|
Tonight, 2100 hrs, BBC2 - worth a watch I feel after last week's excellent opener. It's about car crashes.
|
I'll be watching that, had an incredibly near miss in Altrincham early this afternoon when a black 3 series BMW pulls right out of a sideroad at high speed and almost parks his bonnet in my drivers door as I'm passing! I had to swerve round him, almost onto the pavement...glad I was paying attention not smoking or using a mobile, I think the idiot was doing both!
|
|
|
|
I saw the second half and while it was interesting it was also very repetetive and the message almost seemed to be that it doesn't matter how good, experienced and careful you are, when your times up, it's up!
|
|
I watched the first half as I thought it would be a reasonably educational programme - I was hoping to learn about crumple zones, see examples or simulations of impacts at various speeds, possibly learn about minimising impact/skid control, etc. While I felt a lot of sympathy for the guy who lost his wife, I think the programme was a wasted opportunity - I felt that they were trying to really milk the situation and I lost interest. The camera tricks just started to get irritating, too.
|
|
|
I'm not sure that that point is completely accurate though.
Experience teaches you all sorts of things, not just clutch control or braking distances. It teaches you things like anticipation, which can only be learned on the road. How many other people can accurately predict (on the motorway) when a car is about to pull out. Its mostly about accurately assessing closing speeds, relative to other vehicles.
Admittedly, if someone does something which is completely irrational or unpredictable, then it isn't always possible to react, but experience should teach you to expect the unexpected and to always look for an escape route and also to not panic when faced with a potential accident. Do you close your eyes, like some people would, or react appropriately. Formula 1 drivers can react extrenely quickly and most avoid a pile up (sometimes) in a split second, so experience can be vital.
Jonathan
(NB, this is not aimed at anyone)
|
Totally agree about the dodgy camera tricks and endless repeat footage of lines in the road, cars leaving driveways etc. All totally unnecessary.
However, we mustn't miss the wider point which is that whilst some of the factors which contribute to fatal accidents are beyond our control or due to our instinctive reactions to certain situations, over- confidence, impatience, excessive speeding and blind stupidity are key elements in many incidents. These elements are within our control and we'd all do well to try and remember that when we're hurtling along in our nice, warm, comfy cars.
|
|
|
|
|
Along with the rest of you I found the whole program rather dissapointing.
Whilst in regard to the third accident featured, they did say (almost in passing) the accident was they result of the bad driving of two drivers, the program consistently gave the impression that all the accidents were the result of some cosmic lottery
and as for the academic who thought a population must have 50% above and 50% below average ....
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up
|
The one with the car coming over the reservation and landing on the van brought back memories of that happening to the daughter and son in law of some friends about 10 years ago.
Nothing they could have done to avoid it and both killed.
Brian
Still learning (I hope)
|
|
Disappointed me as well, lost the plot a bit. Couldn't help wishing the guy I was with today had watched it, phoning and exceeding 30s....
|
|
|
Brian - That wasn't a Sierra on top of a Range Rover on the A1 in Beds was it? That was 10yrs back, I drove along the same road, turned off to drop a friend 2 minutes from the A1, heard the sirens, went back to see a big, big mess where we'd just been.
Dave. (email me if you need.)
|
Dave
No, it was on the A12 in Essex, between Colchester and Chelmsford.
Had the girl's parents and a copper in our lounge after they'd come back from the hospital (which is on our doorstep) after she'd died.
What do you find to say to them in those circumstances, "Oh dear, would you like a cup of tea"?
Talking of Range Rovers, not long after that the husband of the girl who used to live next door, an ex police grade 1 driver who became a judge, was also killed when a ready-mix cement lorry toppled over onto his Range Rover.
Once again just in the wrong place at the wrong time!
Brian
Still learning (I hope)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I only saw the last bit where the car crossed the central reservation and landed on the van. I was interested to note that the Beeb adopted the politically correct "Newspeak" by refering to crashes instead of accidents. I sat, bored stiff, through a road safety meeting last year while someone smugly explained to everyone how the term crash was to replace accident because a collision between two cars could not be an accident because it was avoidable. I was sorely tempted to ask how we were to refer to the dropping of one of SWMBO's best plates as that was avoidable too, but lunch was coming up and I did not want to prolong the agony.
|
Tom
surely most accidents are avoidable ? (not necessarily by the actions of both parties, but certainly by the actions of one or other)
I think that when many people say 'It was an accident', they are saying 'it was nothing to do with me' when often, in some small part, it was ?
mike
|
Yup, they sure are. But on the basis that an accident is a catastrophy that you didn't intend to happen, a collision between two cars is an accident.
Bit like when I dropped that plate.
|
Surely an accident is something which happens due to circumstances which cannot reasonably be foreseen, such as a mechanical failure or an animal running into the road.
Anything else is due to an error of judgement or lack of skill by one or more parties.
Brian
Still learning (I hope)
|
|
It could have been forseen that I was going to drop that bl**dy plate as I was concentrating on the snooker on tv at the time, but I still swore blind to the missus that it was an accident.
|
Phew, Tom - had read that wrongly the first time around, and assumed that you were referring to your SWMBOs car number plate! And was going to ask, why and how were you watching snooker whilst driving?!
Just shows how things here can be misinterpreted sometimes...
HF
|
|
|
|
