29 July 2009

Police road safety roadshow hits the streets

| johnboy
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Simon Corbell has proudly announced a new road safety show and tell to try and “ram home the safe driving message”.

(I normally find that messages which require brute force are of dubious merit, but let’s move on)

    The attention-grabbing display, entitled Real Decisions, Real Consequences has as its focus a wrecked vehicle from a fatal collision which occurred on Constitution Avenue, Campbell, on Friday, June 13, 2008.

    The incident resulted in the death of 19-year-old Ben Taylor and the imprisonment of Ahmed Alzabbi.

    Display banners and an audio-visual presentation recount the story of that Friday night when five friends went drinking in nightclubs in Civic. On the way home their Lexus coupe reached speeds of at least 130 km/h on Constitution Avenue, a 60 km/h zone.

I’m not entirely sure how much images of destruction excite rather than deter, but it’s worth a try.

UPDATED: Police media have kindly sent through the photograph from the launch today at Dickson College.

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dtc @ #18 +1
Very sensible words and I agree whole heartedly.

after I had an elderly woman tailgate me through a 40 zone yesterday, beeping the horn and flashing her lights, I thought that it was my one and only surprise on the road this week. forgot about fog. Maybe the AFP should educate all about the use of lights when driving in fog – white cars blend really well…

I have learnt through riding a motorbike in Canberra that you must be running a continuous risk assessment. The main question I ask “what is the worst thing that can possibly happen now?”. Invariably, it does happen. People need to wake up and take some responsibility for what they are doing.

My problem is that these displays say ‘drive carefully or you will end up like this’.

Teenager: ‘but I do drive carefully’ (or, for the smarter ones, ‘ok, how do I drive carefully’).

Current answer – well, you get your driver’s licence by knowing the road rules and being able to implement them during a short test. Then, you know, just drive carefully.

Proper answer (IMHO): make everyone do a defensive driving course (NOT an advanced driving skills course). Show everyone where the risks are, how to spot the risks, how to deal with the risks.

as an example – my wife, close to 40, is a very careful driver. Doesn’t speed, cautious, polite on the road and all the rest. But I know that if someone doesn’t stop at a give way sign, or pulls out into the wrong lane to avoid the weaving cyclist, she will not have identified the risk prior to it happening. She won’t have checked the speed of the car pulling up at the intersection and slowed down or looked for escape routes; she will not have noticed the bike on the opposite lane and thought about what the car coming the other way might do.

You can’t prevent accidents by saying ‘look, if you don’t avoid the risk you will have an accident, just like the person in this car’. That skips straight to the end (the accident) and misses the bit in the middle (what caused it).

You avoid accidents by first knowing how to identify the risks, and then understanding how to avoid or mitigate them. Sure speeding or drink driving are ‘obvious’ risk that even teens should be able to identify, but is that going to be the end of their education?

People really just like to whinge. So many people on this site whinge about speed cameras, saying they aren’t really saving lives and that they should come up with something else. So the government does , and then people whinge about that too, saying it won’t work and what’s the point?

pug206gti said :

Lexus coupe

When the AFP crash investigator gave his evidence at court he started out by describing the car as a high powered performance vehicle. From there on in it was just referred to as ‘the Toyota’. So much salt rubbing.

Your point being?

I remember going to get my motorcycle permit years ago. you had to attend a presentation before the theory test. The instructor limped in and basically said you will get knocked off, you will fall off and you will get hurt and or killed on a motorcycle if you are not careful. I think he was basically trying to see who was serious about the idea and who would have second thoughts. It made me think at the time and consider if I really wanted to ride due to the risks.

I think the current idea will get through to some but some there is no hope for them.

I agree Auntyem, I have seen a lot of comparasons to the road toll in other states but even if the ratio from us to them is 1 in 10, does that make that 1 death acceptable? We’re not New South Wales, Victoria or any other state, and as such, are entitled to set our own standards.

At least they’re trying. Kids think they’re protected in cars but it’s sobering to see how they crumple on impact. If it saves one life, it’s worth it.

Lexus coupe

When the AFP crash investigator gave his evidence at court he started out by describing the car as a high powered performance vehicle. From there on in it was just referred to as ‘the Toyota’. So much salt rubbing.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to actually see the display before casting stones. As I understand, it will appear at various schools every fortnight until the end of the year.

Rawhide Kid No 25:14 pm 29 Jul 09

I did a driving course provided by a federal Government Department and in the process of that course we were shown footage of fatal accidents in and around Canberra with the deceased still or being removed from the wrecks. I was not one of those young “idiots who think it won’t happen to them” I was in my mid thirty’s . This did change my driving habits even though I thought I was a pretty good driver. I think it is a good idea to show theses films to the L-Platers as part of their driver training. Yes I know its a horrible thing to see, but it does make you think twice. And as for those who think this might desensitize people. I assure you it wont, as you only get to view the footage once. That’s enough for anyone.

Re #4.

What sort of numbers are we talking about for (illegal) drug related death p.a. in the ACT?

The roadshow will look somethign like this, except in 3D:

Before
After

(Original story from the CT about this specific accident and the resulting dead ADFA cadet linked here)

Considering we already have one of the lowest per capita road tolls in the country, and the effectiveness of 3D road signs in other states is questionable, how much did this one cost, and how effective does the happy Minister who approved its funding expect it to be?

I like what they are doing in Vic (not thier draconian spped camera regime) but where they take high school students into hospitals to visit victims of road crashes. Real evidence of what can and does happen if you muck around in cars…..

Inappropriate4:24 pm 29 Jul 09

What’s the point? The idiots who need to hear the message are the ones who think it won’t happen to them, so it’ll fall on deaf ears.

And maybe afterwards they can tackle the drug menace by having screenings of Reefer Madness.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy4:19 pm 29 Jul 09

More emotive crap. Come up with some decent measures and ideas first, then I’ll listen.

The government should get back to doing what they do best.
Doesn’t all their research points to the fact that the way to prevent further deaths like this is to install more Speed Cameras?

I think this is a good initiative. I have no idea how it will excite people though? Not all youth are necrophiliacs.

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