Police road safety roadshow hits the streets

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.

Here is the rest of the photo series

http://www.bicaprolab.com.au/CT_photosales/order/showimages.php?lpn=1&pn=49&d=13&m=June&y=2008&p=canberra%20times&c=13crash

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.