Re: Death on the UK roads : Mon Dec 05, 2011 8:56 pm  

Sandra The Terrorist wrote: Well I was thinking of this one. http://www.iam.org.uk/motorist/the-advanced-programme80 But if you know of something better, then depending on the cost I'd appreciate your advice. Advanced for me is simply developing your driving and then developing some more, and more, and more. RoSPA, IAM, DIAmond all do this type of work. The one i would recommend RoSPA. As far as i am concerned its the best one.

Sandra The Terrorist wrote: Well I was thinking of this one. http://www.iam.org.uk/motorist/the-advanced-programme80 But if you know of something better, then depending on the cost I'd appreciate your advice. Advanced for me is simply developing your driving and then developing some more, and more, and more. RoSPA, IAM, DIAmond all do this type of work. The one i would recommend RoSPA. As far as i am concerned its the best one.

Re: Death on the UK roads : Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:28 pm  

Stealth Comic wrote: I don't see the point of crushing the car, you just destroy a perfectly good car. Why not confiscate the car, sell it on to someone else and put the amount raised in to a fund to compensate those injured or bereaved as a result of the actions of uninsured drivers? Because if such a system were to be set up, you can guarantee that some 2@ would be getting kick-backs and others making a mint from it. Do some research on what happens when HMRC impound vehicles for smuggling baccy, the average sale price is mindblowing. Better to send the message out that nobody benefits. EDIT: In fact don't bother, I've done the checking for you. According to a note in the 2010-2011 accounts of UKBA: The agency also seized assets at the border. Tobacco and illegal substances are destroyed but the agency did raise £184k (2009-10: £432k) from the sale of seized vehicles with all proceeds going to HM Treasury. Now they admit to seizing an average of 5000 vehicles per year, you do the maths

Stealth Comic wrote: I don't see the point of crushing the car, you just destroy a perfectly good car. Why not confiscate the car, sell it on to someone else and put the amount raised in to a fund to compensate those injured or bereaved as a result of the actions of uninsured drivers? Because if such a system were to be set up, you can guarantee that some 2@ would be getting kick-backs and others making a mint from it. Do some research on what happens when HMRC impound vehicles for smuggling baccy, the average sale price is mindblowing. Better to send the message out that nobody benefits. EDIT: In fact don't bother, I've done the checking for you. According to a note in the 2010-2011 accounts of UKBA: The agency also seized assets at the border. Tobacco and illegal substances are destroyed but the agency did raise £184k (2009-10: £432k) from the sale of seized vehicles with all proceeds going to HM Treasury. Now they admit to seizing an average of 5000 vehicles per year, you do the maths

Re: Death on the UK roads : Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:40 am  

Cronus wrote:

The lad responsible has never shown in court. He fled back to the family home in Pakistan.

I'm usually very liberal minded but the penalties handed out to repeat & serious traffic offenders is pathetic. Vehicle drivers, even where death is caused as a result, very rarely get a prison sentence.

Re: Death on the UK roads : Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:43 am  

guess who wrote:

Advanced for me is simply developing your driving and then developing some more, and more, and more.

So people would continually be forking out for a driving lesson, then another one, then another one.... where does it end? There's only one winner in that scenario.........

Re: Death on the UK roads : Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:56 am  

guess who wrote: Advanced for me is simply developing your driving and then developing some more, and more, and more. RoSPA, IAM, DIAmond all do this type of work. The one i would recommend RoSPA. As far as i am concerned its the best one. Do normal driving instructors prepare candidates for this sort of thing and how much is a lesson today?

guess who wrote: Advanced for me is simply developing your driving and then developing some more, and more, and more. RoSPA, IAM, DIAmond all do this type of work. The one i would recommend RoSPA. As far as i am concerned its the best one. Do normal driving instructors prepare candidates for this sort of thing and how much is a lesson today?

Re: Death on the UK roads : Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:19 am  

Robbo wrote:

So people would continually be forking out for a driving lesson, then another one, then another one.... where does it end? There's only one winner in that scenario.........

Apart from the insurance industry (and as a consequence everyone who takes out insurance), the emergency services, the NHS and any individual who has suffered personal loss through a motor accident you mean?

Re: Death on the UK roads : Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:38 am  

cod'ead wrote:

Apart from the insurance industry (and as a consequence everyone who takes out insurance), the emergency services, the NHS and any individual who has suffered personal loss through a motor accident you mean?

I agree, There would be less accidents and less deaths as a consequence, which can only be a good thing, but it wont solve the problem, There will still be all the other idiots who cause accidents by selfishly and very knowingly drive dangerously. Regardless of how much training they've had. I know a wagon driver who had spent years driving all over Europe, had done practically every driving course there was, and he still drove like an absolute d1ck, attitudes need to be changed aswell as knowledge.

Re: Death on the UK roads : Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:55 am  

Robbo wrote:

I know a wagon driver who had spent years driving all over Europe, had done practically every driving course there was, and he still drove like an absolute d1ck, attitudes need to be changed aswell as knowledge.

I don't know of any other industry that would allow someone to take charge of >£100k worth of truck, trailer and load and let them loose on the road, on the evidence of possession of an HGV licence. I know there are many professional hauliers out there who have their own in-house training and assessment systems and others who sub-contract such work. But equally there are many who don't and once the driver has left the depot, apart from mobile phone contact, they have absolutely no idea what he's up to until he's either involved in an incident, gets nicked or they review his tacho records.

Re: Death on the UK roads : Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:01 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

Bravo Sir. Most people would argue till they were blue in the face that they are better at driving than anyone, we've got a few on this thread who believe their training was better than anyone else's. It's refreshing to hear someone admit they are not Mr Perfect Driver.

Agree with your sentiment. I personally would never claim my driving to be any more than relatively decent, and I think the mentality of thinking you're a great driver can often lead to being a poor one, as it can contribute to overconfidence and a too casual attitude.

Re: Death on the UK roads : Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:57 pm  

Robbo wrote:

I agree that more should be done to educate drivers before giving them a license. I was lucky in that In my last job I spent a lot of time In HGV's as a passenger, and had drivers giving me lots of advice aswell as what I could see for myself on a daily basis. So when I did got on the motorway for the first time ( I had a HGV Driver with me who used to be an instructor) I understood the "laws" of the motorway and how to safely drive on them, So it shocks me when I think the majority of young people who have just passed their test are going out on the motorway for the first time without experienced people with them and no idea of what they are doing. Infact I see countless people driving on the motorway who arent always younger drivers sticking in the middle lane oblivious to how dangerous that can actually be.

Although as much as you can increase standards of driving instructing it still won't stop the d1cks who drive around cutting people up, over taking when they shouldn't be, under taking, speeding and all the rest of it. Better knowledge can stop some deaths, but there's a lot of cases where it is simply peoples attitudes and idiotic driving that causes "accidents" rather than them not knowing how to drive. Earlier this year 2 men where killed near me crossing a dual carriage way, a car in the outside lane slowed to let the 2 men across the road but the car behind decided to undertake the car and as he did the 2 men where killed. It wasn't a shock to anyone round here when it was reported that the driver was a young lad well known for screwing his modified escort around the area. It was an accident waiting to happen. There are too many drivers who just simply don't have any courtesy for other people using the road and will do anything to get where they are going 30 seconds earlier...and this is imo what causes so many accidents. I guess the police hands are tied tho, Theres only so many speed cameras they can put up and unless they are actually there to see people driving dangerously then people will continue to get away with it and will carry on driving that way.

I would just say on this point that I think speed cameras are only a tiny part of the answer. There are so many problems on the road that cannot be picked up this way, but I agree that the police's hands are largely tied with a lot of it because they simply don't have the manpower. I find it frustrating that driving like an idiot most often goes unpunished so long as people know where the areas to slow down for are, and think that it is these drivers who are more dangerous than those creeping over the speed limit in front of a camera. I don't claim to know what the solution is, though.