Road Safety Week
Discussion
Unfortunately this email from 'Brake' sat in my inbox all last week and I didn't get around to dealing with it whilst it was topical.
It was in relation to Road Safety Week. It's worrying reading for those who would like to see a balanced view on road safety (which of course is what Brake is supposed it be about isn't it?).
Check out the oversimplistic speed kills mantra in this:
ROAD SAFETY WEEK: STOP SPEEDING MANIFESTO FOR TONY BLAIR
23 September 2002
Dear Prime Minister,
This week is Road Safety Week. The theme is Save our Kids: SLOW DOWN.
73 CHILDREN, REPRESENTING THE CHILDREN KILLED ON ROADS EACH YEAR DUE TO SPEED, ARRIVED AT PARLIAMENT THIS MORNING BY THE ROAD SAFETY WEEK DOUBLE DECKER CAMPAIGN BUS.
FOUR CHILDREN FROM THE BUS, REPRESENTING THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN HURT AND KILLED EVERY HOUR ON OUR ROADS, ARE NOW DELIVERING THIS STOP SPEEDING MANIFESTO TO YOU.
Prime Minister, road crashes are a major killer of our children, and the UK has one of the worst death rates of children on foot on roads in Europe. Despite a Government target to reduce deaths and serious injuries of children by 50% by 2010, child deaths have risen by 14% in a year to 218 (latest statistics relate to 2001).
Please can you:
1. Give every pre-school child in England and Wales free membership of the Children’s Traffic Club, which provides parents and children with ‘Green Cross Code’ teaching resources. They do in Scotland! It’s a great scheme that helps parents to set their children off on the right foot.
2. Give every primary age child access to free practical roadside pedestrian training, and cycle training for those with bikes, by qualified road safety officers. While we know the Department for Transport is keen to encourage local authorities to offer this, it simply isn’t possible at the moment because local authorities don’t have enough road safety officers.
3. Invest in year-round prime time advertising campaigns on TV and radio about the dangers of speeding. Yes, we have had some good Think! campaigns on the dangers of speeding in towns, but what about campaigns about the dangers of speeding on rural roads? Many children and young people die inside vehicles, and on foot, bikes and horses, on country roads, when drivers take bends and brows of hills too fast, or overtake in dangerous places at speed.
4. Please increase numbers of traffic officers. You may be tackling street crime, but some forces are now reporting rises in road crashes because their traffic officers are being taken off traffic duties and put on street crime duties instead. Which is more important, mobile phone theft or the death of a child due to speed? The life saving importance of traffic officers is a much ignored fact.
5. Raise penalties for speeders. Frankly, a £60 fixed penalty is an insult to the families bereaved by speed. You can be fined more for littering. And often drivers whose speed kills are only charged with ‘careless driving’ which has a maximum penalty of a fine. That charge should be scrapped and drivers whose speeding kills should always be charged with death by dangerous driving which has a maximum penalty of 10 years (possibly to be raised to 14 according to the recent Home Office review of traffic penalties).
6. Other countries, such as The Netherlands and Sweden, spend far more on engineering measures to prevent speeding, such as ‘home zones’, chicanes, speed bumps, warning signs, and pavements and cycle lanes. Please talk to these countries about their speed reduction measures and the lives they save, and, where possible, invest more in changing the UK’s road environments in line with such countries for the sake of our communities’ safety. We are grateful that the Department for Transport and local authorities are trialling some ‘Home Zones’ and ‘Quiet Lanes’ and there are now more 20mph limits near some schools, but we need more, along with an urgent review of existing limits and whether some need to be reduced (eg. reductions on derestricted rural roads). Many communities are crying out for such measures, but even when they are obviously life-saving, they are told by their local authorities that money is not available.
7. Don’t give up on the speed camera partnerships. They are clearly saving children’s lives at ‘accident black spots’. What we need is far more, particularly mobile radar guns and digital cameras that track vehicles’ average speed over distances. Again, this means more resources for traffic police!
8. Ask your Ministers to talk more about road safety and the importance of us all taking more care – David Blunkett recently said, in the House, that it was shocking that a driver who had killed while drunk had his sentence reduced. His speech was a breath of fresh air to road safety campaigners. However, your Minister David Jamieson, who has responsibility for road safety, rarely issues press releases – and he won’t even meet with Brake, a national road safety charity! We fiind this very disappointing. When we survey the public, we find they are far more concerned about road safety than some motoring organisations would have you believe, and would welcome a much stronger standpoint, and investment, in road safety by the Government on all the issues raised in this letter.
Thank you for reading this Manifesto and please help us to SLOW DOWN Britain’s drivers and improve the safety of our children.
It was in relation to Road Safety Week. It's worrying reading for those who would like to see a balanced view on road safety (which of course is what Brake is supposed it be about isn't it?).
Check out the oversimplistic speed kills mantra in this:
ROAD SAFETY WEEK: STOP SPEEDING MANIFESTO FOR TONY BLAIR
23 September 2002
Dear Prime Minister,
This week is Road Safety Week. The theme is Save our Kids: SLOW DOWN.
73 CHILDREN, REPRESENTING THE CHILDREN KILLED ON ROADS EACH YEAR DUE TO SPEED, ARRIVED AT PARLIAMENT THIS MORNING BY THE ROAD SAFETY WEEK DOUBLE DECKER CAMPAIGN BUS.
FOUR CHILDREN FROM THE BUS, REPRESENTING THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN HURT AND KILLED EVERY HOUR ON OUR ROADS, ARE NOW DELIVERING THIS STOP SPEEDING MANIFESTO TO YOU.
Prime Minister, road crashes are a major killer of our children, and the UK has one of the worst death rates of children on foot on roads in Europe. Despite a Government target to reduce deaths and serious injuries of children by 50% by 2010, child deaths have risen by 14% in a year to 218 (latest statistics relate to 2001).
Please can you:
1. Give every pre-school child in England and Wales free membership of the Children’s Traffic Club, which provides parents and children with ‘Green Cross Code’ teaching resources. They do in Scotland! It’s a great scheme that helps parents to set their children off on the right foot.
2. Give every primary age child access to free practical roadside pedestrian training, and cycle training for those with bikes, by qualified road safety officers. While we know the Department for Transport is keen to encourage local authorities to offer this, it simply isn’t possible at the moment because local authorities don’t have enough road safety officers.
3. Invest in year-round prime time advertising campaigns on TV and radio about the dangers of speeding. Yes, we have had some good Think! campaigns on the dangers of speeding in towns, but what about campaigns about the dangers of speeding on rural roads? Many children and young people die inside vehicles, and on foot, bikes and horses, on country roads, when drivers take bends and brows of hills too fast, or overtake in dangerous places at speed.
4. Please increase numbers of traffic officers. You may be tackling street crime, but some forces are now reporting rises in road crashes because their traffic officers are being taken off traffic duties and put on street crime duties instead. Which is more important, mobile phone theft or the death of a child due to speed? The life saving importance of traffic officers is a much ignored fact.
5. Raise penalties for speeders. Frankly, a £60 fixed penalty is an insult to the families bereaved by speed. You can be fined more for littering. And often drivers whose speed kills are only charged with ‘careless driving’ which has a maximum penalty of a fine. That charge should be scrapped and drivers whose speeding kills should always be charged with death by dangerous driving which has a maximum penalty of 10 years (possibly to be raised to 14 according to the recent Home Office review of traffic penalties).
6. Other countries, such as The Netherlands and Sweden, spend far more on engineering measures to prevent speeding, such as ‘home zones’, chicanes, speed bumps, warning signs, and pavements and cycle lanes. Please talk to these countries about their speed reduction measures and the lives they save, and, where possible, invest more in changing the UK’s road environments in line with such countries for the sake of our communities’ safety. We are grateful that the Department for Transport and local authorities are trialling some ‘Home Zones’ and ‘Quiet Lanes’ and there are now more 20mph limits near some schools, but we need more, along with an urgent review of existing limits and whether some need to be reduced (eg. reductions on derestricted rural roads). Many communities are crying out for such measures, but even when they are obviously life-saving, they are told by their local authorities that money is not available.
7. Don’t give up on the speed camera partnerships. They are clearly saving children’s lives at ‘accident black spots’. What we need is far more, particularly mobile radar guns and digital cameras that track vehicles’ average speed over distances. Again, this means more resources for traffic police!
8. Ask your Ministers to talk more about road safety and the importance of us all taking more care – David Blunkett recently said, in the House, that it was shocking that a driver who had killed while drunk had his sentence reduced. His speech was a breath of fresh air to road safety campaigners. However, your Minister David Jamieson, who has responsibility for road safety, rarely issues press releases – and he won’t even meet with Brake, a national road safety charity! We fiind this very disappointing. When we survey the public, we find they are far more concerned about road safety than some motoring organisations would have you believe, and would welcome a much stronger standpoint, and investment, in road safety by the Government on all the issues raised in this letter.
Thank you for reading this Manifesto and please help us to SLOW DOWN Britain’s drivers and improve the safety of our children.
It gets worse
FACT: Blokes driving cars like they stole them need to be locked up. Why can't we have a new mantra 'STUPIDITY KILLS' ?
quote:
Case study 1: Knocked down for being a princess
Sophie was a bridesmaid for her aunt on Saturday 14 July 2001. The following day she was playing out in her dress pretending to be a princess. She was with her mum, Andrea Graham.
Andrea went to take the washing in, but before she did, she said to Sophie: "don't go on the road, you'll get knocked over." While Andrea was inside, Sophie saw her friend up the road and ran to show her the bridesmaid dress. A car was coming down the road at the time and hit her. The driver failed to stop at the scene, but was caught by police a few days later. He had been driving at about 30mph.
The driver was charged with dangerous driving and jailed for sixth months. He was let out early for good behaviour. The inquest said that Sophie was lucky to be alive, a few miles faster and she would have died.
Sophie sustained a double fracture of her skull and had skin grafts on her ankle. As a result of the damage to her head, she now has epilepsy. She was five years old at the time.
FACT: At 30mph, half of children hit are killed. At 20mph, 90% of children hit survive. Slow Down.
Sophie’s mum Andrea Graham will be available for interview in London on Monday 23 September, including at the launch of Road Safety Week in the Jubilee Room, Houses of Parliament, at 10AM and also from home on previous days (for pre-records). Contact Brake on 01484 559909 to set up an interview.
Case study 2: 15 year old girl killed by racing drivers
On 22 December 2000, Elaine Baxter’s daughter, Casey Richardson (15) left the house at 9PM after a phone call from her friend Angela asking her to come out. She was gone within minutes, never to be seen alive again by her parents. Her mum thought she was going to be at Angela’s house ‘doing the things teenage girls do’. But, in her mum’s words ‘Like so many teenagers, Casey had her own secret life and just like so many others, this secret life led to her death’.
Casey and Angela got in a car with three other young people. The car, a Nissan Prairie, was driven by a 21-year-old man. They met up with a 19-year-old who was alone in his car and they started to race at speed around the local streets in Tolworth, Kingston (a 30mph zone). At one stage, the car that Casey was in was seen taking a roundabout on two wheels.
At two minutes to 11PM, the driver of the car Casey was in lost control and hit a tree. The doors were sheared off. The passengers were unrestrained due to a lack of seatbelts. Casey was thrown out of the car and as she lay on the road a car coming in the opposite direction ran over her body.
Her friend Angela hit the ground with such a force that she too was killed. Ben, her cousin, survived, as did the driver.
The driver of the car carrying Casey, Angela and Ben received 5 years in prison for causing death by dangerous driving. The other driver got 9 months and a ban. He re-offended while disqualified.
Elaine says: ‘Casey went out that night a happy young woman looking forward to Christmas and her birthday with her whole life ahead of her. On 10th of January, Casey’s 16th birthday, we collected her ashes from the chapel of rest and brought her home for the last time.
‘I have been robbed of my daughter by the irresponsible actions of two young men who drove at speed. If they had not been speeding the driver may not have lost control. The impact on the tree would not have been so great. Casey and Angela could still be alive. Don’t speed.’
FACT: Speed is the biggest killer on roads. One in 10 drivers are under 25, but one in four drivers who die are in this age bracket, many along with young passengers. Two thirds of young drivers admit to breaking speed limits.
FACT: Blokes driving cars like they stole them need to be locked up. Why can't we have a new mantra 'STUPIDITY KILLS' ?
No I'm getting really angry...
The kid ran into the path of an oncoming car for god's sake. The only way of stopping more deaths like that is to educate kids. All the speed humps in the world can't stop that happening and will probably just encourage kids to treat the road with even less respect. I'll get me coat...
quote:
Wade was killed on 17 July 2001, aged 2, after being adopted by his loving parents only earlier that year. Wade slipped from his mother’s grasp and ran into the busy A628 on Silkstone High Street into the path of a Nissan Primera. His mother, Jill, was walking home with him at the time from a filling station shop. Wade died the following day at Sheffield Children’s Hospital. No charges were brought against the driver.
A public meeting called by local residents following Wade’s death called for a pelican crossing at the spot (which is a popular place to cross this busy road). However, this has not been granted by the council.
The kid ran into the path of an oncoming car for god's sake. The only way of stopping more deaths like that is to educate kids. All the speed humps in the world can't stop that happening and will probably just encourage kids to treat the road with even less respect. I'll get me coat...
quote:
It was in relation to Road Safety Week. It's worrying reading for those who would like to see a balanced view on road safety (which of course is what Brake is supposed it be about isn't it?).
Exactly,from reading this lot it is not really a balanced view,like u said about the kid running into the road aint that got something to do with educating kids also as well as the adult drivers.
I think the problem with SOME younger drivers is that it is allways gonna be the same, it just seems that they will and' i know i did' have something to prove to the mates and get spurred on etc.
Just me 2p,s worth could waffle on for ages on this subject.
BB
prehaps go along the way of Bikes and restrict the engine sizes for certain no.yrs after passing test
or taking another test in more powerfull vehicles etc.
Not sure it would work though how many idiots do u see on scooters.
Not allways the speeding some times the irresponsable.
I dont know either.
BB
or taking another test in more powerfull vehicles etc.
Not sure it would work though how many idiots do u see on scooters.
Not allways the speeding some times the irresponsable.
I dont know either.
BB
Out of those examples, wouldn't it be better to ban Nissan's.
I'm all for making our residential areas, schools and town/village centers a low speed zone i.e. 20mph, even enforcing them by installing gatso's. But to do this, you have to derestrict the motorways and dual carriageways. Keep a healthy balance.
I'm all for making our residential areas, schools and town/village centers a low speed zone i.e. 20mph, even enforcing them by installing gatso's. But to do this, you have to derestrict the motorways and dual carriageways. Keep a healthy balance.
I would be interested in a survey, which gives a concise overview over the killed children's parent's social integrity and ability to attend and educate minors.
Oh, this would not be PC.
Statistically, more children would die in countries which have no speedlimit on most motorways. Is it?
BTW: Did you know that traffic accidents incrased in the Kerpen area (Germany) from the day Schumacher won his first Grand Prix?
The cause is found easy: Kerpen is Schuhmacher's home town, and the local MaxP crowd thought, life is better when they're driving like they've interpreted from their idol. Yes, people can be that thick.
Oh, this would not be PC.
Statistically, more children would die in countries which have no speedlimit on most motorways. Is it?
quote:
Train kids better and they'll all think they're Michael Schumacher anyway.
BTW: Did you know that traffic accidents incrased in the Kerpen area (Germany) from the day Schumacher won his first Grand Prix?
The cause is found easy: Kerpen is Schuhmacher's home town, and the local MaxP crowd thought, life is better when they're driving like they've interpreted from their idol. Yes, people can be that thick.
This is horrendous. It starts out looking like it is going somewhere constructive.. and then goes mad. "please, more cameras?". Then it bleats on about kids being killed in cars. Yeah, probably the fault of the parent driving it? why blame speed all the time. Amazing how it is NEVER the childs fault, and NEVER the parents fault. Wicked motorist !
In the two cases shown above, in the first the driver had been doing about 30 mph. WTF has that got to do with speeding! The mother left a 5 year old unattended near a road..........Words fail me.
The second example, the 15 year old girl was not wearing a seatbelt while in a car being driven by a t*at. IIRC when Princess Di was killed there were four people in the car, one was wearing a seatbelt. Guess which one is still alive!
Being stupid kills..........
The second example, the 15 year old girl was not wearing a seatbelt while in a car being driven by a t*at. IIRC when Princess Di was killed there were four people in the car, one was wearing a seatbelt. Guess which one is still alive!
Being stupid kills..........
quote:
Nongreen
I am curious as to how someone could be killed by a speed hump which I believe are all inanimate. Did it by any chance fall on top of him?
Well It is likely this was not an off road bike and the rider saw no signage. I suppose it is stupid these days to expect the road to be flat and level. Apparently the broken hump flicked the bike on top of him crushing his head. I am amazed you could not figure that out for yourself.
quote:
prehaps go along the way of Bikes and restrict the engine sizes for certain no.yrs after passing test
or taking another test in more powerfull vehicles etc.
Not sure it would work though how many idiots do u see on scooters.
Not allways the speeding some times the irresponsable.
I dont know either.
BB
I don't think restricting engine size would really work. A 1 litre fiesta is still able to do 80, it just takes a bit longer to get there than one with a bigger engine. It's easy to do 45 in built up areas in any car.
Education of all road users and of children from a young age is what is needed.
I think everyone has their own "risk thermostat"... and an individual determines what they deem to be an exceptible risk.
At a younger age that thermostat tends to be higher than as we get older - probably due to experience as well as other factors; starting a family, reactions, whatever..
However, the "risk thermostat" of person "a" might be different to that of "b" - even though they are the same age / experience etc etc.
This is all IMHO of course, but you have to believe that education is the answer. Teach people to DRIVE and not to pass a test. When I learned to drive we were told to rely on the brakes to stop - not always a good idea; what about using the gears and engine braking.
You are not taught how to overtake safely, techniques such as cadence braking, or even how ABS works (I was told it makes you stop quicker!). Nothing is shown about proper car control (under or over steer do not even crop up)... it's ridiculous.
Make the test more stringent and hopefully we'll get some of the numpties of the road. Why not have a power related test like bikes?
At a younger age that thermostat tends to be higher than as we get older - probably due to experience as well as other factors; starting a family, reactions, whatever..
However, the "risk thermostat" of person "a" might be different to that of "b" - even though they are the same age / experience etc etc.
This is all IMHO of course, but you have to believe that education is the answer. Teach people to DRIVE and not to pass a test. When I learned to drive we were told to rely on the brakes to stop - not always a good idea; what about using the gears and engine braking.
You are not taught how to overtake safely, techniques such as cadence braking, or even how ABS works (I was told it makes you stop quicker!). Nothing is shown about proper car control (under or over steer do not even crop up)... it's ridiculous.
Make the test more stringent and hopefully we'll get some of the numpties of the road. Why not have a power related test like bikes?
quote:
Nongreen
I am curious as to how someone could be killed by a speed hump which I believe are all inanimate. Did it by any chance fall on top of him?
Madcop, I was driving through Maidenhead (your neck of the woods, I believe?) last night with a mate who lives locally. We went past Boulters Lock, and he mentioned that most of the traffic calming measures that were installed there at great expense a while back have now been ripped out, allegedly after they were found to cause more accidents than they prevented. Any truth in that?
quote:
Madcop, I was driving through Maidenhead (your neck of the woods, I believe?) last night with a mate who lives locally. We went past Boulters Lock, and he mentioned that most of the traffic calming measures that were installed there at great expense a while back have now been ripped out, allegedly after they were found to cause more accidents than they prevented. Any truth in that?
Sounds like a dodgy council budget - got to spend it all, otherwise you get half the amount next year... so they put it in one year, take it out the next!
..or it could have been one of theose "trial" ones... soon to be replaced with another...
quote:
Well It is likely this was not an off road bike and the rider saw no signage. I suppose it is stupid these days to expect the road to be flat and level. Apparently the broken hump flicked the bike on top of him crushing his head. I am amazed you could not figure that out for yourself.
So it wasn't actually the speed hump that killed him but the bike that landed on him
, much the same as if he had misread a bend or hit some other piece of furniture within the environment he was in at the time. Just getting a few things straight in my head 
quote:
Madcop, I was driving through Maidenhead (your neck of the woods, I believe?) last night with a mate who lives locally. We went past Boulters Lock, and he mentioned that most of the traffic calming measures that were installed there at great expense a while back have now been ripped out, allegedly after they were found to cause more accidents than they prevented. Any truth in that?
You are not wrong about them being removed but I think the reasons were slightly misquoted to you. I am not aware of an increase in accidents as a result of them being installed, they were just plain innefectual and caused a lot of anguish to those that live in the area as they had the potential to cause conflict. Because they were badly done, I think a lot of people were actually more careful.
My point is to say things like 'Killed by a speed hump' or 'killed by a speed camera' are completely inaccurate unless someone is unlucky enough to struck by one that has fallen over for some reason. They are inanimate (especially speed humps). I agree that they may be a contributory factor when an incident occurs but to the few that it does, there are much more important contributory factors that are to blame other than the presence of the hazard they perceived wrongly or at the last second.
In an area that is riddled with speed humps, to actually fall off because you go over a dodgy one at a speed where you are likely to cause significant injury is plain careless or in fact deliberate. Even if it was the first one in the system that has been installed. They are all forewarned before you reach the restrictions. To disregard that warning is the first major contributory factor.
I accept that accidents do occasionally happen where there is a defect in the road surface but if the driver on two wheels takes a chance in these areas at above the sensible limit unless he is Evil Kanevil then the contributory factor then is the rider him/herself.
To bandy quotes such as these without knowing the absolute and full facts is just plain assumption and actually factually wrong.
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