Speeding Survey
Discussion
Surely if it were that simple then all accidents could be erradicated by introducing a mandatory *minimum* speed limit.
The whole point is that many "accidents" aren't accidents at all - many of them could have been avoided if people had been driving in an appropriate manner. It's really not that difficult to avoid banging into something else when you're driving, unless you weren't concentrating or were driving beyond the limitations of your skills / experience.
Sadly, we don't do ourselves any favours by having ridiculously low standards in the driving test which really doesn't prepare people for the real world of driving.
Rant over....
I wonder how long it's going to be before the Police turn up at your international HQ with a court order requiring you to give personal details of all those who took part in your survey Ted.
I wouldn't put it past them. I hope you've got it all stored in an anonymous way, otherwise I'd expect a knock from the scumsuckers any day now.
It doesn't matter what speed you confess to, they have to have evidence to prosecute anyway.
I got chased/raced by a Golf VR6 (lowered, big alloys, etc) and when I went to pull in after a few miles into a nearside lane to let it pass I was worried when it followed me into the left-hand lane going slower and slower like me. Once I got down to 80mph the blue lights came on and I pulled onto the hard shoulder.
I was given a telling off and a producer and was told that the only reason I was not being arrested there and then was that the undercover car was out for testing only and could not legally be used in evidence as they had no certificate for the calibrated equipment the use. He didn't even have the video on!
Surely if he shoots up behind me on the motorway and I speed up expecting a fun chase then he is guilty of entrapment?
And yes I do believe that excessive speed contributes to SOME accidents/incidents. However how many accidents are on the motorway compared to local/rural roads and what percentage are these of the number of people using it.
Anyway, roll on the 100mph limit - ;-/
quote:Of course it's anonymous, apart from your contributions for which I cross reference you IP address with MI5 and the DVLA and a summons is in the post...
I wouldn't put it past them. I hope you've got it all stored in an anonymous way, otherwise I'd expect a knock from the scumsuckers any day now.
Ok so new survey, if you have had an accident, what was the limit and what was the speed you were actually traveling at..
I suspect most are in the lower speed/limit range.
although if you stack it at over a ton you are probably dead and wouldnt reply...
Graham
about 2mph in the ice in a 40 limit!!!!!!!!1
Rolled me Smart in a 60 limit doing 40 see http felt better after the police who happened on me said w.yorks police had written off a T5 traffic car on the same corner (not in a pursuit) turns out they had to do an investigation and the council tested the slippyness of the road in wet and found it was an 'extremely' dangerous surface when wet. Nice to see they did something about it (not)
quote:What I mean is it's the slow drivers holding up traffic that enrages drivers following them and as more traffic builds up behind them they feel pressured to take a chance overtaking manoeuvre, which sometimes ends up in an accident - the result is an accident due to stupidity and bad planning but the cause is "slow drivers". Slow drivers hogging the middle lane of motorways causes tailbacks, congestion, road rage and accidents. Yes is does have something to do with driving standards but everyone suffers from frustration at some point due to being held up behind the sunday cruiser. The only thing to do is to ban anything with less than 6 cylinders and 160bhp from the roads
Oh come on it's not that simple...
(bugger that means my Mundano has to go - can't be all bad then!) 
I got pulled over in Cambridge city centre late one night for... "accelerating too fast".
No, I kid you not.
I'd nailed it out of some traffic lights in first gear, accelerated up to 30 mph, dropped it into 3rd and continued to pootle along at 30. I did notice the jam sarnie out of my right eye just as I was approaching about 5500 rpm, and wondered if he'd object. He did.
So, he followed me. I even chose a route that gave me an easy side road to pull into when the inevitable blue lights came on... how nice of me was that?
He was patronising as all hell:
"you know why I've pulled you over"
"yes, you probably think I was accelerating too fast"
"yes. You're a young man and that's a powerful car. If I catch you again, I'll do you for dangerous driving."
OFFS.
It was 11.30pm, my passenger was steaming drunk and finger painting in the condensation in the sunroof. I can well believe he just wanted to breathalyse me. So spare me the patronising w@nker chat already!
Oh yeah. My age at the time (young, you'll recall...)? 25. My car (powerful, remember)? A 1.8 Mundaneo.
Sigh...
Sorry, but the "cause" of the accidents you just outlined is impatience, not the slower driver.
I agree that middle lane drivers are a problem - public execution would be too good for them in my opinion - but that still doesn't actually give people an excuse to drive up the arse of the car in front when it's dark and pissing down with rain on a busy stretch of motorway (or any road for that matter). On both counts - middle lane retards and tail-gaters - it's down to poor driver awareness / training that means they don't know any different.
I'm not saying for one minute that I am a picture of total calm and tranquility when I'm driving - I get frustrated by slower drivers as well - but it's useful to remember that you probably won't gain a lot of extra time by trying to get past him and that by holding back, counting to 10 and relaxing a little then you'll arrive in a much less stressed state of mind. Maybe it's easier said than done but it works for me....
I personally think there's a little too much emphasis on people's "right" to drive quickly (speed cameras, etc., etc.) when a good percentage of the population aren't taught how to drive at anything over 60mph. I'm not saying that the current "speed kills" approach is correct because it clearly isn't but we also need to address the fact that there are a lot of drivers who *think* they can cope with speed when the evidence suggests they can't. We need to get them away from the mentality that speed limits exist solely to spoil their driving and, because they're such good drivers, they can ignore them as they choose.
This isn't an attack on anyone on this site - I'd like to think we all take a little more pride in our driving, particularly when out in our "toys" - it's merely an observation that the problems we're facing, e.g. more and more speed cameras, zero tolerance, etc., are largely caused by the younger, inexperienced drivers who don't know any better.
Well, lets see . . .
The only time I have done 160 illegally was when I was in a convoy of XJS V12, Porsche GT3, TVR Chimera/Cerbera? (the non-convertible one) and an M5. We were all doing in excess of 70mph about 100m apart from each other at 3am on Good Friday last year on the M56.
The rest of my 160mph+ trips have all been in German on the A6 around Frankfurt - lovely road!
If you are ever on the autobahns and see a sign that looks like our 'clearway' sign but with 3 stripes instead of two then you can go as fast as you want. Just don't make it look reckless or you will be pulled over anyway!
The only problem is how much fuel you use per minute - I checked my on-board computer and it said I was doing 9mpg!
Edited by M-Five on Tuesday 20th March 16:54
Um, I got done on the M5 at 147 a few years back. Copper was nice as pie. Magistrate wanted to lock me up.
Even being recalled from leave to get back to my unit and go to the Falklands wasn't mitigation, though. Apparently "return with all due haste" doesn't mean "redline your bike all the way down the motorway."
Sorry - I just realised that my last post appeared at the top. Duh. It was a reply to PetrolTed asking where we did these high speeds.
As for the rest of the time, I'm far too discreet to say. Maybe on the Autobahn near Lederkopf or Boxberg, though. Or on tiddly little backroads that nobody ever looks at 
and of course it wasn't on the M40 nor on the way to Le Mans. Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff