Come close to a head on collision this morning

nilagin said:
Of course they are going to look frequent if your job revolves around them. But as I said before consider the number of cars on the thousands of miles of UK road they are rare and you are more likely to get hurt doing something else or die from illness or natural causes.
Click to expand...

You implied that accidents were rare given the amount of vehicles involved. First time you've mentioned death or illness, but of course illness is the the number one killer not road collisions.
 
Oh, no I wouldn't parallel a truck in the slow lane when going past a slip road. I'm squishier than he is.
I make sure there's empty space between me and the slip for the joiners, then we can sort out things when everyone's joined.
 
Cobra said:
Itsd not about being macho, its about making your own descions and being in control ( of your own life)
Just remember the saying, to err is to be human, but it takes a computer to f*** things up on a grand scale.

I just hope that it doesn't become a reality in my life time!
As Zager and Evens mentioned
In the year 5555
Your arms are hanging limp at your sides
Your legs got nothing to do
Some machine is doing that for you
Click to expand...

I fear we may see autonomous cars in cities within the next few years. I read today Uber are supposed to have ordered a fleet of Mercedes to be converted to autonomous cars to be used as "chauffeur" driven cars. It doesn't help when you read of the Google cars having accidents. Ford are currently testing autonomous vehicles although on their own roads not in public. Real cars and not something that looks like an oap's struggle buggy. The sytems are so sensitive that not only can it tell when it's raining, they can also tell the difference between rain and snow.
I don't mind driver aids that can help prevent crashes. But I love driving and as you say being in control. I'd hate for all of it to be taken away and just become a passenger.
 
nilagin said:
Of course they are going to look frequent if your job revolves around them. But as I said before consider the number of cars on the thousands of miles of UK road they are rare and you are more likely to get hurt doing something else or die from illness or natural causes.
Click to expand...

Quite right.

The UK is the fourth safest country in the world for road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants (2.9), after Monaco (which doesn't appear to do fatal road accidents), Micronesia (1.9) and Sweden (2.8).

It's the seventh safest for fatalities per 100,000 motor vehicles (5.1) and the second safest for fatalities per billion kilometres of vehicle travel (3.6)

Possibly, that's why we notice the idiots more.

15749593905_aa69a5862c_b.jpg
 
Last edited:
Blank_Canvas said:
You implied that accidents were rare given the amount of vehicles involved. First time you've mentioned death or illness, but of course illness is the the number one killer not road collisions.
Click to expand...
Accidents are rare given the number of cars on the road. Way, way below 1% I would imagine.
 
nilagin said:
Accidents are rare given the number of cars on the road. Way, way below 1% I would imagine.
Click to expand...

Quite possibly but we will never know for sure not every accident is reported or recorded. I'm sure most of us who have been driving for few years have either had their car shunted at some point while they've been away from their car, had their wing mirror knocked off or known someone that has. If not then you don't have to look very hard or for very long in a car park or down the street to find one with dents and scrapes.
 
Cobra said:
And the problem with that of course is that the near side lane truck then suddenly pulls across to the middle lane, TBH I'm not really surprised that more and more people are hogging the
outside lane, particularly near junctions.
Which of course has its own problems, the middle lane car doing probably less than 70 then cuts out into the outside lane / stream of cars doing ( possibly) more than 70, forcing them all to brake, hard,
so some t***t pulling from the slip road, be that car or lorry without matching speeds, be that faster or slower to enter the nearside lane screws up 3 lanes of traffic.
Click to expand...


There is nothing worse than following someone up a long slip road, with them doing a steady 40 - 50 mph, particularly if it is busy, because you inevitably then have to suffer them braking, when they realise that they cannot merge with the trucks doing the same speed or faster than them.
 
Blank_Canvas said:
Quite possibly but we will never know for sure not every accident is reported or recorded. I'm sure most of us who have been driving for few years have either had their car shunted at some point while they've been away from their car, had their wing mirror knocked off or known someone that has. If not then you don't have to look very hard or for very long in a car park or down the street to find one with dents and scrapes.
Click to expand...

Not exactly life threatening or injury inducing incidents to warrant a knee jerk reaction and say the sooner we get autonomous cars the better, which is what my original claim was made against.
 
andy700 said:
There is nothing worse than following someone up a long slip road, with them doing a steady 40 - 50 mph, particularly if it is busy, because you inevitably then have to suffer them braking, when they realise that they cannot merge with the trucks doing the same speed or faster than them.
Click to expand...


I'm astounded by the number of people who I encounter doing just that. They have invariably just come off a motorway too. I dread to think how slow they must have been going on there.
 
andy700 said:
There is nothing worse than following someone up a long slip road, with them doing a steady 40 - 50 mph, particularly if it is busy, because you inevitably then have to suffer them braking, when they realise that they cannot merge with the trucks doing the same speed or faster than them.
Click to expand...


Personally, I find stubbing my toe rather worse than that. ;)

To avoid that situation, I often drop well back from dawdlers so I can accelerate to an appropriate merging speed (as long as I can do so without inconveniencing people behind me.)
 
Blank_Canvas said:
There are no such thing as road accidents, accidents can be avoided ! In 2014 there were 194,477 casualties in 2014 of which 1,775 were fatalities. Add to these stats all the other shunts and bangs and that adds up to significant amount of collisions per day in the UK. I wouldn't call that few and far between !
Click to expand...

Given the number of road journeys undertaken in that times, I'd call it extremely few and far between.
 
Nod said:
I often drop well back from dawdlers so I can accelerate to an appropriate merging speed (as long as I can do so without inconveniencing people behind me.)
Click to expand...

Absolutely correct.

At the risk of starting an argument, that is precisely what you should do and don't worry about people behind you.

I was lucky enough to get a taster of the advanced police driving course, albeit a long time ago, and this was one of the things that stuck in my mind. According to the instructor, you should aim to be no less than 25 yards behind the car ahead and doing no more than 30 MPH as you get to the point where you can assess the traffic approaching on the motorway. THEN you should accelerate to a speed that allows you to slot in to the lane with the minimum effect on vehicles already in the inner lane. IF the vehicles you can see in the inner lane aren't leaving enough gap, you should be able to slow and then accelerate when a gap does appear.
 
Sejanus Aelianus said:
Absolutely correct.

At the risk of starting an argument, that is precisely what you should do and don't worry about people behind you.

I was lucky enough to get a taster of the advanced police driving course, albeit a long time ago, and this was one of the things that stuck in my mind. According to the instructor, you should aim to be no less than 25 yards behind the car ahead and doing no more than 30 MPH as you get to the point where you can assess the traffic approaching on the motorway. THEN you should accelerate to a speed that allows you to slot in to the lane with the minimum effect on vehicles already in the inner lane. IF the vehicles you can see in the inner lane aren't leaving enough gap, you should be able to slow and then accelerate when a gap does appear.
Click to expand...


It's a lot easier to be doing 50 and adjust your speed either way in preparation for merging. Driving at 30 just causes conjestion behind you. As has been mentioned by others I have seen cars at 30 on the slip road, not travelling fast enough to try and merge and before they know it end up at a standstill at the end of the slip road and a more dangerous attempt at joining a busy road.
 
viv1969 said:
Given the number of road journeys undertaken in that times, I'd call it extremely few and far between.
Click to expand...

I would suggest that even one serious injury or fatality per day is one too many but that's just my opinion. Judging by the amount of bad driving that we see or read about how many near misses occur on a daily basis ? 'Few and far between' 'or with some frequency ?' (both subjective) Whilst some of these appear on YouTube or Idiot UK Drivers Exposed etc many 'close shaves' are simply not reported, the same with minor 'prangs and bangs' Once again when you're working with asymmetric data it's impossible to quantify or qualify.
 
nilagin said:
Not exactly life threatening or injury inducing incidents to warrant a knee jerk reaction and say the sooner we get autonomous cars the better, which is what my original claim was made against.
Click to expand...
I'm talking about the saving of thousands of lives, and saving hundreds of thousands of people from serious injury, and even more from serious damage, costs and court cases in the UK alone. You are more interested in your personal driving pleasure. But change will happen.
 
Last edited:
ianp5a said:
I'm talking about the saving of thousands of lives, and saving hundreds of thousands of people from serious injury, and even more from serious damage, costs and court cases in the UK alone. You are more interested in your personal driving pleasure. But change will happen.
Click to expand...

My head won't be aching by the time it does :lol:
 
Blank_Canvas said:
I would suggest that even one serious injury or fatality per day is one too many but that's just my opinion. Judging by the amount of bad driving that we see or read about how many near misses occur on a daily basis ? 'Few and far between' 'or with some frequency ?' (both subjective) Whilst some of these appear on YouTube or Idiot UK Drivers Exposed etc many 'close shaves' are simply not reported, the same with minor 'prangs and bangs' Once again when you're working with asymmetric data it's impossible to quantify or qualify.
Click to expand...

What makes me chuckle, is all the "we see bad driving all the time" comments, like those making them are perfect motorists themselves.
There's not a driver out there who hasn't, at one time or another, driven like a numpty.
 
ianp5a said:
You are more interested in your personal driving pleasure.
Click to expand...
And there we have it, more nanny state.
People seem to be having fun, we'd better find a way of stopping that PDQ!
 
viv1969 said:
There's not a driver out there who hasn't, at one time or another, driven like a numpty.
Click to expand...
Hmmm it depends on how you define numpty :D
 
They're going to have to stop those Google driverless cars hitting busses if they want them to catch on :lol:
 
viv1969 said:
They're going to have to stop those Google driverless cars hitting busses if they want them to catch on :LOL:
Click to expand...
No, its all part of the master plan, to get rid of the buses, then everyone has to have a car :thumbs:

Hmmm just a thought will we still need driving tests / licences to sit in one of these things?
if not, there goes a massive industry and a massive tax in come.
I wonder how they will recoup that?
 
Cobra said:
No, its all part of the master plan, to get rid of the buses, then everyone has to have a car (y)

Hmmm just a thought will we still need driving tests / licences to sit in one of these things?
if not, there goes a massive industry and a massive tax in come.
I wonder how they will recoup that?
Click to expand...

And what about insurance?
True driverless cars should have no human override, so who's liable when they crash? And they will crash.
 
nilagin said:
I have seen cars at 30 on the slip road, not travelling fast enough to try and merge and before they know it end up at a standstill at the end of the slip road and a more dangerous attempt at joining a busy road.
Click to expand...

While I am sure you know much better than a police driving instructor, I find that his method works for me every time, so I'm sticking with it.
 
viv1969 said:
What makes me chuckle, is all the "we see bad driving all the time" comments, like those making them are perfect motorists themselves.
There's not a driver out there who hasn't, at one time or another, driven like a numpty.
Click to expand...

Of course everybody makes mistakes over their driving lifetime but there is a massive difference between making a mistake and driving dangerously.
 
Blank_Canvas said:
Of course everybody makes mistakes over their driving lifetime but there is a massive difference between making a mistake and driving dangerously.
Click to expand...

I'd actually suggest that a good number of the worst accidents the results of mistakes.
 
I'd add that an awful lot of truly dangerous numpty driving has no bad consequences.
 
Cobra said:
And there we have it, more nanny state.
People seem to be having fun, we'd better find a way of stopping that PDQ!
Click to expand...
I'll still have fun. But if you like being stuck in traffic or complaining about other people driving dangerously or too slow, or seeing 20,000 new wheelchair users every year, then you might be disappointed.


Cobra said:
Hmmm just a thought will we still need driving tests / licences to sit in one of these things?
if not, there goes a massive industry and a massive tax in come.
I wonder how they will recoup that?
Click to expand...
A driving test and licence will all go. Finito.
But in the transition period there will be one, but quite different from what we have now.
viv1969 said:
They're going to have to stop those Google driverless cars hitting busses if they want them to catch on :lol:
Click to expand...
No they can still have accidents. Just not so many.
viv1969 said:
And what about insurance?
True driverless cars should have no human override, so who's liable when they crash? And they will crash.
Click to expand...
The car manufacturers will have an insurance. Individual cars and and passengers, if any, will not need insurance. Similar to a bus service or airline today.
 
Last edited:
ianp5a said:
I'll still have fun. But if you like being stuck in traffic or complaining about other people driving dangerously or too slow, or seeing 20,000 new wheelchair users every year, then you might be disappointed.


A driving test and licence will all go. Finito.
But in the transition period there will be one, but quite different from what we have now.
No they can still have accidents. Just not so many.
The car manufacturers will have an insurance. Individual cars and and passengers, if any, will not need insurance. Similar to a bus service or airline today.
Click to expand...

Is it pretty, this land you live in? :D ;)
 
Well, there will be no road regulation signs, traffic lights, speed limits, dash cams, and people stressed by traffic jams, the price of car insurance, numpty drivers, parking problems and more. Just read what people have written here.

All it takes is the capability to imagine that things will not remain as they are today, forever.
 
Last edited:
ianp5a said:
I'm talking about the saving of thousands of lives, and saving hundreds of thousands of people from serious injury, and even more from serious damage, costs and court cases in the UK alone. You are more interested in your personal driving pleasure. But change will happen.
Click to expand...
How about we all stay in bed tomorrow, safe and sound?
 
ianp5a said:
The car manufacturers will have an insurance. Individual cars and and passengers, if any, will not need insurance. Similar to a bus service or airline today.
Click to expand...
I can't see the car manufacturers wanting to be held liable which is pretty much what you are saying. Last time I looked buses still had drivers and planes have pilots and co pilots apart from auto pilot. Trains and trams have drivers and they are on rails with even less chance of crashing.
 
ianp5a said:
Well, there will be no road regulation signs, traffic lights, speed limits, dash cams, and people stressed by traffic jams, the price of car insurance, numpty drivers, parking problems and more. Just read what people have written here.

All it takes is the capability to imagine that things will not remain as they are today, forever.
Click to expand...
Pedestrians still need to cross roads, road regulation signs, traffic lights etc. aid that.
 
ianp5a said:
No they can still have accidents. Just not so many.
Click to expand...
Consider the number of autonomous cars on the road at the moment compared to those controlled by a driver. With the few crashes that have been reported involving autonomous cars already, compared to the number of cars and drivers on the road that are accident free, so far the autonomous car has the worst statistical record.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top