“Speed has never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary, that's what gets you.”

― Jeremy Clarkson

Fred99:

 

1101:

 

No amount of rules, laws , restrictions will make any real difference .
Nothing we do will change that.

 

 

So it's nonsense to suggest that rules, laws, and restrictions will make no difference when there's very good data to show they've made a huge difference.

 

Your putting your own bias into my statement
Look at the topic , thats what my statement is regarding
Rules wont stop basic stupidity and wont stop bad driving .

Just because the road toll % is less now is irrelevant to that.

"Road toll peaked at about 800 35 years ago"
yep, look at the state of a car I could drive 35 years ago, completely unsafe (and with the lowest possible crash safety rating )
Unwarranted cars could still get Registration renewed .

years ago we would use small plants as a safety barrier on AK motorways
years ago we had parts of Ak motorways with nothing separating oncoming traffic on the opposite side, many deaths from head ons
we had a completely different attitude to drunk driving , sometimes even getting just a warning if caught .

1101:

 

"Road toll peaked at about 800 35 years ago"
yep, look at the state of a car I could drive 35 years ago, completely unsafe (and with the lowest possible crash safety rating )
Unwarranted cars could still get Registration renewed .

You realise you're agreeing with me, or do you think that changes to car safety standards, changes to WOF policy etc are not "rules, laws , restrictions" ? (which you stated will make no real difference).

Fred99:

 

1101:

 

"Road toll peaked at about 800 35 years ago"
yep, look at the state of a car I could drive 35 years ago, completely unsafe (and with the lowest possible crash safety rating )
Unwarranted cars could still get Registration renewed .

 

You realise you're agreeing with me, or do you think that changes to car safety standards, changes to WOF policy etc are not "rules, laws , restrictions" ? (which you stated will make no real difference).

 

 

 

Well, not all advances in-car safety technology started in legislation. Volvo, BMW, Mercedes are far ahead of that curve.

Laws are useless unless they're upheld. The occasional 'crack down' by police is a limp wristed approach. 

Sit at any major intersection (at least in Chch) and you'll see several red light runners every minute.
Sit at any major stop sign and you'll see at dozens of people who fail to stop.
Look around when you're sitting in traffic and see how many people are texting. 
I'd hazard a guess if you pointed a speed gun at 100 cars, 70% of them will be driving above 50, 20% above 55, 10% 60+. 

Our public has grown dangerously complacent with driving, with minor infractions going unpunished for years, is it really that surprising people do stupid things like this when they've likely done it dozens of times before and either through skill or luck have gotten away with it? 

There's a serious attitude problem in this country regarding road rules. People just don't care.  they think: "It's not going to happen to me".

I would ask that young man how many times he's done something like this before - and gotten away with it. 

networkn:

 

Well, not all advances in-car safety technology started in legislation. Volvo, BMW, Mercedes are far ahead of that curve.

 

True - you could also argue that they didn't even start in the car industry.  ABS for example.  It's a bit hard to regulate for universal implementation of something that hadn't yet been developed to production.

Improvements in tyre design and compounds have probably had a huge but hard to quantify safety benefit, but a new tyre built to 1960s tyre standards would probably still meet current regs, so that's probably mainly industry driven - rather than by regulation.  

Fred99:

 

Improvements in tyre design and compounds have probably had a huge but hard to quantify safety benefit, but a new tyre built to 1960s tyre standards would probably still meet current regs, so that's probably mainly industry driven - rather than by regulation.  

 

There are some interesting videos online, including one done by Top Gear where they measured lap times stopping distances of an every day car driven hard around a course with 5 levels of tyres. People who don't think expensive tyres matter much, should watch that video.

At the end of the day though, you can't beat physics!

networkn:

 

At the end of the day though, you can't beat physics!

 

Or a solid concrete power pole.

There are power poles etc that are designed to crumple instead of smashing cars, but they are rarely used and we have a lot of old wood/metal/concrete power poles, and lots of trees which will ruin your day also. 

networkn:

There are some interesting videos online, including one done by Top Gear where they measured lap times stopping distances of an every day car driven hard around a course with 5 levels of tyres. People who don't think expensive tyres matter much, should watch that video.

tehgerbil:

 

Sit at any major intersection (at least in Chch) and you'll see several red light runners every minute.

If the brainless morons at the CCC had heard of arrows on traffic lights, there'd be a lot less........