Fines for red light jumping and other offences
in [UK Drivers]
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From: Nick Finnigan on 1 Aug 2010 05:49 Matt B wrote: > > All of those crashes occurred simply because one road user assumed > absolute priority over another. No. e.g. failing to brake in time when approaching a queue.
From: NM on 1 Aug 2010 06:05 On 31 July, 17:05, "Brimstone" <brimst...(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > "Mortimer" <m...(a)privacy.net> wrote in message > > news:7OqdnViEh_uT28nRnZ2dnUVZ8hQAAAAA(a)brightview.co.uk... > > > > > "Brimstone" <brimst...(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message > >news:qLadnYoBYMr13MnRnZ2dnUVZ8tKdnZ2d(a)bt.com... > > >> "Phil W Lee" <p...(a)lee-family.me.uk> wrote in message > >>news:2te8561q3b1aj6cornsc5b8bah1pft8iic(a)4ax.com... > > >>> I'm fairly sure that what happens when lights fail is not a good > >>> indication of what happens when they are removed. > >>> It is dealing with the unfamiliar that makes drivers cautious, so it > >>> doesn't last. > > >> It has in those towns which have implemented it, so we're told anyway. > > > If when you get rid of lights you replace them with either a roundabout or > > a > > major road / minor road junction (ie crossroads sign in one direction, > > give > > way / stop signs in the other direction) that's fine. If you dispense with > > the rules of priority, that's a horrendous situation because it leads to > > doubt, indecision and barging. > > > I repeast what I said earlier: there should NEVER be a situation when > > driving where more than one person has right of way at the same time. > > There are already many such places. I've encountered junctions where there > are no give way or stop lines. (No I'm not going to trawl through Google > Maps to try and find them.) > > > Everyone should know who is defined to have priority > > Why can't they work with other people and come to a mutually satisfactory > arrangement? > > > and anyone who disobeys this (whether driver, cyclist or pedestrian) > > should be penalised heavily. Anyone who disobeys the rules of priority and > > forces someone else to brake hard to avoid a collision, either wilfully or > > carelessly, has no place on the road. > > All the more reason for getting rid of the priority rules. I regularly have to enter a busy main road where the main road has absolute priority at all times, seldom do I have to wait more then half a minute before someone in one of the approaching lanes sees my predicament and stops to flash me across followed very quickly by a similar action from the other direction flow, but I am talking rural and I am in a 44 tonne artic so the above may not work in urban envirionments driving a car. I used to commute in the sixties/seventies across the top of Hampstead Heath if there was traffic back to the Spaniards pub there was a traffic cop at the ponds directing, if the traffic queue at the ponds was only about 10 cars there was no traffic cop. (Do they still have cops directing traffic other than during an 'incident'?). A situation I often encounter in my truck, at a roundabout I enter because the road is clear but as I'm usually at maximum legal weight my initial acceleration is painfully slow and it may take up to six gearchanges before I exit the roundabout, meanwhile, as I am crossing, a car usually going quite, fast hurtles into the roundabout having checked to his right for other traffic then he suddenly finds me in his path. What do I get? Full lazer and horn. What happened to giving way to traffic already on the roundabout, me having entered a good few seconds before he even crossed the give way sign at his entrance makes me traffic already on the roundabout IMO. Give way lines at roundabouts, go to the line, stop, observe to the right nobody there, then car approaches usually at speed and because he is on what he considers to be the major road he crosses the give way line like it's not there and assumes that I will obey my give way line whilst he motors through, there may as well be no roundabout. If there must be lines at the entrance to roundabouts then I would prefer them to be the old fashioned STOP, or remove them totally because this system is pants.
From: Nick Finnigan on 1 Aug 2010 10:37 NM wrote: > > What do I get? Full lazer and horn. What happened to giving way to > traffic already on the roundabout, me having entered a good few > seconds before he even crossed the give way sign at his entrance makes > me traffic already on the roundabout IMO. It is only required for traffic to your right. > Give way lines at roundabouts, go to the line, stop, observe to the > right nobody there, then car approaches usually at speed and because > he is on what he considers to be the major road he crosses the give > way line like it's not there and assumes that I will obey my give way > line whilst he motors through, there may as well be no roundabout. You have obeyed your give way lane (as has he). Neither vehicle has a defined priority afterwards Mortimer does not like that.
From: Bob on 1 Aug 2010 06:48 "Matt B" <matt.bourke(a)nospam.london.com> wrote in message news:8bks3mFdavU1(a)mid.individual.net... > On 31/07/2010 19:46, Nick Finnigan wrote: >> Matt B wrote: >>> >>> Yes, and thus caution, leading to slower and safer roads. Where do >>> most crashes occur now? >> >> On roads where traffic moves at a slower speed? > > In 2008, 52% of all fatal crashes in built-up areas occurred at a junction > and 70% of _all_ casualty crashes in built-up areas occurred at a > junction. > > All of those crashes occurred simply because one road user assumed > absolute priority over another. > > From those statistics alone we can see that our priority rules must be > deeply flawed. > > -- > Matt B > But in those cases surely there is someone either completely disregarding or with a poor understanding of the priority rules. No matter how perfect a rule is if someone doesn't follow it then accidents will happen. Will someone who RLJ's suddenly stop driving unsafely if a different rule is introduced? Bob
From: Matt B on 1 Aug 2010 12:16
On 31/07/2010 22:39, Just zis Guy, you know? wrote: > > A bonus for you: I bet you didn't know that you're many times more > likely to be killed or injured by a car on the pavement than by a > bicycle on the pavement. Here's one for you: The current DfT stats give "vehicle travelling along pavement" as one of the factors contributing to 9 fatalities for 2008, one of those was probably attributed to a pedal cycle. Motor vehicles were used for 108 times the number of vehicle miles as pedal cycles that year. So, pedal cycles "travelling along pavement" was a factor in _14_times_ as many pavement fatalities per vehicle mile as motor vehicle "travelling along pavement" was. -- Matt B |