Sorry to bring you all down.

RGDave said:
It's a point isn't it?

There's a bend on spaghetti junction (a slip road) which I take enthusiastically more often than not. Can't do faster than 40 in FWD.
Easily managed at 60-70 in the old Beemer. I'd imagine an Imprezza/Evo could do it at 80.

(No science in that, as I don't own a 4WD, but I've driven some).
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I have a 4wd turbo charged car and I can take corners at nearly double the speed with my old fwd car. Kinda scary but you do get used to it the frightening part will be when I go back to a fwd car
 
It’s frightening how often these type of incidents are happening now. There is a back lane route near where I live that cuts out the main roads to a nearby shopping centre, barely wide enough for a single car and raised sides all tree lined, you can't see a thing coming the other way. Despite all this so many people fly along it at 70-90mph, so many accidents on that stretch of road involving young lads and lasses in their new financed cars going head on into each other or in to trees where they are going too fast to take the tight bends.

It’s sad every time we hear news like this, but the problem is passing a driving test is really just a piece of paper that allows you legally on the road, it doesn't mean you can actually drive to the required level of safety, just means you can pass a driving test. How you combat this and get people that are new to driving to be safer I don't know, but then there is also plenty of long time driver’s that are just as unsafe.
 
Doon frae Troon said:
I can never understand why they build cars that can travel at 150mph when the sped limit is 70mph.
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Exactly
Ya see despite been in the car business for 25 years now i could never understand how we were allowed to sell items that can & do so clearly break the law without any modification .. i know anyone or anything has the possibility to break the law but our business advertised the top speeds , the BHP etc..
I still cant understand how ya can buy a car that can do 200kmph whe the top limit in this country is 120...??
Cant knock the unlucky boys in the article because i was a nutter when i was young..i entered the car business at 18 & all of a sudden i was driving high powered Audis & VW's ... i was just lucky ..
 
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Interesting thought bladeplayer.
Perhaps the way to sort it is for the law to bring a charge [reckless/aiding and abetting/ advertising?] on the manufacturers when an incident such as OP happens.
That would sort them out and they would soon start producing safer cleaner cars.
 
That would sort them out and they would soon start producing safer cleaner cars.
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Eh? Cars are perfectly safe and pretty clean. The problem lies with (sometimes) the idiot behind the wheel.
 
Doon frae Troon said:
I can never understand why they build cars that can travel at 150mph when the sped limit is 70mph.
IMVHO anyone who buys a high performance car is a fool.
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I take your point, but it seems to me that fast cars are OK as long as the driver is sensible.
 
bladeplayer said:
... i was just lucky ..
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I guess many of us feel the same. Some of us have had sobering experiences, I have, although never that close t.b.h.

I live on a "30" and stick to that all around my area. In the evenings, young drivers coming in and out of town will happily do up to double that. It's just so much easier for them (to fall into the trap) than it was for me, as it took a while to get to any speed.

I've witnessed cars coming across the roundabout and flooring it all the way. I'm not condoning it, but if your GTi goes from 30-70 in just a few seconds......
 
chris661 said:
I have a 4wd turbo charged car and I can take corners at nearly double the speed with my old fwd car. Kinda scary but you do get used to it the frightening part will be when I go back to a fwd car
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i have a FWD turbo car putting out 260bhp and no LSD etc, can outdo mums hawkeye impreza easily around a track, ive had my car on track and skid pans etc to see where its limits at, dont try it on the road. doesnt matter if its a 1000bhp RWD car or a 150bhp FWD car if you cant handle it then you shouldnt be driving it!

also its not speed that kills its the stopping that does it.
 
There was a guy in a school near mine who was in the year above me, didn't know him but I'm friends with his step brother, he was 17 and crashed into a signpost doing 90mph on a slip road, was in a coma for a week until he was pronounced brain dead and they switched the life support off. Really really sad but it really can't understand why he did it and it really put into perspective how important it will be not to take stupid risks just to get somewhere a few minutes quicker when I get my license.
 
Speed does not kill. If it did then every racing driver would be dead.
Excessive speed at the wrong time with poor concentration kills.

I passed my driving test at the age of 17 years and 6 days. My Mum then organised for me to go on an advanced driving scheme arranged between Croydon Council and the Institute of Advanced Motorists. It was the best course I've ever been on! As part of the course we had a tour of the Met Police traffic division HQ in Croydon. We saw their cars, motorbikes, etc. They then showed us a slideshow of the various traffic accidents that they have had to attend to over the years. The images, as I'm sure you can imagine, were horrific BUT it brought home to each and every one us that cars are KILLING machines. One slip of concentration and BANG - you've ended someone's life.

I believe that the laws surrounding the car industry need to be far more stringent. I believe that the period of learning needs to longer. I believe that the test needs to be harder. I believe that after, say, three years, you should have to re-take your test to ensure that you're still adhering to the driving standards required.
I believe that the power of the car that you drive should be limited depending on your experience which, I believe, is very similar to the motorbike world where you can only drive a certain cc until you've passed certain tests and have the relevant experience. If I win the lottery tonight I can go and buy a Ferrari tomorrow. I'd be dead before the end of the day. Absurd.

Alas, things will never change because the car industry is far too strong in the country and no-one will take a stand against them.
 
The A77 between Ballantrae and Fenwick [60+ miles] wa a real death road, mainly accidents as described in above posts. Most caused by young drivers driving too fast, showing off to mates and girl friends.
About 8 years ago they introduced average speed cameras at 60 mph. the death toll was massively lowered.
Please do not tell me that speed does not kill, you are fooling no one but yourself.
 
I believe that the power of the car that you drive should be limited depending on your experience which, I believe, is very similar to the motorbike world where you can only drive a certain cc until you've passed certain tests and have the relevant experience
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Couldn't agree more.

Also, limiting drivers to slow cars would help the poor kids that waste £1,000s on insurance to pay for the crazy ones that cost the insurance industry millions.
 
Doon frae Troon said:
The A77 between Ballantrae and Fenwick [60+ miles] wa a real death road, mainly accidents as described in above posts. Most caused by young drivers driving too fast, showing off to mates and girl friends.
About 8 years ago they introduced average speed cameras at 60 mph. the death toll was massively lowered.
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There we have it. It's not rocket science.

If this road (from the OP) had speed cameras, those lads would be alive most probably.
 
I have thought for years, that the easiest way for manufacturers to work with the government is to chip all vehicles and changes in speed zones.

For instance if a vehicle passes from 60 - 30 limit the maximum speed a vehicle can go is the new limit of 30. Every time the zone changes the vehicle is allowed to increase / decrease in accordance with the limit. And if the police happen to spot check a vehicle and find the system has been tampered with to allow speeding just ban them instantly for life.

To many people are killed and injured and a greater percentage are not in the vehicle that was speeding.

The technology is there, but no doubt the loss of revenue against expenditure is more important that human lives.
 
RGDave said:
Couldn't agree more.

Also, limiting drivers to slow cars would help the poor kids that waste £1,000s on insurance to pay for the crazy ones that cost the insurance industry millions.
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This has been looked into by DoT
Trouble is there's no such thing as a slow car.
Virtually every car out there - even a 30 year old 1 litre Metro can do 70mph+.
How do you limit it except by putting an engine limiter on EVERY car.........simply not feasible.
Like I said earlier, hit a tree at 70 and you're not going to walk away.

Instead of throwing money at things that can't/won't work they need to concentrate on why these kids are going like a bat out of Hell.....

My theory?
Because they see other people do it.
They see 30-somethings with their Scoobys and Evo's doing 90 down the bypass and think they can do it too. They see people cutting up others, overtaking in stupid places etc etc and getting away with it and they think they can do it too. For a while they can. Many get away with it. A few don't. Not having a go at G1bbo here but when he put his TT through it's paces, a newly passed 17 year old may have seen him and thought "that's cool - I can do that" - sorry Matey, you can't.
Once you pass your test there's no need for you to have any reasessment of your driving until you reach old age.
They have the perfect opportunity.
Most have Photocard Licences now - ok some don't but many do.
They have to be renewed with a new picture every 10 years.
Make it Law that you have to have some kind of assessment and produce a certificate to validate it when you reapply for your licence. No certificate = No Licence.
I put this to the Chief Exec of the Driving Standards Agency 3 years ago.
Her reply?
Impossible to do as it would impact too many lives by taking too many people off the road.........

My reply?

And that's bad because.....?

No reply was forthcoming.

Says it all really........
I've been there - when I was 20 I was as mad as any of them. I was lucky.
 
Rural roads in Scotland are the worry. Far too many are driving at unsafe speeds.
The trunk roads are generally safe and the quality of driving is far higher and more considerate than the much busier South of England.
In the far highlands there is also a problem with continental tourists going into auto mode and driving on the wrong side of the road, especially after filling up at petrol stations.
 
Imurg said:
Make it Law that you have to have some kind of assessment and produce a certificate to validate it when you reapply for your licence. No certificate = No Licence.
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Heard similiar before and its always from driving instructors... So it always seems to come accross as a business generation proposal rather than a road safety idea...

Being able to pass a test doesn't make you a good driver... I've spent 40+ years honing my driving 'skills'... Would consider it a bit of an insult to be re-assessed because others can't cap their adrenaline rushes...
 
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