Acceptable Collateral Damage

[User]

 

[robz400]

That 2nd one is from May 2007?

 

[Origamist]

If you have x amount of cars on the road, you are gonna get accidents.
I think we still have one of the lowest aciident/death ratios of motor vehicles in Europe. I think Portugal has the highest one.

The Portugese have been reducing road deaths dramatically in the last few years. Between 2001 and 2007 there has been a 42% drop in fatalities. The UK only managed an 8% decrease in road deaths over the same period...

 

[Rhythm Thief]

The Portugese have been reducing road deaths dramatically in the last few years. Between 2001 and 2007 there has been a 42% drop in fatalities. The UK only managed an 8% decrease in road deaths over the same period...

I have no figures or statistics, but surely it's easier to engineer a large drop in casualty rates if you're starting from a high point? Maybe UK incident rates haven't decreased so much because they were closer to an "acceptable" (yes, I know) norm in the first place.

 

[magnatom]

The Portugese have been reducing road deaths dramatically in the last few years. Between 2001 and 2007 there has been a 42% drop in fatalities. The UK only managed an 8% decrease in road deaths over the same period...

What level did the Portugese start from though, and how does it compare to the UK?

 

[dondare]

It's not just cyclists who get killed by HGVs.

 

[Origamist]

I have no figures or statistics, but surely it's easier to engineer a large drop in casualty rates if you're starting from a high point? Maybe UK incident rates haven't decreased so much because they were closer to an "acceptable" (yes, I know) norm in the first place.

Of course it is. My point was that Portugal has made massive strides in the last few years in terms of road safety and is no longer at the bottom of the EU pile.

It is still safer to drive in the UK than Portugal.

 

[hackbike 6]

It doesn't surprise me.

I no longer like going on motorways now.

 

[Paulus]

It does seem a little strange at times that passenger transport is quite tightly regulated in regard to the distances that planes, train and shipping are kept apart, Planes are 1000 metres to the side and above away from each other. Trains are kept apart, mostly, by the signalling system and shipping by the coastguard in busy waters such as the English Channel. But road transport is left to drivers reading and following the recommendations in the highway code which of course many don't.

 

[hackbike 6]

Plus the fact that transport workers are generally skilled and that includes bus drivers as well.

Motorists once they are out there drive how they want to drive whether it's safe or not.(I.E Mobile Phone useage)

...also some of it is stupidity as well.

Watch the Police Camera Action if you need examples.

Of course this is IMHO.

 

[Mr Pig]

It does seem strange that passenger transport is quite tightly regulated, Planes are 1000 metres from each other.

Yes, but they're doing 600 mph!

 

[Origamist]

Map of the week - how will you die?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2008/10/map_of_the_week_how_will_you_d.html

 

[Mr Pig]

Map of the week - how will you die?

Relevant, how?

 

[Origamist]

Relevant, how?

Did you click on the map at the different age ranges - watch how the map changes colour in relation to deaths by "transport" (15-19 and 20-24 in particular).

 

[CopperBrompton]

There's rarely much logic to safety priorities - it's all driven by public pressure. The public are concerned about knife crime, an extremely rare way to die, so lots of attention is focused on it.

Same thing with road deaths. It's a big number, but more people are killed by hospital-acquired MRSA than die in road accidents, and of course heart disease caused by inactivity is a far, far bigger killer.

Ben