and in some areas close to schools it's 20.

A school near me actually closes the road past the school at peak times...

You can't prevent every accident but you can lower the risk.

[Numptycorner]

The line has been drawn, it's 30 and in some areas close to schools it's 20.

A school near me actually closes the road past the school at peak times...

You can't prevent every accident but you can lower the risk.

Like making sure they aren't hit by a flat fronted 4x4. One of those at 20 will do more damage than a car at 30