Two motoring stories/accidents that have annoyed me

[Sippo]

The first is sad. A man and three girls struck by a vehicle which mounted the pavement. One of the girls was tragically killed. Sad. Cars don't just mount the pavement. Was the 18 yr old driver speeding, on the phone? I feel for all involved.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-28087766

The next story made me angry. A driver speeding at 150mph with kids in the back. Gets a lenient sentence in my opinion.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-28088323

I really feel that the standard of driving in this country is pretty low. Something needs to be done about it but I'm not sure what.

[grr666]

Make the test MUCH harder!

[James I]

I don't think it the test that is the problem. I am certain people have no idea of the consequences there actions will cause. Just this morning on the M62 a car indicated and puled out in front of me causing me to brake, he then slowed to about 55 mph and the trucks were under taking us, I could see in his mirror that he was looking down at his phone and had no idea what was going on up ahead, ban mobile phones in the car and accident numbers will tumble without doubt.

 

 I also believe the driving test should include the motorway and there should be a minimum number of lessons throughout a year so all conditions can be driven in and experience gained.

[Llanigraham]

I don't think it the test that is the problem. I am certain people have no idea of the consequences there actions will cause. Just this morning on the M62 a car indicated and puled out in front of me causing me to brake, he then slowed to about 55 mph and the trucks were under taking us, I could see in his mirror that he was looking down at his phone and had no idea what was going on up ahead, ban mobile phones in the car and accident numbers will tumble without doubt.

 

 I also believe the driving test should include the motorway and there should be a minimum number of lessons throughout a year so all conditions can be driven in and experience gained.

 

How can you include the motorway, when for many people that would entail over an hours journey just to get to one?

[James I]

How can you include the motorway, when for many people that would entail over an hours journey just to get to one?

Motorway, "A", "B" & unclassified roads should be driven on in the first year with an instructor, regardless of where you live. At some point in a drivers life it will be necessary to drive on a high speed road such as a motorway, for people who live miles away from a motorway I would think it more important to have tuition as this would be a very unfamiliar environment with a high potential for them to cause an accident.

[blueR36]

Should be a 1000 pound fine ti be on the phone. Feel for the hit and run . Just been to a funeral today of a hit and run !

[Guest BigJase88]

This happened to a guy at my work.

Proper nice guy and a workaholic. One of the last remaining old skool grafters

http://www.dng24.co.uk/news/kirkpatrick-fleming-motorbiker-injured-in-accident/4453

He was going home after working late to finish a job. Boy racer in chavved up audi a3 (can be seen pictured) pretty much runs over the top of him.

The driver of the audi was 'adjusting his sat nav' apparently.

[mdon]

Tougher punishment and perhaps bi annual re qualification? Or even every five years?

And how about three strikes and a ban regardless of offence (except maybe parking unless dangerous)

[GentleGiant]

You can set the fines as high as you like, they arent going to work.

 

Why??

 

Because the Police are NOT interested in enforcing them.

 

People have no fear of being stopped because they dont see a Police car from one week to the next (except the odd rent-a-plod), and when they DO see one, it is already ignoring some other vehicle/road infraction.

 

This has to be the reason one Malvern driver has been able to drive around for the last TWENTY YEARS with illegal black and silver number plates on a string of Landrover Freelander's ; and why there are an increasing number with illegally wide wheels and front window/windscreen tints spotted on the local chav estates.

 

( I see 4 cars with blacked out front windows driving out of one single crescent every day, the tints so dark they have to roll the windows down to see if it is safe to pull out.)

[keystonedriving]

It's not the Motorways which are the problem, they carry about 40% of the traffic but only have about 5% of the crashes.  The serious incidents happen on rural roads, maybe we should insist that all drivers have to drive on them before they pass a test.

 

As Graham suggested, there are plenty of places where it would be necessary to travel for an extended period to get to a Motorway, it could be over 2 hours in Cornwall and North West Wales and maybe 6 hours for parts of Scotland.  It is never going to be practical without a huge expansion of the Motorway system and that isn't going to happen any time soon.

 

The driving test is already hard enough to ensure that more people fail than pass.  If we made retests compulsory every 5 years I reckon we could get at least 75% of existing drivers off the road (so that isn't going to happen either).

 

The basic problem is that there is no known cure for total stupidity, or for a complete lack of imagination.

 

Probably the best plan is to have regular compulsory training for all drivers, but what politician is going to stick their neck out that far?

[mac11irl]

driver fatigue is another issue, but complacency is the huge one imo, and the "itl never happen to me" attitude....

[KenONeill]

Motorway, "A", "B" & unclassified roads should be driven on in the first year with an instructor, regardless of where you live. At some point in a drivers life it will be necessary to drive on a high speed road such as a motorway, for people who live miles away from a motorway I would think it more important to have tuition as this would be a very unfamiliar environment with a high potential for them to cause an accident.

So you'd be happy to drive for 8 hours, and then spend 2 hours on a ferry, in order to get to a single track A road where 60mph is not just legal but fairly routine?

[Llanigraham]

Ken, you might notice that all those that suggest these ideas are invariably urban based!

[KenONeill]

Well yes, and they rarely seem to react well to the suggestion being reversed like that.

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Need more police on the road. The tests, fines and punishments are all fine, it's the lack of funding to put coppers on the road that means most people won't get caught

[StevesTruck]

Motorway, "A", "B" & unclassified roads should be driven on in the first year with an instructor, regardless of where you live. At some point in a drivers life it will be necessary to drive on a high speed road such as a motorway, for people who live miles away from a motorway I would think it more important to have tuition as this would be a very unfamiliar environment with a high potential for them to cause an accident.

I know there's a lot of motorways in your bit of the world, but if you had to drive to, say, northallerton, to get to your nearest motorway, would you still have this opinion?

Personally, I think all new drivers should experience 100 miles of a17 or a47 to give them an idea of how dangerous driving can be.

[Structures]

If there was as much or more focus on penalising dangerous/irresponsible driving as there is speeding I think that could improve things.

 

People driving under the speed limit, or in the middle or outside lanes that aren't overtaking, people on mobile phones...I'd guess that these people cause more accidents than people driving with reasonable care above the speed limit.

[2SkodaFamily]

The problem isn't the test standard. The problem is that as a society more and more people think that the rules of the road don't apply to them.

 

Oh, and the HUGE reduction in Roads Policing that you can thank Dishface Dave, Teflon Theresa and Gidiot for.

[2SkodaFamily]

If there was as much or more focus on penalising dangerous/irresponsible driving as there is speeding I think that could improve things.

 

People driving under the speed limit, or in the middle or outside lanes that aren't overtaking, people on mobile phones...I'd guess that these people cause more accidents than people driving with reasonable care above the speed limit.

 

But for that you need dedicated Roads Policing by humans, not an array of cameras.

[Structures]

But for that you need dedicated Roads Policing by humans, not an array of cameras.

 

I realise that my suggestions would fly counter to the governments current tactic of placing speed cameras in locations that are far enough away from accident locations that it would seem they're positioned there solely to make money...

 

It's like that time I asked the instructor on the speed management course why they weren't putting as much effort into educating children on the good old green cross code as they were on guilt tripping me for driving 9 mph over the posted limit on a straight road with excellent visibility to either side...

[2SkodaFamily]

Ooohh I bet that didn't go down well.......

[Paul007]

Another vote for regular training.  Bad habits creep in and before you know it, you're back to where you were before you had the training.

[kilted]

Better training along with better enforcement and stiffer penalties for extreme cases.

 

People will continue texting/adjusting sat nav etc until there is a high chance of being caught and (adequately) punished.

 

Maybe make it a sliding system - 1st offence 3 points+£100, 2nd offence 6 points +£500, third offence court summons with ban and earnings related fine (with the points coming off after a period of time as at present).

[KenONeill]

Well, I managed a back door suggestion on another site that Greed Scameras should be re-purposed to carry out "removal of life" from people using a mobile whilst driving.

[octimark]

I think a re-test every 5 or maybe 10 years would be a good subject to debate. You need to re-test before being able to renew your DL. This would also help with congestion and insurance costs. Yes it will cost money to implement a structure but it could be subsidised. Maybe a voluntary scheme to start with and a huge discount on insurance to act as an incentive. Although it's similar to the advanced driver training schemes now which many people don't take up. Would be interesting to see how many people who complain about the low standards of driving actually put themselves forward for a re-test.

 

The standard of driving on the motorway is very low. You have to ask the question why and it is down to lack of training IMO.