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Previously on "Speed limits to be lowered to increase indirect taxation revenues"

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  • TykeMerc
    replied
    From the Daily Mash....

    IN a dual bid to reinvigorate the car industry and reduce road deaths, UK engineers are being given a £100m grant to perfect the world's first rubber car.


    Ministers said developing a vehicle in which every single component is made from very soft rubber would help Britain retain its valuable bad car making skills.

    Tom Logan an engineer from Coventry who has been working on a very wobbly Jaguar XJ, said: "The early prototypes have been wonderfully impractical.

    "It takes about 20 minutes to come to a complete halt and the inside of it is absolutely covered in vomit."

    Rubber car technology was first tested during world war two as an offshoot from the bouncing bomb project, but was abandoned after four troops were catapulted into occupied France after a collision in Dover.

    But ministers insist they can be used as an alternative to lowering speed limits after research showed that 80% of drivers 'bought a car with more than two fricking gears for a reason, thank you very much'.

    Last week Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson test drove a prototype before deploying a traditional metaphor which left everyone deeply confused about whether he liked it or not. Clarkson added: "If this car was my genitals, I'd have an enormous rubber scrotum."

    A child safety campaign highlighting the benefits has also been launched with the slogan: "Hit me at 30mph and you’ll go 'boing'. Hit me at 40mph and you'll go 'booooooiiiiiinnnnng'."

    Leave a comment:


  • NickNick
    replied
    But what everyone seems to be missing here is that road accidents are good for the economy.

    Leave a comment:


  • OwlHoot
    replied
    Originally posted by darmstadt View Post
    A lot of roads in residential areas in Germany are only 30 kmh and the one I live in is in fact 7 kmh (walking speed.) I think 20 mph is fast enough for many residential areas, particularly where there are many families and children.
    Trouble is if you make residential roads too safe then pedestrians and cyclists on those will become blase and take traffic safety for granted, which might increase the risk to them of traffic on faster roads.

    Leave a comment:


  • darmstadt
    replied
    A lot of roads in residential areas in Germany are only 30 kmh and the one I live in is in fact 7 kmh (walking speed.) I think 20 mph is fast enough for many residential areas, particularly where there are many families and children.

    Leave a comment:


  • NickFitz
    replied
    I live in one of the cities that already has 20mph limits on certain residential roads, and I have no problem with them.

    The 20mph limit has been applied to roads in residential areas which were never designed with usage of cars by the majority of residents in mind. Some of these areas are Victorian or Edwardian, some were built in the Thirties or the post-war period. The one thing they all have in common is that the roads are now lined with the parked cars of residents on both sides, leaving only a single-track road in the middle. Parking restrictions make no sense: these are the cars of the people who live there. As some idiots still wilfully ignore the fact the the legal speed limit is a limit, not a target, other measures have to be used to make them use these roads safely.

    When I finally got around to learning to drive in 2001, before the 20mph limits were introduced, my driving instructor asked me how fast I thought would be safe to drive up such a road. "25mph?"

    He shook his head, and opined that 20mph was the maximum safe speed to drive up such a road, although 15mph was preferable. Now that I have more experience of driving on these streets, I agree entirely: these are roads where children live, and where cats chance another of their lives. If the 20mph limit was extended to more of these roads in my neighbourhood, it wouldn't affect me in the slightest, for it isn't safe to drive at more than 20mph up them anyway. Anybody driving at 30mph up the road I use to get to the main routes into the city (which has all these problems but sadly still has a 30mph limit) is driving recklessly in the first place.

    Of course, being Sky News, the story originally linked to gives the impression that stupid restrictions will be imposed where there is no need; and you'll also have noticed that the idea of speed cameras, though trumpeted in the sub-head, refers to average-speed cameras rather than Gatsos, and is relegated to an also-ran "other initiative" that "could be seen" in the story.

    Not that I'm suggesting that a Murdoch-owned "news" organisation would deliberately phrase its stories in such a way as to distort the facts for the purpose of kicking up a stink and thereby garnering more page impressions from which they make money...

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  • DiscoStu
    replied
    Originally posted by AtW View Post
    Have you got a link to prove this allegation?
    Some interesting stats on the matter here.

    Leave a comment:


  • AtW
    replied
    Originally posted by Paddy View Post
    On average one person a week is killed by a police car driver speeding
    Have you got a link to prove this allegation?

    Leave a comment:


  • Paddy
    replied
    On average one person a week is killed by a police car driver speeding, the highest percentage of deaths by any group of drivers. These deaths are acceptable by HMG.

    Leave a comment:


  • Ruprect
    replied
    Originally posted by Peoplesoft bloke View Post
    Calling speeding fines indirect taxation is like calling fines for ABH a stealth tax on violence. Speeding, like violence, is both illegal and optional.
    you'll never take me alive copper!

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  • Ardesco
    replied
    Originally posted by Peoplesoft bloke View Post
    Calling speeding fines indirect taxation is like calling fines for ABH a stealth tax on violence. Speeding, like violence, is both illegal and optional.

    Leave a comment:


  • Peoplesoft bloke
    replied
    Originally posted by dinker View Post
    Jacqui Smith will be able to buy another house.
    IIRC her particular scam is claiming the cash and not buying one....

    Leave a comment:


  • Peoplesoft bloke
    replied
    Calling speeding fines indirect taxation is like calling fines for ABH a stealth tax on violence. Speeding, like violence, is both illegal and optional.

    Leave a comment:


  • Board Game Geek
    replied
    Surely any road death will be unacceptable
    Well, the natural conclusion is to ban death altogether. Since it's death that is the major problem here.

    By banning death, and declaring a new, "transitive state", there can be no such thing as murder, or accidents, or whatever.

    Hence, no need for murder laws, prisons, etc.

    Imagine the savings !

    Just sweep 'em up, pop em in a chair, and send them back to work.

    To be honest, judging from some of the permies I've worked with in previous companies, it would be hard to tell the difference.

    Leave a comment:


  • Ruprect
    replied
    This only has one natural conclusion really. Surely any road death will be unacceptable. Let's ban cars altogether.

    Leave a comment:


  • dinker
    replied
    Jacqui Smith will be able to buy another house.

    Leave a comment:

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