Comments on: Traffic Safety Film of the Week http://www.howwedrive.com/2009/12/18/traffic-safety-film-of-the-week-26/ Just another WordPress weblog Wed, 23 May 2012 02:39:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: John http://www.howwedrive.com/2009/12/18/traffic-safety-film-of-the-week-26/#comment-10322 John Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:22:05 +0000 http://www.howwedrive.com/?p=1341#comment-10322 So in other words there are bad drivers in the UK too-- no surprise there-- but the idea of a national code, and high standards, is what the US desperately needs. Tom, keep this in mind when commenting on cellphone use. There is quasi-data on it being as dangerous as drunken driving (sic), but the definitive examinination seems to be from http://www.vtti.vt.edu/whats-new.html#driving-tips (Virginia Tech) where they used real-world conditions and concluded the danger of using a headset cellphone is a minimal addition (and thus, in the case of national legislature, worth allowing lest it just become a scofflaw). From my personal experience, this is something I've maintained in my blog for a while, with some considerable critique. Your spokesperson blog should mention this, along with all other attempts to improve driver safety-- especially at the driver-wheel interface. I really don't need to read about celebrity crashes any more than any other crash. Maybe someday you'll feature my blog. John So in other words there are bad drivers in the UK too– no surprise there– but the idea of a national code, and high standards, is what the US desperately needs.

Tom, keep this in mind when commenting on cellphone use. There is quasi-data on it being as dangerous as drunken driving (sic), but the definitive examinination seems to be from

http://www.vtti.vt.edu/whats-new.html#driving-tips

(Virginia Tech)

where they used real-world conditions and concluded the danger of using a headset cellphone is a minimal addition (and thus, in the case of national legislature, worth allowing lest it just become a scofflaw). From my personal experience, this is something I’ve maintained in my blog for a while, with some considerable critique.

Your spokesperson blog should mention this, along with all other attempts to improve driver safety– especially at the driver-wheel interface. I really don’t need to read about celebrity crashes any more than any other crash. Maybe someday you’ll feature my blog.

John

]]> By: chris Hutt http://www.howwedrive.com/2009/12/18/traffic-safety-film-of-the-week-26/#comment-10313 chris Hutt Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:11:43 +0000 http://www.howwedrive.com/?p=1341#comment-10313 It's true that UK drivers are very prone to refer to the Highway Code when criticising the behaviour of cyclists or pedestrians, but become very negligent of it when it comes to their own behaviour. I should mention that the video tip came originally from Rob Ainsley's excellent Real Cycling blog - http://realcycling.blogspot.com/2009/12/dsas-new-tv-ad-shows-real-cycling-hand.html - where he manages to spot a brief episode in the video that most casual viewers overlook. It’s true that UK drivers are very prone to refer to the Highway Code when criticising the behaviour of cyclists or pedestrians, but become very negligent of it when it comes to their own behaviour.

I should mention that the video tip came originally from Rob Ainsley’s excellent Real Cycling blog - http://realcycling.blogspot.com/2009/12/dsas-new-tv-ad-shows-real-cycling-hand.html - where he manages to spot a brief episode in the video that most casual viewers overlook.

]]> By: SteveL http://www.howwedrive.com/2009/12/18/traffic-safety-film-of-the-week-26/#comment-10286 SteveL Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:45:21 +0000 http://www.howwedrive.com/?p=1341#comment-10286 There is of course a de-facto aspect to the highway code which varies from region to region, the set of highway code rules/laws to ignore. Everyone ignores rule 170, give way to pedestrians when turning, but others vary from place to place. For example, in Edinburgh, the first two cars after a light turned red would still go through, everyone else would just wait for that to happen before setting off. This didn't increase the amount of time any lane got, merely offset its timing. As for Bristol, we have noted some discrepancies there too: http://tinyurl.com/y9y7fa7 There is of course a de-facto aspect to the highway code which varies from region to region, the set of highway code rules/laws to ignore. Everyone ignores rule 170, give way to pedestrians when turning, but others vary from place to place. For example, in Edinburgh, the first two cars after a light turned red would still go through, everyone else would just wait for that to happen before setting off. This didn’t increase the amount of time any lane got, merely offset its timing.

As for Bristol, we have noted some discrepancies there too: http://tinyurl.com/y9y7fa7

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