It's Safety gone mad.....?

[Count Steer]

Happened on these DoT road safety numbers this morning.

Figures at the end of each line are 1979/2023

Pedestrians killed 2118/405
Cyclists killed 320/87
Motorcyclists killed 1160/15
Car occupants killed 2429/725
Others killed 325/92
Severe injuries 334513/132977

I guess that (along with other factors) better car (and bike?) design makes a pretty big difference.

[Skub]

I bet in 1979 there were a lot more motorcyclists on the road and they were also much younger.

[Mr. Dazzle]

The thing which always strikes me about these sorts of figures is that the latter ones are with much much busier roads. I.e. there are loads fewer deaths/injuries AND loads more vehicles.

Better vehicle design
Better training/harder tests
Far more rules
Better medical care

[Count Steer]

I bet in 1979 there were a lot more motorcyclists on the road and they were also much younger.

Changing times eh?

In 2020 there were nearly as many over-60s killed or seriously injured on motorbikes as 20-24 year olds and way more than under 20s. 24-59 was, at a glance, considerably more than all the others put together.

[Cousin Jack]

And a lot less fun?

No driving out and home from country pubs.
Must wear seat belts
Must wear crash helmets.
Shorts, tee shirt and flip flops frowned on.
Massive increase in speed restrictions, backed up by high tech to catch you.


I would probably accept the risk and go back to the bad old days.

[Yambo]

The thing which always strikes me about these sorts of figures is that the latter ones are with much much busier roads. I.e. there are loads fewer deaths/injuries AND loads more vehicles.

Better vehicle design
Better training/harder tests
Far more rules
Better medical care

Increased traffic and more parked vehicles in town is a traffic calming solution in itself.

There has also been a lot of work done by County councils to reduce traffic accidents. The AIP section that I worked in at Lancs CC is no longer there, the accident 'black spots', locations with higher accident rates, have been successfully dealt with.

As an example I got landed with a stretch of the A682 from Barrowford to the Yorkshire border which at the time was accorded the title of most dangerous stretch of road in Britain and in the top 10 in Europe on the EuroRap ratings of dangerous roads. Eighteen months later it was not showing on the EuroRap list at all. The same work was being done all over the country.

[Scotsrich]

Shouldn’t that be 315 rather than 15?

Honestly still less than I thought there would be going by news reports. Although to balance that most motorcyclists aren’t all year rounders anyway so scary news will be mostly focused on summer.

[Count Steer]

Shouldn’t that be 315 rather than 15?

Honestly still less than I thought there would be going by news reports. Although to balance that most motorcyclists aren’t all year rounders anyway so scary news will be mostly focused on summer.

It says 15 killed in the list. I was surprised too.

[Count Steer]

And a lot less fun?

No driving out and home from country pubs.
Must wear seat belts
Must wear crash helmets.
Shorts, tee shirt and flip flops frowned on.
Massive increase in speed restrictions, backed up by high tech to catch you.


I would probably accept the risk and go back to the bad old days.

Wouldn't drink and drive.
Don't mind wearing a seat belt at all.
Used to wear an (open face) lid before they were compulsory.
Couldn't care less about being frowned on.
More bothered about busybodies with dashcams than other high tech although this average speed malarkey is a pain and the mobile speed camera/cash collection units are annoying.
Don't want a 1970s car.

[Horse]

Happened on these DoT road safety numbers this morning.

Figures at the end of each line are 1979/2023

Pedestrians killed 2118/405
Cyclists killed 320/87
Motorcyclists killed 1160/15
Car occupants killed 2429/725
Others killed 325/92
Severe injuries 334513/132977

I guess that (along with other factors) better car (and bike?) design makes a pretty big difference.

*Ahem*

Gov.uk:
In 2023, 315 motorcyclists were killed in Great Britain

Still an enormous drop, tho'! I'd totally agree with @skub, far fewer bikes on the roads now. Place I worked then there would typically be 25 or so riders commuting daily.

Cars are much safer to crash in too.

[Sadlonelygit]

I think the most important statistic is the amount of single vehicle accidents motorcyclists have, which is considerably higher than other road users.
Nowadays we nearly all have armour in our kit, which goes someway to preventing ksi, but also due to the congested state of the roads, impact speeds are lower in 2 vehicle collisions, which may have a bearing

[Mr. Dazzle]

It's also much harder to get a bike licence now. Even 20-30 years ago when I learned it was way more restrictive than it was in the 70s, it's got a load tougher in the last two decades as well. The "ride around the block" test is almost comically simple isn't it?

[Count Steer]

Happened on these DoT road safety numbers this morning.

Figures at the end of each line are 1979/2023

Pedestrians killed 2118/405
Cyclists killed 320/87
Motorcyclists killed 1160/15
Car occupants killed 2429/725
Others killed 325/92
Severe injuries 334513/132977

I guess that (along with other factors) better car (and bike?) design makes a pretty big difference.

*Ahem*

Gov.uk:
In 2023, 315 motorcyclists were killed in Great Britain

Still an enormous drop, tho'! I'd totally agree with @skub, far fewer bikes on the roads now. Place I worked then there would typically be 25 or so riders commuting daily.

Cars are much safer to crash in too.

I thought the figure was remarkably low. It does say 15 in the table I'm looking at so I blame The Spectator for a lack of proof-reading!

I've a good mind to write them a strongly worded letter about it (as well as telling them to stop banging on about lock-down, furlough, vaccinations, grooming gangs, the BBC...... ).

[Sadlonelygit]

The "ride around the block" test is almost comically simple isn't it?

Glad my examiner had big feet too! Could see them poking out from behind the tree for the estop

[Scootabout]

The "ride around the block" test is almost comically simple isn't it?

Glad my examiner had big feet too! Could see them poking out from behind the tree for the estop

Good obs!

[ChrisW]

On first reading the stats in the first post I thought the DoT had really been over-achieving their targets.

[asmethurst99]

Isn’t it Helmets reducing MC deaths significantly?

[Scotsrich]

Great that the figures have gone down but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your opinion) the drive will always be to reduce them to zero.

However if you have autonomous 2 ton vehicles driving around that's never going to happen.

Hence the drive towards reducing speed limits as the powers that be seem to think this is the easiest way to achieve that. Why spend a few hundred thousand improving a road junction when you can slap a 50 mph limit on it.

There are 3 junctions on a 2 mile stretch of the A1 near me with a proven accident rate including several fatalities. Will they do anything about them? Will they buggery. They'd much rather put a 20mph limit in a town.

[Felix]

There are 3 junctions on a 2 mile stretch of the A1 near me with a proven accident rate including several fatalities. Will they do anything about them? Will they buggery. They'd much rather put a 20mph limit in a town.

One out of three aint bad https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news ... dabout-a1/

The one at ASDA is a tad shit. No lane discipline what must be hell at busy times.

[ogri]

Get rid of all the safety stuff and maybe we wouldnt be so overpopulated?