Sunday Times - "keep people like me off the road"
Discussion
Quite an intelligent article this week. Basically the author says she doesn't have the knack to drive safely all the time, so chooses not to (backed up by seeing two brothers run over, one fatally).
One of the more intelligent car-related articles I've seen in a while.
(You have to register at the sight (or have a paper copy!), and it's a bit long to cut-n-paste)
www.sunday-times.co.uk/article/0,,179-265876,00.html
One of the more intelligent car-related articles I've seen in a while.
(You have to register at the sight (or have a paper copy!), and it's a bit long to cut-n-paste)
www.sunday-times.co.uk/article/0,,179-265876,00.html
April 14, 2002
Kira Cochrane: Can’t drive, won’t drive
I don’t drive. I don’t have the personality for it. Ever since I was a toddler I’ve worn almost daily evidence of my clumsiness (bruises, gashes, impressive scars) and have concluded that my lack of spatial awareness makes me unsuited to life behind the wheel.
It’s not that I don’t have the concentration to get through a few lessons and the test. I could probably muster the energy for that. It’s just that I can’t be sure I’d stay focused on the rules of the road afterwards. I can imagine myself getting caught up in vague thoughts of dinner, a good song on the radio, the excitement of speed.
I’m not the only one who is unsuited to the open road. Recent estimates suggest that 80% of drivers would fail their test if called upon to retake it. It’s this frightening level of incompetence — and the 1m crashes it causes each year — that has led the Home Office to propose a tough new set of laws to combat dangerous driving.
Among the suggestions likely to be enacted later this year are increased bans for those who drink and drive, unlimited fines for careless drivers and longer jail terms (up to five years) for causing death on the road.
In preparing these new laws, the police and government ministers have called for speeding and careless driving to be the subject of more attention. This seems like a good idea. Although drink-driving is on the rise among the youngest drivers, the majority of people would never consider getting behind the wheel while drunk.
What almost every driver is susceptible to, though, is some degree of carelessness, particularly before an important meeting or a promising dinner date. How many experienced drivers have never had a near miss? Who hasn’t had a momentary lapse of judgment? Unfortunately, thousands of families know the cost of these lapses — that glance in the rear-view mirror to check your make-up, the phone conversation that takes your hands off the wheel.
One of my most vivid memories is of the moment when, crying and shivering on the doorstep, I had to work out how to tell my mother that Frazer, my autistic brother, was lying unconscious in the snow. I was nine, Frazer was six, and I was supposed to be looking after him as we played with some friends that afternoon. A couple of cars had been racing up and down all day on the ice, swerving to a halt near our house. This time they’d swerved into the kerb my brother was standing on.
Three years earlier my older brother, Gleave, aged eight at the time, had also been hit by a speeding driver. It was December 10, 1983, and my mother had let him out to play on his BMX bike. Crossing a main road on his way home at dusk he had stopped to wait halfway as a car drove past. At about 12mph over the speed limit the driver didn’t see Gleave, clipping the corner of his bike and throwing him hard into the gutter. A couple of seconds later, a few yards on, the driver stopped. His wife and child were in the car; they had an inkling he had hit a dog.
Gleave died a few hours later, his neck ragged and broken. Although bloody, Frazer got away with concussion and an overnight stay in hospital. The snow had cushioned his fall. The findings at the inquest into Gleave’s death were inconclusive and the case never went to court. The driver left the incident with just a bruised conscience.
Not that I would have wanted him to be locked away or given a crippling fine. Responding to the government’s new proposals, Zoe Stow of the road safety charity RoadPeace suggested that more killer drivers should be sent to jail and that those arrested for the most serious offence — causing death by dangerous driving — should be charged with manslaughter.
While I think people should be penalised for driving drunk or hugely over the speed limit, I don’t think there’s anything to be gained by jailing those who are simply slapdash. With British prisons bursting at the seams I’d rather see extended sentences given to people who commit violent crime, sentences that reflect the intentions of your average rapist, mugger or murderer.
Incarcerating careless drivers and then allowing them back onto the roads isn’t the answer. Instead, people who cause death by dangerous driving — whatever the circumstances — should have their licences revoked for life. Think about it: if a gun-handler accidentally fires his weapon (having left a safety catch off, for example) and the bullet hits and kills someone, would we expect his licence to be renewed? While we might not send him to prison, we’d accept he was too careless to be in charge of such a lethal machine. So why don’t we have the same attitude to clumsy people who choose to drive? There is also good evidence that this measure might act as the best possible deterrent for people who would otherwise get in their cars while fatigued, stressed or angry — states that can lead the most competent people to sloppiness. Having found that young people had become immune to the usual drink-driving campaigns — shock adverts showing people left brain damaged or dead in the road — Scottish authorities recently decided to appeal not to the conscience but to the selfishness of young drivers. The adverts they produced underline the fact that those who are caught driving while drunk could lose their licence, their car and status among their peers. Although it’s depressing that these arguments bear more weight than the possibility of maiming someone, it should be recognised that the campaign has been a huge success.
I don’t think that drivers who kill through carelessness should be vilified, demonised or thrown in jail. I just don’t think they should be allowed to drive. It would be great if people accepted their own shortcomings and recognised that driving — like gymnastics — is something that the sloppy among us do very badly.
Until then the government will just have to do whatever it can to keep people like me off the road.
Kira Cochrane: Can’t drive, won’t drive
I don’t drive. I don’t have the personality for it. Ever since I was a toddler I’ve worn almost daily evidence of my clumsiness (bruises, gashes, impressive scars) and have concluded that my lack of spatial awareness makes me unsuited to life behind the wheel.
It’s not that I don’t have the concentration to get through a few lessons and the test. I could probably muster the energy for that. It’s just that I can’t be sure I’d stay focused on the rules of the road afterwards. I can imagine myself getting caught up in vague thoughts of dinner, a good song on the radio, the excitement of speed.
I’m not the only one who is unsuited to the open road. Recent estimates suggest that 80% of drivers would fail their test if called upon to retake it. It’s this frightening level of incompetence — and the 1m crashes it causes each year — that has led the Home Office to propose a tough new set of laws to combat dangerous driving.
Among the suggestions likely to be enacted later this year are increased bans for those who drink and drive, unlimited fines for careless drivers and longer jail terms (up to five years) for causing death on the road.
In preparing these new laws, the police and government ministers have called for speeding and careless driving to be the subject of more attention. This seems like a good idea. Although drink-driving is on the rise among the youngest drivers, the majority of people would never consider getting behind the wheel while drunk.
What almost every driver is susceptible to, though, is some degree of carelessness, particularly before an important meeting or a promising dinner date. How many experienced drivers have never had a near miss? Who hasn’t had a momentary lapse of judgment? Unfortunately, thousands of families know the cost of these lapses — that glance in the rear-view mirror to check your make-up, the phone conversation that takes your hands off the wheel.
One of my most vivid memories is of the moment when, crying and shivering on the doorstep, I had to work out how to tell my mother that Frazer, my autistic brother, was lying unconscious in the snow. I was nine, Frazer was six, and I was supposed to be looking after him as we played with some friends that afternoon. A couple of cars had been racing up and down all day on the ice, swerving to a halt near our house. This time they’d swerved into the kerb my brother was standing on.
Three years earlier my older brother, Gleave, aged eight at the time, had also been hit by a speeding driver. It was December 10, 1983, and my mother had let him out to play on his BMX bike. Crossing a main road on his way home at dusk he had stopped to wait halfway as a car drove past. At about 12mph over the speed limit the driver didn’t see Gleave, clipping the corner of his bike and throwing him hard into the gutter. A couple of seconds later, a few yards on, the driver stopped. His wife and child were in the car; they had an inkling he had hit a dog.
Gleave died a few hours later, his neck ragged and broken. Although bloody, Frazer got away with concussion and an overnight stay in hospital. The snow had cushioned his fall. The findings at the inquest into Gleave’s death were inconclusive and the case never went to court. The driver left the incident with just a bruised conscience.
Not that I would have wanted him to be locked away or given a crippling fine. Responding to the government’s new proposals, Zoe Stow of the road safety charity RoadPeace suggested that more killer drivers should be sent to jail and that those arrested for the most serious offence — causing death by dangerous driving — should be charged with manslaughter.
While I think people should be penalised for driving drunk or hugely over the speed limit, I don’t think there’s anything to be gained by jailing those who are simply slapdash. With British prisons bursting at the seams I’d rather see extended sentences given to people who commit violent crime, sentences that reflect the intentions of your average rapist, mugger or murderer.
Incarcerating careless drivers and then allowing them back onto the roads isn’t the answer. Instead, people who cause death by dangerous driving — whatever the circumstances — should have their licences revoked for life. Think about it: if a gun-handler accidentally fires his weapon (having left a safety catch off, for example) and the bullet hits and kills someone, would we expect his licence to be renewed? While we might not send him to prison, we’d accept he was too careless to be in charge of such a lethal machine. So why don’t we have the same attitude to clumsy people who choose to drive? There is also good evidence that this measure might act as the best possible deterrent for people who would otherwise get in their cars while fatigued, stressed or angry — states that can lead the most competent people to sloppiness. Having found that young people had become immune to the usual drink-driving campaigns — shock adverts showing people left brain damaged or dead in the road — Scottish authorities recently decided to appeal not to the conscience but to the selfishness of young drivers. The adverts they produced underline the fact that those who are caught driving while drunk could lose their licence, their car and status among their peers. Although it’s depressing that these arguments bear more weight than the possibility of maiming someone, it should be recognised that the campaign has been a huge success.
I don’t think that drivers who kill through carelessness should be vilified, demonised or thrown in jail. I just don’t think they should be allowed to drive. It would be great if people accepted their own shortcomings and recognised that driving — like gymnastics — is something that the sloppy among us do very badly.
Until then the government will just have to do whatever it can to keep people like me off the road.
I have a friend who takes the exact same attitude. Her parents put pressure on her to gte her license but she hasn't driven in the intervening 5 years or so..
The scary thing is that one day she might discover she has a need to and then starts doing so without any training...
This is a woman who was knocked down by a milk-float as a youth..
The scary thing is that one day she might discover she has a need to and then starts doing so without any training...
This is a woman who was knocked down by a milk-float as a youth..
quote:
Oh hell, just cut and paste man. I'd like to read the article.
Just be reminded that there are copyright issues here. Theoretically, Ted could be prosecuted for copyright violation for allowing this to appear.
My interest? As a journalist who gets paid for generating words, I don't appreciate others reproducing my work unless I get paid for it.
Ted seems pretty sharp at these things - I'm sure he will wield the necessary axe if he sees fit!
As an aside, it seems a shame that newspaper 'comment' articles don't generally get an audience after the day of publication (and most copies will go in the bin within 48hrs). Obviously it matters not with _news_ articles, but stuff like this has a longer lasting relevance.
As an aside, it seems a shame that newspaper 'comment' articles don't generally get an audience after the day of publication (and most copies will go in the bin within 48hrs). Obviously it matters not with _news_ articles, but stuff like this has a longer lasting relevance.
quote:
Just be reminded that there are copyright issues here. Theoretically, Ted could be prosecuted for copyright violation for allowing this to appear.
My interest? As a journalist who gets paid for generating words, I don't appreciate others reproducing my work unless I get paid for it.
Well someone had to do it. How much do I owe you Manek?
T/.
quote:
quote:
Hmm, let's see. For commercial use this would be £500 / thousand plus penalties for theft -- say around £250 for that snippet?
Surely as the "texter" accreditied the Author at the top of the piece, it is merely a Quote.. ?
Hmmm, you could say that. Question is, was it quoted in context...?
All right Trefor - for you, it's free!
Sort of back to topic, if the careless drivers get banned the standard of driving should improve and then we may get some realistic speed limits based on a competent core of driving experience - perhaps this is not such abad idea at all. Well as long as its not me that gets banned of course !
I have to say, if I killed someone and it was my fault for being careless, I'm not sure I'd want to drive again for a long time. Tough one this ... I'd certainly need to convince myself that I'd taken necessary steps to stop being such a danger.
I speak as someone who has had about 6 accidents, 5 of which were my own fault for being impatient/ careless/ not leaving enough time and so driving too fast/ poorly judging the road conditions. Fortunately nothing worse than bent metal, and nothing for almost 10 years (touch wood/ iron/ name your superstition ...)
I did take advanced driver lessons after the last one, although some refresher training might be in order now. Especially, come to think about it, now that I am about to buy a TVR.
John.
I speak as someone who has had about 6 accidents, 5 of which were my own fault for being impatient/ careless/ not leaving enough time and so driving too fast/ poorly judging the road conditions. Fortunately nothing worse than bent metal, and nothing for almost 10 years (touch wood/ iron/ name your superstition ...)
I did take advanced driver lessons after the last one, although some refresher training might be in order now. Especially, come to think about it, now that I am about to buy a TVR.
John.
Most people will admit to being crap at something, e.g "I am crap at cooking", "I can't programme the video" etc. etc.
How many people do you know who say. "I am crap at driving"? Nobody does. It's like saying "I like sleeping with animals". It would make you a social pariah.
There is a deep-held belief amongst most drivers that they are pretty good, understand the rules of the road and are safe behind the wheel. Observe any roundabout, any middle lane or any box junction and you will see this to be a complete fallacy. I am as bad. I honestly believe that although I regularly break the 60/70mph speed limit (never urban limits - I feel strongly about that)- I am safe, competent and efficient behind the wheel. I am certain that I am wrong - but I don't feel that way.
Personally I advocate a 5 yearly 'refresher' test that just asseses your basic safety (no - you won't have to 'feed the wheel') and over 60's MUST be re-tested.
How many people do you know who say. "I am crap at driving"? Nobody does. It's like saying "I like sleeping with animals". It would make you a social pariah.
There is a deep-held belief amongst most drivers that they are pretty good, understand the rules of the road and are safe behind the wheel. Observe any roundabout, any middle lane or any box junction and you will see this to be a complete fallacy. I am as bad. I honestly believe that although I regularly break the 60/70mph speed limit (never urban limits - I feel strongly about that)- I am safe, competent and efficient behind the wheel. I am certain that I am wrong - but I don't feel that way.
Personally I advocate a 5 yearly 'refresher' test that just asseses your basic safety (no - you won't have to 'feed the wheel') and over 60's MUST be re-tested.
I've got the same attitude to bikes - they must be one helluva thing to ride and a real adrenalin rush, but I KNOW I'd end up in a ditch or in a house or somesuch if I bought one - self preservation rules! Last time I rode a bike I ended up in a tree, so I know not to go near them again!
James - Best thing I've read in ages.
I've been a fan of driving test re-takes/refreshers for a long time and don't understand why they aren't enforced.
Loads of crap drivers must have a lucky day and slip through the test whilst others just get worse with time.
We are far too forgiving of shit driving in this counrty and forget that a car, driven even at legal speed limits (yes, reminder they do exist in theory) let alone faster can be very dangerous. My mates must be fed up with hearing me bleet on about this and I get very anoyed with most people's answers - "Well I couldn't pass a test again now" or "There's no way my gran could do that" - Sorry, am I missing the point here, if you're not good enough at driving to pass a test, get off the f
ing road.
This would improve driving standards, create less accidents (apart from the obvious lower human loss think about all the delays too), keep people more alert all the time (knowing they can't slip as they will have to pass a test again, create more jobs and bring the government more tax - No-one loses out!
-Rant ends-
I've been a fan of driving test re-takes/refreshers for a long time and don't understand why they aren't enforced.
Loads of crap drivers must have a lucky day and slip through the test whilst others just get worse with time.
We are far too forgiving of shit driving in this counrty and forget that a car, driven even at legal speed limits (yes, reminder they do exist in theory
) let alone faster can be very dangerous. My mates must be fed up with hearing me bleet on about this and I get very anoyed with most people's answers - "Well I couldn't pass a test again now" or "There's no way my gran could do that" - Sorry, am I missing the point here, if you're not good enough at driving to pass a test, get off the fing road. This would improve driving standards, create less accidents (apart from the obvious lower human loss think about all the delays too), keep people more alert all the time (knowing they can't slip as they will have to pass a test again, create more jobs and bring the government more tax - No-one loses out!
-Rant ends-
The report seems to be pointing the finger at younger drivers. I know that statisticaly younger drivers are more likely to have accidents blah blah blah.
There are some really terrible little nova-boy drivers out there who are just running on hormones alone, but I think the majority of the younger drivers drive to a safe standard and well within their means even though they lack any practical experience. The fact that they can only afford to drive fairly low powered cars helps.
However The arogant middle-aged semi-retired (I drive a Jag so I rule the road) group seem to be a bit worse in my neck of the woods.
And then you get to old granny dorris in her Metro or Micra, who really can't see an awful lot, has never had a driving test, but HEY she's got loads of experience (about 70 years of experience). lets give her a really low insurance premium.
She may have never actually had an accident but she's seen thousands in the rear view mirror!
There are some really terrible little nova-boy drivers out there who are just running on hormones alone, but I think the majority of the younger drivers drive to a safe standard and well within their means even though they lack any practical experience. The fact that they can only afford to drive fairly low powered cars helps.
However The arogant middle-aged semi-retired (I drive a Jag so I rule the road) group seem to be a bit worse in my neck of the woods.
And then you get to old granny dorris in her Metro or Micra, who really can't see an awful lot, has never had a driving test, but HEY she's got loads of experience (about 70 years of experience). lets give her a really low insurance premium.
She may have never actually had an accident but she's seen thousands in the rear view mirror!
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