Attending and requesting input for Road safety forum

[Fender1515]

I have been invited to attend and provide input into a Road safety study being run by local University, focus for the study is Yorkshire.

Forum meeting is on Friday. 

 

Would forum members like to contribute their top 5 issues that effect Road Safety and are the most significant factors/situations that can result in causing  accidents.

Also, 1 issue that you believe is the major cause that results in fatalities.

Real world experience input would be much appreciated, I have the stats from Highways. 

Please be as concise as you can, as I need to consolidate responses. 

 

Many thanks

[manxie49]

1 - Drivers failing to open their eyes and look Distraction

2 - Poor quality road surface (Pot holes, fuel spills, surface degradation)

3 - Lack of experience

4 - Poor standards of driving / riding

5 - Rider / Driver fatigue resulting in loss of concentration

 

Just my opinion and some of the reasons I've come across over the years in my day to day job.

[Hairsy]

Mobile phones. x5

[AstronautNinja]

1. Poor observations

2. Stupidity

3. Lack of ability

4. Self absorption

5. Stupidity

 

The average driver is unfortunatley of very low skill and is often delusionally comfortable and careless, totally unaware that they are in the absolute bottom bracket of driving ability whilst they whizz around somehow managing to avoid collisions daily.

 

[Fiddlesticks]

A lot of it is down to attitude. Aggressive or inattentive driving rather than patience and anticipation. Particularly at roundabouts, but all over - the idea that one should not unnecessarily cause another driver to take evasive action seems to be lacking.

And if someone does do something daft, working to fix the problem, rather than antagonise and make it worse.

[AstronautNinja]

8 minutes ago, Fiddlesticks said:

A lot of it is down to attitude. Aggressive or inattentive driving rather than patience and anticipation. Particularly at roundabouts, but all over - the idea that one should not unnecessarily cause another driver to take evasive action seems to be lacking.

And if someone does do something daft, working to fix the problem, rather than antagonise and make it worse.

I'm very much convinced the last 10 years of social media addiction has changed many peoples attitudes. Rather than just raise a hand and mouth "sorry" people either A. want to play the angry victim or B. just want to act a weapons grade idiot and start screaming.

[Fender1515]

Thank you all for your contributions and feedback.

Below is the list of discussion points I am going to raise at the meting, based on feedback from several forums, my own and my partners experiences, feedback from three road user forums. The meeting is scheduled as a 4 hour session, with break out groups. 

 

1: Lack of driver attention

1a Inconsiderate, aggressive attitudes 

2: Lack of forward planning

3: Road conditions

3a: Condition of road, pot holes, poor road surface, foliage blocking, obstructing views

3b Poor, confusing Road signage

4: Tailgating, cause of 1 in 8 accidents in the UK

5: Dangerous motorway driving, lane discipline

6: In car distractions, GPS, use of phone when driving

7: Driving too fast

8: HGV’s: use of narrow Roads, not able to pass safely,  on Motorways cause major tail back on inclines, should be restricted to inside lane only on three lane carriageways and dual carriageways, as in Europe.

9: Cyclists, in appropriate riding, two or three abreast, undertaking in traffic

10: Road works, not scheduled to cause minimum disruption to road users, causes frustration, delays in meeting schedules, results in dangerous catch up driving behaviour

10a: Road closures , not advised, not carried out quickly, on the continent critical road works are worked on 24 hours a day, in order to minimise disruption, why doesn’t the UK do the same

11: Smart Motorways, advice and warning do not reflect traffic conditions, so not observed

12: No effective policing of safe driving standards, no point in having laws if they are not enforced

 13: Lack of investment that result in real world improvement in road safety and  improved  traffic flow

14: Powered ebikes, disregard and do not respect or follow the Highway Code

15: Motorbikes, disregard and do not respect or follow the Highway Code, not me of course!

16: Pedestrians, crossing roads without observing traffic, is it safe, often cause hazardous situation

17:Parking, stopping, on yellow lines, double lines, bends, especially applies to delivery vehicles and Taxis

18: Public transport, trains unreliable, expensive, and unacceptably overcrowded at peak times, drives public to use the roads

19: Highways Department: not visibly accountable to road using public, there should be a public body to challenge decisions and not just local councillors

20: Poor road transport system has significant impact that directly effects business investment decision in the area, where is this effect considered, not publicly visible

 

I am keeping an open mind on outcomes, I am sceptical these initiatives involving input from the general public, result in any positive change,  but, as she who must be obeyed, says, if I chose not to participate, when offered the opportunity, she who must be obeyed, can dish out the blame on me when bad stuff happens, a bit harsh IMO, but on the other hand, I could claim the high ground, for eternity IF suggestions are taken on board, and influences change. Time will tell!

I can provide feedback on the meeting if any folks are interested.

 

[RideWithStyles]

Preety much what the others said.

 

Council designed and passed off road user designs, including road layouts, markings and roundabout directions.lack of or faded painted lanes in said places.

 

Diesel and engine spillages.

Pot holes.

 

speed bumps - especially for two wheeled vehicles.

 

Lack of speed camera in built up and streets (20-30mph) , too many in 60-70mph speed cameras. Average speed cameras too distracting.

 

muppets in cars ,vans, wagons by its info in touch screens, phones.

 

cyclists in cluding e-bike yobbos not wearing helmets, hi vis and lights even in the day time. Not following the rules of the road or off it as many bellends go.

Modern cars with too much safety BS of bings and bongs warning of every thing in the world  (ones that can’t be turned off or needs to go through a million pages on the dash to turn them off EVERYTIME THE CAR IS STARTED UP)

road speed warnings- car thinks its in a 20 cos it read it on the side street but your on a MAIN ROAD of 30…bing bongs bing bongs bing.

one mph over any limits gets bings and bongs.

aws - eye tracking cos distracted by the millions of bings and bongs so you get more bigs and bongS BM OR decides it can’t see ur eyes so it has a bing and bong session.

lane assist- bings and bongs with vibrate, tugging and pushing of steering, bing and bongs when it can’t or think it can see a painted marker.

stopped in traffic and it sees people/cars,bikes etc are close or passing by -bings and bongs of, wouldn’t be surprised if an ant walking by would set it off.

 

WAGS in large vehicles (range rovers, evoques) that don’t have the capability of driving such a large vehicle as they take up a lane and a half, cant park them either even with all the assists in the world.

 

Their is plenty more but that’s off the top of my head.
 

15 is a bit vague as to what that’s about, is it viewed as people thing motorcyclists can’t filter because even to this day many still think we can’t.

15 can be labeled to 14,16,9.

 

9cyclist can under take but most of the time it’s not safe or appropriate also lack of training and accountability.

I’ll say a lot of vehicles have gotton so big and the roads/lanes are still narrow to the days of rover minis and morris minors ruled to world - not tank sized Bint/Pdiddy mobiles.

Edited August 9, 2024 by RideWithStyles

[Mickly]

Most points have been covered, I’d like to add another …,

Bloody Uber eats / Deliveroo riders ( other delivery services are available), the riding standards of these people is in my option abysmal, I don’t know if it because they’re trying to get as many drops in as possible to increase pay or any other reason but I have seen them absolutely ignore all rules of the road and use the pavement to cut through.

How on earth are they allowed to do this job on L plates having just passed a CBT and no further training?

The ones that use E-bikes ( some illegally over powered ) are even worse.

 

Also see - Uber / Bolt etc drivers

 

[RideWithStyles]

19 minutes ago, Mickly said:

Most points have been covered, I’d like to add another …,

Bloody Uber eats / Deliveroo riders ( other delivery services are available), the riding standards of these people is in my option abysmal, I don’t know if it because they’re trying to get as many drops in as possible to increase pay or any other reason but I have seen them absolutely ignore all rules of the road and use the pavement to cut through.

How on earth are they allowed to do this job on L plates having just passed a CBT and no further training?

The ones that use E-bikes ( some illegally over powered ) are even worse.

 

Also see - Uber / Bolt etc drivers

 

Sister in law got rear ended by private eats delivery muppet last year… he was on phone….didnt want to go through insurance yada yada.

[Nick the wanderer]

Now l would have thought driving under the influence would be right up there.

Too many screens in the vehicles, distractions.

Nobody has any patience any more/ road rage.

Speeding.

Inexperience.

 

Re HGV's. They have to be able to overtake each other or else they will just stop. If you are only going as fast as the slowest vehicle it doesn't take long. Yes they are an inconvenience, a bit like tractors and caravans. Horse boxes and cyclists.

 

There is just too much traffic on the roads these days and sadly people don't have any patience anymore. The roads can't cope with the volume and l bet that's a major factor.

 

Thanks RWS for making me laugh with your bing bonging car. Thank god l don't have one of those!

[Steve_M]

A bit late to the game to provide opinion. And it is just a opinion.

There appears to be a significant proportion of road users with some sort of combination of poor attitude, overconfidence, under confidence, inattention, failure to understand the rules of the road or chooses to,ignore them, failure to learn from experience, failure to take responsibility (I don’t mean blame, I mean taking preventative measures), and failure to either recognise risk or deliberately embrace risk. I may have missed some - I’m sure a psychologist would be able to define it better. 
 

 

Edited August 9, 2024 by Steve_M

[S-Westerly]

6 hours ago, Steve_M said:

A bit late to the game to provide opinion. And it is just a opinion.

There appears to be a significant proportion of road users with some sort of combination of poor attitude, overconfidence, under confidence, inattention, failure to understand the rules of the road or chooses to,ignore them, failure to learn from experience, failure to take responsibility (I don’t mean blame, I mean taking preventative measures), and failure to either recognise risk or deliberately embrace risk. I may have missed some - I’m sure a psychologist would be able to define it better. 
 

 

So you've ridden in Somerset then? 

[Steve_M]

1 hour ago, S-Westerly said:

So you've ridden in Somerset then? 

That’s one county I haven’t ridden in. I based most of it on Norfolk where they don’t seem to be able to negotiate a roundabout* without claiming it’s a designed to kill unsuspecting motorists

 

*I refer to the Norwich northern by-pass.

[curlylegend]

2 hours ago, S-Westerly said:

I’m sure a psychologist would be able to define it better. 

Psychological and IQ tests should be the very first step in being allowed to drive anything.

You can't expect mental deficients to be able to drive responsibly surely ?

 

 

[bonio]

55 minutes ago, Steve_M said:

*I refer to the Norwich northern by-pass.

Successfully negotiated that one this evening on my back from Whitwell, where there was a nice very Triton park up.

[Bender]

I disagree with hgv on narrow lanes, the hgv problems are caused by idiots that get frustrated because someone is adhering to the speed limit, hgv's only tend to drive where they have too.

 

No 1 issue is the drivers/riders, driving standards which encompass a multitude of errors, self obsessed social media junkies, me first I will do what I want, speeding, overtaking, jumping red lights it's all getting worse from everyone, I guarantee I could go out Tomorrow and get nocked over crossing a road by a junction because not one driver would expect to have to give way

 

[RideWithStyles]

 

10 hours ago, Steve_M said:

A bit late to the game to provide opinion. And it is just a opinion.

There appears to be a significant proportion of road users with some sort of combination of poor attitude, overconfidence, under confidence, inattention, failure to understand the rules of the road or chooses to,ignore them, failure to learn from experience, failure to take responsibility (I don’t mean blame, I mean taking preventative measures), and failure to either recognise risk or deliberately embrace risk. I may have missed some - I’m sure a psychologist would be able to define it better. 
 

 

yep agree, it’s called lazyness and self imposed. 

any fook wit can pass once if the bar is set low enough to a draconian test(cars). With cars being safer and more it does for you the less you actually pay attention. 

not much retesting required afterwards and lack of accountability. 
 

sure if that refers to a “speed issues”  on a motorway bender.
Some drivers take the hgv up roads that are definitely not designed (wide enough) for modern vans and a car to let pass let alone hgv. Yes they might have to deliver and do a job but if it’s too big then they shouldn’t be on it with that vehicle.

 

[Steve_M]

8 hours ago, bonio said:

Successfully negotiated that one this evening on my back from Whitwell, where there was a nice very Triton park up.

I used to enjoy going to Whitwell. Always an interesting mix of bikes there. 

[Nick the wanderer]

As someone who spent many a year driving lorries around the country I get the frustration with them. 

Narrow lanes, you mean single track roads, are a pain, nobody wants to go down them but sometimes you have to if the destination is at the end. Any driver worth his salt will stick to the main roads and get as close as he can before heading down a single track road.

Which leads me to another point I should have thought of earlier. Blindly following sat navs!

If you ask the driver, why did you come this way? and he says that he wants sacking. There are many other tools available to work out where you want to be before you go down that blind alley. Basic route planning with a Truckers Atlas for instance will show you low bridges, weight limits and width restrictions.

So add following sat navs to the list.