Fining speeding drivers 10,000 pounds

[hollyisalovelyname]

Why not just take their car away?

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Sit up more and so what?

[WallyBantersJunkBox]

I apologise, not road deaths, I mean road accident casualties.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Sorry, that sounded rude. Sit up more and do what?

[WallyBantersJunkBox]

Er...pay more attention to the statistics, be more aware of how the accidents are caused, perhaps - seeing as so many of them are avoidable and unnecessary?

Like the 400 people killed a year through speeding alone?

Of course people don't travel by jet everywhere, but if multiple jets were crashing over the UK on a more regular basis are we seriously saying we wouldn't be asking more questions?

So why are we so accepting of the biggest cause of accidental death in our country? And if we can get it down from 5500 to under 2000 what more can we do.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

We are accepting of it because it it rare in comparison to how much we drive, bike, walk on pavements and the like. We use our cars a lot and our roads are very safe in comparison to the rest of the world.

I also dislike the phrase, "Like the 400 people killed a year through speeding alone?" People were not killed through speeding. Speed would have been a factor in their deaths. Speeding down a straight road, in a well-maintained vehicle, with no other vehicles or people in the area, whilst fully awake, sober and alert won't kill you. Doing exactly the speed limit when it's raining, you're too close or under the influence/texting is extremely dangerous.

Enforcing stopping distances, throwing the book at people who use devices while driving and so on would do more than fining the very few who drive very fast 10K.

[WallyBantersJunkBox]

Speeding down a well maintained road may not kill you, but why is that your risk to take, you are not fully in control of all of the variables in a public space are you - other cars pulling out at a legal speed, people misjudging your speed when crossing roads, birds hitting your windscreen etc

The 400 deaths were caused by excess speed alone. The deaths from drink driving for example, are categorised separately:

www.rospa.com/faqs/detail.aspx?faq=296

[MrsTerryPratchett]

How is that calculated when someone is distracted, drunk and speeding? Also, we are talking about speed limits. Almost half the 'speed' deaths were under the speed limit, just excessive for the conditions.

[LaurieFairyCake]

As far as I'm aware the people most likely to die are young male drivers - they outnumber other casualties 5/1

Speeding over 70 is not really the problem as very few people die on motorways

People die driving too fast on B roads, with other teenagers in the car, and they drive into a stationary object.

Driving at 80 on the motorway is least likely to be involved in an accident.

[niceguy2]

Exactly MrsTerry.

When you look at the amount of traffic that is on the roads and compared to our counterparts the UK is amongst the best.

So if there's a sensible argument or policy that will reduce accidents then I'm all for it but so far there's absolutely no evidence that this will do anything but raise money for the state.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Found this Interesting about relative speeds.

[CoteDAzur]

Exactly, MrsTerry.

[digdeepforanswers]

The 10 grand fine will never happen. But it is a crackpot thing to have on the statute book