Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > So, speeding kills does it?

[Ray]

Don't discount steering failure or mechanical failure, tyres, brakes, stuck throttle, best drive at walking pace..........just in case ya need to jump clear

Loss of control can be due to lack of skill and experience, get two people to drive on the same skid pan at 30 MPH, one spins off the other other doesn't nowt to do with speed.

Ray.

[Eamonn]

Speed is easily measured and can be objectively recorded - lack of observation is not something than can easily be either measured or proven.

Hence if the only thing you can measure is speed, that is what any prosecutions/judgement will be based.

[andyb]

Originally Posted by Eamonn

Speed is easily measured and can be objectively recorded - lack of observation is not something than can easily be either measured or proven.

Hence if the only thing you can measure is speed, that is what any prosecutions/judgement will be based.

....a point which twpd is struggling to grasp.......

[twpd]

Originally Posted by Ray

Don't discount steering failure or mechanical failure, tyres, brakes, stuck throttle, best drive at walking pace..........just in case ya need to jump clear

Loss of control can be due to lack of skill and experience, get two people to drive on the same skid pan at 30 MPH, one spins off the other other doesn't nowt to do with speed.

Ray.

Of course....but again...that's not the point of the post.

Let's assume that the stats are accurate because the government does when it comes to using them to justify safety measures they implement....they're the best tool we have available for all parties. The authorities justify speed cameras and the clampdown on speeding on the basis that their figures support the assertion that speeding kills - well, it looks like this is not the case when the figures are looked at.

What we need is a truly independent and qualified inspection of these figures.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by twpd

Let's assume that the stats are accurate because the government does when it comes to using them to justify safety measures they implement....they're the best tool we have available for all parties. The authorities justify speed cameras and the clampdown on speeding on the basis that their figures support the assertion that speeding kills - well, it looks like this is not the case when the figures are looked at.

What we need is a truly independent and qualified inspection of these figures.

Far too many variables to ever get a definitive answer IMHO.

Assume nothing question everything. Having done a bit of number crunching in the public sector the first thing an old cynic like me asks is what do ya want to prove with these numbers. Any number cruncher can use the same data to either support or debunk any given theory with "variable" factors at work or known unknowns if ya like.

With the KSI stats the variables are improvements in vehicle safety, the variable of average speed of impacts ( maybe brought down by rigerous enforcement or maybe just more congestion reducing speeds generally), the success of safety campaigns like THINK, and so on, The more inventive might even say that the species has evolved so that we can survive accidents better!!

What I am saying is that the govt make the links they want to, in the absence of a "control".

There is no threshold speed at which an accident becomes inevitable, that is the crux of the matter. All speed does is make the consequences of another event, collision, accident or whatever you like to call it more serious.
This is the concept that some organisations have failed to grasp fully.

Yes, we all want to reduce the potential consequences of speed but there the arguement arises of how far do you go, and what about making efforts to remove the potential consequences completely by removing some of the factors and events that are causation.

Speed + Collision = consequences related to speed ( laws of Physics apply)

Speed + no collision = no consequences. ( simple equation)

The govt go for the easy option that brings in the cash, not the expensive option such as education, better training, better infrastructure.

Nurse...............me blood pressure tablets,

Ray.