I came across this article from New Zealand and thought how refreshing it is to read about things as they really are.
You can find it at www.aadirections.co.nz look up the driver section and then 'why do we crash'.
Sumpnut.
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what an injection of common sense...i've long thought most of that over here, but we seldom have anyone in officialdom stating it
www.aa.co.nz/aadirections/driver/Pages/Accident-An...x
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"Policing licences more aggressively would certainly make a difference to the road toll."
Watching the range of cop programmes across the satellite spectrum common denominators when a car is stopped for an offence is either the driver is on a provisional or has no licence or is disqualified.
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I like the terminology 'renegade'.
It's a well known fact that renegades/oiks/lowlife/whatever we want to call them, are statistically far more likely to have an accident.
People that are plain anti-social, we all know them, the ones that park habitually in disabled bays, don't insure their cars, have warrants outstanding etc, etc....i'm convinced if we concentrated on them for the lower level stuff....we'd iron out the more important ones, in a similar fashion to 'broken window syndrome' (American theory that you leave a window broken, gradually the area declines..if you fix it promptly, it doesn't).
Trouble is there are not enough cops to do that and certainly not enough currently employed to deal with motoring type stuff. Hope it changes.
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"Trouble is there are not enough cops to do that and certainly not enough currently employed to deal with motoring type stuff"
An answer might be to have a seperate police force like the State Troopers in the US. Purely recruited to police traffic. The cost could be born by the road tax system or a small levy on motor insurance. It could work on the same national network basis as the British Transport Police. Same selection and criteria for recruitment as at present for any police force (service!) and with same powers.
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interesting read and i think common sense too
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In my recent experience, not very wide however, the driving down under is a bit more sensible and restrained than it is in the home counties, and frankly that's saying something. I often think so anyway.
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As a POM now living in NZ I am always surprised that the kiwis have not considered some other steps to reduce a road toll that is higher than the UK's per capita of the population:
1. Raise the legal driving age (currently 15)
2. Introduce compulsory third party insurance
Currently you have just qualified drivers in cheap fast Japanese cars, not a good combination.
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I rather like the advice to 'older drivers', 'avoiding right turns wherever possible is a simple life-saving option'.
Sumpnut
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Absolutly excellent article
Re the Government and their attempts to reduce the legal blood alcohol limit
Ditto their "speed kills" campaign backed but by cameras
The NZ evidence would indicate that this is the fallacy I suspected
ie renegades
Yer average 50 odd year old motorist who may after 2 pints over a couple of hours be over the limit
will be driving very carefully & under / at the speed limit
For fear that he gets held responsible for an accident not of his causing
ie git rear ends "drunk" driver
Sir you are over the limit
The accident was therefore your fault
Is this correct by the way?
Cos if it is it is unfairly distorting the statistics
Edited by dieseldogg on 02/10/2009 at 11:08
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And yes 100% re tiredness
And older drivers being inattentive, cos i witness it enough locally ( & I will get old too)
and younger ones do not realize the risks( & i was young too)
But mostly its due to people driving with their heads up their bottom
not looking past the bonnet
brain in neutral
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But driving a car in NZ is SO different to the UK. There are far fewer cars and much less traffic to worry about, but on the other hand many of the roads are far more dangerous (hills, bends, adverse cambers, poor surfaces,...). Boredom and inattentiveness is less of an issue on NZ roads, whereas tiredness and excessive speed for the conditions probably occurs far more often than in jammed-up, camera-laden UK.
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What do you class as older drivers? 50 , 60 ,70 80? Older drivers are dangerous according to many and so are young ones. you aren't going to stop the renegades with any legislation, they are basically taking the mickey out of the law abiding who have to pay higher insurance to cover accidents they cause. We need a better system but I haven't a clue what would work and the powers that be don't either.
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. We need a better system but I haven't a clue what would work and the powers that be don't either.
I do. You need proper fully fledged police officers tasked with getting their noses into the 'renegades' and constantly nicking them; sending them to court; watching them closely for their inevitable disqualified driving; nicking them on their inevitable warrants for failing to answer summonses; confiscating their cars etc, etc
instead of what we have now where virtually no one deals with it, because there aren't enough cops to concentrate on that sort of thing
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In the "bad-old-days" we had a separate Traffic Police department under the Ministry of Transport. Their sole task, and policing power, was to maintain law and order on the roads. They did quite a good job too, until some Gummint beancounter decided that they should be merged with the flat-foot cops to save on overheads. In my view, it hasn't worked as far as the policing aspect goes. They also examined people for driver's licences, instead of having it contracted out now to someone like the A.A. Believe me, it is somewhat stressful having a real live Traffic Cop sitting there watching your every move whilst you try to convince him that you should be allowed anywhere near a car, even if you are a bullet-proof teenager.
Maybe it is just wishful thinking, but there seems recently to have been a reduction in the number of cases of, "Boy racer crashes and kills someone". If the driver survives, the police are now going for manslaughter and the juries are convicting. Maybe it is having some deterrrent effect.
Drink-driving seems to be under control. There will always be the incorrigibles, but even in blitzes, the breath test failure rate is only a fraction of a percent.
Other "things being considered" were commonplace when I qualified, such as compulsory third party insurance. Why that was ever cancelled, I don't know. The premium was part of the annual tax payment, and there was a list of approved insurers on the form. You marked your preference for insurer, and that company got the money from the Transport Ministry.
The more things change, etc............
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