Operation Slowdown

EvanJames said :

I was out and about quite a bit over the long weekend. I did not see one ACT Policing vehicle. I did see a lot of NSW plod though.

Guess they spent the ACT budget on publicity again.

EvanJames said :

I was out and about quite a bit over the long weekend. I did not see one ACT Policing vehicle. I did see a lot of NSW plod though.

I saw quite a few, perhaps you were too bust texting?

HenryBG said :

The reduction in road deaths is definitely not related to improved driver training, though, of that we can be sure.

I tend to think that licencing/eduction/learning/testing requirements now are much better then they were 15 years ago.

Any one who got their licence before that should have to redo the entire process – log book, courses, red and green “P”s, the works. I agree with the “most people would fail in 10 minutes” part though.

I was out and about quite a bit over the long weekend. I did not see one ACT Policing vehicle. I did see a lot of NSW plod though.

kakosi said :

“road trauma levels have declined substantially over the last four decades, despite considerable population growth and a threefold increase in registered motor vehicles. During this period, the number of road deaths per year has fallen from 3,798 deaths in 1970 to 1,288 in 2011.” http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/

The reduction in road deaths is definitely not related to improved driver training, though, of that we can be sure.

Licences should be issued only to those that have undergone a good number of hours in a testing simulator. Most people on the roads today would fail within 10 minutes.

Ultimately, whether it’s road conditions, weather or the vehicle, every accident is caused by a driver lacking the skills required to control their vehicle properly.

Antagonist said :

“The major causes of road accidents are well known. Drink driving, speed, failure to wear seatbelts or fatigue plays a part in every serious accident that occurs,” Acting Superintendent O’Ryan said.

The first sentence in the quote is not related to the second sentence. Failure to wear a seatbelt will not cause an accident. Perhaps the first sentence should have read “The major causes of *injury or death* in road accidents …”

Very true. The items listed are contributing factors found in relation to many accidents with fatalities. There would also be many non-fatal accidents which are not caused by the items listed (i.e. not giving way or other failures to follow road rules).

People aren’t often told that road fatalities have actually been decreasing. Much of this is no doubt due to the invention of safer cars (i.e. airbags) but some of it could relate to driving habits changing over time.

“road trauma levels have declined substantially over the last four decades, despite considerable population growth and a threefold increase in registered motor vehicles. During this period, the number of road deaths per year has fallen from 3,798 deaths in 1970 to 1,288 in 2011.” http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/

Compare the amount of people who die in car accidents to the other causes of death and you’ll start to get a better perspective on what will more likely be the death of you.

In 2010, the leading underlying cause of death for all Australians was Ischaemic heart disease, which includes angina, blocked arteries of the heart and heart attacks. Ischaemic heart diseases were identified as the underlying cause of 21,708 deaths.

We have some kind of obsession with road deaths when the reality of the situation is that you are many times more likely to die from something else – 1,648 people died as the result of accidental falls in 2010:

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/6BAD463E482C6970CA2579C6000F6AF7?opendocument

I think they forgot that the weather also plays a part in some serious accidents. i.e. people not driving to the conditions.

the whole press release is silly, so full of clichés and misnomers that its no wonder people pay no attention to it.

I would have liked to speak to the driver of the marked green police car in Queanbeyan yesterday evening, who was driving at dusk with no lights on. But of course s/he wasn’t drunk or tired, and probably wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, so that’s OK.

IP

Our overlords are continuing the ‘speed, grog, no seatbelt, tired’ sloganeering, whilst on the ground it is intersections, poor roads and criminal stupidity that have resulted in the real road deaths locally this year.

poetix said :

johnboy said :

it’s very important to warn the frogs of your approach.

so they can leg it…

Do you mean the nation or the amphibians?

Well you wouldn’t want them to croak it!