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

[Cousin Jack]

And yet....the data clearly show that roads deaths have fallen enormously.

So maybe they're on to something after all.

Alcohol sales and vicars stipends are similarly highly correlated. It doesn't make them necessarily causally linked.

[Yambo]

I would dispute that either of these make life safer! I have cursed many traffic engineers for this sort of 'design' (spit!).

We had a hire car when I was last in the UK. It had lots of bells, whistles, cameras and sensors, all supposedly driver aids and probably sold off the back of the safety argument. It was fuckin' awful. WTF thinks I need a sensor to warn me that I've moved to the side of the lane and I should get back in the middle of it? I wasn't sure who to curse exactly so I just cursed modern technology. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

These 'safety measures are not put in place for the world's best drivers like you and me though CJ, they're put in for the 99% of the driving public who were taught to pass a test, can barely tell you what any particular road sign means (they're designed to be understood by the least intelligent in society) and couldn't tell us the purposes of a clutch and gearbox!

[Mr. Dazzle]

You can blame those unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, who, not content with stealing all our fish, decided to prop up the German small-speakers-which-go-bong industry by mandating that new vehicles have to have speed limit and lane departure warnings.

BTW, my last few cars have had both and I very very seldom trigger either. I've never found it hard to stay between the white lines, yaknow? Can't see why people have a a problem with it. Maybe they should go to spec savers

[Cousin Jack]

You can blame those unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, who, not content with stealing all our fish, decided to prop up the German small-speakers-which-go-bong industry by mandating that new vehicles have to have speed limit and lane departure warnings.

I can live with 'bongs'. It is the 'steering assist' that tries to stop me changing lanes that BMP. That and the 'lets use touch-screen for everything' fashion that existed for a year or two.

[Count Steer]

LOL It's like the Statler and Waldorf show in here sometimes.

[MrLongbeard]

Sometimes!?!?!?!?!?!

[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.

If only. That isn’t even one of them. That one gets the headlines because of the frequent but usually minor accidents.

The 3 I meant (which means nothing to 99.9 % on here) are the Cement works junction, the Innerwick turn off and the entrance to Torness all of which involves turning on or off a 70mph road with shit visibility.

My camperbus is down that way. I take the Innerwick one quite often. Coming out to head south is bad and seen a few close ones. North not so bad but i did see a family of cyclists presumably came from the camp site and heading for Dunbar. Mum and dad had a bike each. Mum had a toddlers toddlers trailer but the kid was on her back. Another kids in his little kids bike wobbling up the A1 not giving a shit that they are on a 70mph road. I presume the next junction up is the cement works one. Seen a few trucks pull out and a lot of brake lights coming on.

[exportman]

I can live with 'bongs'. It is the 'steering assist' that tries to stop me changing lanes that BMP. That and the 'lets use touch-screen for everything' fashion that existed for a year or two.

I frequently hire cars in Europe first thing I look for it how to turn of the Lane assist then the speed limiter. I feel both are detrimental to my safety

[Rockburner]

First time I drove a car with the Lane Assist on it tried forcing me back into the centre of the lane... on a narrow country road with an HGV bearing down on us. For a second or two I genuinely thought the steering was broken and we were going to be be in a horrendous crash because until I put in a lot of effort, the car simply wouldn't cross the faded white line on the edge of the grassy verge.

[Count Steer]

First time I drove a car with the Lane Assist on it tried forcing me back into the centre of the lane... on a narrow country road with an HGV bearing down on us. For a second or two I genuinely thought the steering was broken and we were going to be be in a horrendous crash because until I put in a lot of effort, the car simply wouldn't cross the faded white line on the edge of the grassy verge.

They've improved.

The shopping trolley just gives a bit of feedback. (I turned the bongs and vibration off before I even got it home).

If they ever make it so you can't turn all that sort of annoying stuff off I'll be driving a car built before that.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I frequently hire cars in Europe first thing I look for it how to turn of the Lane assist then the speed limiter. I feel both are detrimental to my safety

I was glad to have both in the hire car I drove in Europe last month The speed limiter in particular is dead handy in a foreign country with commie metric speed limits you're not quite sure you remembered correctly.

Also not sure how a soft "bong - you're breaking the speed limit" notification is dangerous

BTW the 'bong' itself isn't mandatory. My own car just flashes an icon. Lane departure warning also shuts off at low speed, so you can avoid oncoming lorries down lanes. You of course didn't cross the white line at high speed, did you Ricey?

[KungFooBob]

I love the gazillion safety aids in my car, I hardly have to pay any attention to physically driving.

I was disappointed to discover that if you unclip the seat belt it turns the semi-autonomous driving mode off, I only wanted to have a kip in the back.

[Skub]

I discovered some time ago that the car warning for no seatbelt stops beeping after about 1/4 of a mile.

I like to do that sometimes just to stick it to the man.

[Rockburner]

I'll be driving a car built before that.

I do that now.

[Rockburner]

I frequently hire cars in Europe first thing I look for it how to turn of the Lane assist then the speed limiter. I feel both are detrimental to my safety

I was glad to have both in the hire car I drove in Europe last month The speed limiter in particular is dead handy in a foreign country with commie metric speed limits you're not quite sure you remembered correctly.

Also not sure how a soft "bong - you're breaking the speed limit" notification is dangerous

BTW the 'bong' itself isn't mandatory. My own car just flashes an icon. Lane departure warning also shuts off at low speed, so you can avoid oncoming lorries down lanes. You of course didn't cross the white line at high speed, did you Ricey?

IIRC: well under the national limit...

[Cousin Jack]

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

And the losses do tend to be towards the murky depths of the gene pool.

[Scotsrich]

I discovered some time ago that the car warning for no seatbelt stops beeping after about 1/4 of a mile.

I like to do that sometimes just to stick it to the man.

Nah, you just clip it together round the back of the seat.

Source…many years of doing that in my van.

[Taipan]

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

And the losses do tend to be towards the murky depths of the gene pool.

That put me in mind of Steve Hughes' skit...

[asmethurst99]

Isn’t it Helmets reducing MC deaths significantly?

Improving standards on helmet construction are probably a factor but that's no different from improving car design and construction standards to reduce damage to the contents and the people they hit really.

You can probably factor in that older riders and to wear/can afford better clothing and armour, back protectors and good boots - none of which are compulsory but have definitely improved since 1979.

There are only limited things you can do with bike design (or tendencies to interact with the scenery when the power/skills balance gets squiffy ).

I get what you mean but i meant people actually wearing them - Just checked 1973 so we have had them for over 50 years

[exportman]

I frequently hire cars in Europe first thing I look for it how to turn of the Lane assist then the speed limiter. I feel both are detrimental to my safety

I was glad to have both in the hire car I drove in Europe last month The speed limiter in particular is dead handy in a foreign country with commie metric speed limits you're not quite sure you remembered correctly.

Also not sure how a soft "bong - you're breaking the speed limit" notification is dangerous

BTW the 'bong' itself isn't mandatory. My own car just flashes an icon. Lane departure warning also shuts off at low speed, so you can avoid oncoming lorries down lanes. You of course didn't cross the white line at high speed, did you Ricey?

The soft bongs I don't mind but some are set to actually not allow you to exceed the speed limit.
As for KPH I just change the setting in Waze to show it as KPH not MPH simples