If I were the minister for transport, and lord knows I should be, and I really wanted to reduce road deaths and injuries (unlike the present lot), I'd quickly bring out 2 laws. 1. Make the wearing crash helmets in cars compulsory. I cannot think of a single reason not to, except 'vanity', and thats no excuse. It make motor racing a whole lot safer, so why not us too? Of course I would allow exemption for joy riders and thieves. 2. Compulsory driving test re-sits every 10 years or so, with a years restricted licence for those that fail, and only one shot at passing the second time. That would get my wife off the road, and I could afford a Ducati! Problem is that these acts of sanity would not produce much of an income for the exchequer, so it would not get passed by parliament. What would you do?
Regards
Mike
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Drive along with a bumper sticker that said "Actually yes, I do own the road"
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Mark, Great idea. Do you want a job in my cabinet?
Regards
Mike
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Mike,
I would not allow anyone under the age of 50 to have or drive a car.
The main advantage being that there would be far more space on the road for me.
I would make all commuters compelled to cycle to work up to 50 mile round trips.
Over this distance public transport could be used.
Advantages.... A fitter nation and less use of the NHS. And I could drive through puddles of water as I passed them with no fear of them catching me.
I could think of many other ideas but am afraid to be thought of as too radical or.....certifiable.
Alvin
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Alvin,
I think a set of cycle ways in town with, no fear of vehicles, would be a good idea. They could be up above the road, like flyovers. No pollution to fall down on other road users. Initially a set of planks bolted together would do, to be followed by other materials later. If the planks all pointed downwards, no pedalling would be required. An obvious advantage.
Regards Richard.
(sorry. I can't stop. It's too good. The stupid thing is you were right in the first place but life's just too short. If we ever meet, I owe you several beers.)
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What they are doing in Essex isn't having any effect on accidents.
A few weeks ago the top cop stood up and said that it was wonderful how his new cameras, patrols and other policies, etc. had cut deaths last year.
This week the toll reached 84, compared to 80 last year, with nearly four months of deteriorating weather to go.
The current total apparently includes 25 bikers, compared to 10 last year, so stay off Essex roads on 2 wheels if you want to see Christmas !
If I were the minister I would throw myself under the next bus speeding down the bus lane !
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Two new laws.
I'd introduce a happy hour for drunks. Between the hours of 11pm and midnight only drunks would be allowed on the roads. If they hurt each other, so what?
Everyone will know that all motorists seen between these hours are drunk.
If non drunk people have to go out, then they know all the rest are drunks and will take extra care. Any drunk driver caught damaging property which is non vehicular gets life imprisonment.
My second law would be aimed at Prudence Brown. Reduce the price of beer to that of bananas - five pence a skinful!
I wait to hear what Chris Watson comes up with.
Enjoy the weekend
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Mike,
good thread this one.
If I were the minister the first thing I would do is to stop bus companies using "cherished" registration numbers in order to hide the age of tyhe charabancs they are ferrying paying public around in.
Not the most important thing I know but bees in bonnets and all that.
Then it would be compulsory regular education for all drivers and road users, cyclists, horse riders, pedestrians etc etc, with some sort of graded system based on test results.
How many times have people talked about any subject under the motoring sun, speed, tailgating, road manners, leaving diesels ticking over, the list could go on and on and on, and proposing some sort of legislation but it all comes down to people using the grey matter or in too many cases not using....
Stuart
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i think that the motorway should have a separate supercar lane, a bit like the autobahn, no cars with less then 250 bhp allowed in the lane, plus the top speed can be 100 mph, any run of the mill car found in the lane will be shot from a cannon :-)
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I'd allow motorcycles in the hard shoulder of motorways when motorway traffic is stationary/slow moving.
It has to be safer than filtering.
A suitable speedlimit would have to be determined for such riding. 25mph?
I'd make all road users not currently liable for it, pay £5 a year road tax and have 3rd party insuracne compulsory.
I'm thinking of cyclists & horse riders here....
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Require all cyclists to pass a cycling test of equivalent level to the motorcycling one. Require all cyclists to be insured, and their machines to take an annual MOT. This would raise large amounts of revenue and relieve the car driver somewhat -- why should he be the only road user ot have to pay to use it?
Require all would-be pedestrians to take an IQ test. Anyone falling below 60 (probably most) would not be allowed out of the house. Special dispensations for the elderly and disabled. All others would be required to adopt bright , then at every 100 metres of pavement to capture jaywalkers.
Special lane lines would be painted on the pavement, with the same purpose and function as road lines, with similar laws and regulations. Pedestrian would also be required to carry battery powered indicators to show their intentions to other pavement-walkers and road-users.Baby buggies would have buggy-lanes and parking spots with pay and display machines. An army of pedestrian wardens (recruited from jobless quote asylum unquote seekers) would be trained to apprehend offenders and issue on the spot fines.
Think of all the extra jobsworths I could employ! I would be the minister and do all this and tell everyone -- folks, I haven't even started yet. I would move my office to Tuscany and direct everything from there...
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i agree with the one about pensioners, yesterday i was driving along when a stupid little old woman signalled left then turned right, CRAZY.
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The Growler wrote:
>
> Special lane lines would be painted on the pavement, with the
> same purpose and function as road lines, with similar laws
> and regulations. Pedestrian would also be required to carry
> battery powered indicators to show their intentions to other
> pavement-walkers and road-users.
Hey Growler,
Does this mean if some little old granny pulls out of the bakers in front of me without looking and then walks down the pavement at 1 mph in the "fast lane" am I entitled to walk as close as possible flashing a torch at the back of her head?
Can we have a trolley driving test for Sainsbury's? Aren't those new ones with the kiddie car hanging off the front a pain in the rectum.
Plus I would make it compulsory to go down to the driving school at Legoland and watch the kids in action. Its just like real roads, shows how childish we all are in our motors.
S
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