Originally Posted by crl
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Safety in any form of human endeavour, whether it is driving, flying, surgery or running a nuclear power station, is all a matter of adequate training, attitude and supervision. Of these, given that most licenced drivers in Australia have passed a test of their basic driving skills, and given that supervision is virtually non-existant, attitude is probably the issue that offers most in terms of improving safety. In aviation, we talk about airmanship which combines skill and, most importantly, attitude. And we supervise very very closely to detect less than optimal skills or attitudes. So in my view, additional supervision in the form of a driving and theory test every so often would probably be of some benefit, but probably of less benefit than addressing the attitude issue.
In my adopted home town of Canberra, there is virtually no policing of road rules, and I am frequently tail gated or overtaken by other drivers of all ages when travelling at the speed limit. Even school zones or road works (40 kph) with kids or workers very close to the lanes are ignored by a high percentage of drivers who blithely speed through at 60 or even 80, despite the fact that it significantly increases the risk to the school kids or workers. In one memorable blitz a few years ago, one woman, with school age kids, was booked three times on the same day speeding through the same school zone with the excuse that she was in a hurry. There is a significant number of drivers who believe that speed limit plus 20 is fine, which is probably why in some cases we have speed limits which are unnecessarily low.
Many people justify ignoring speed limits by arguing that speed does not kill. They are correct, but in the same way that it is also true that jumping off the Empire State Building won't kill you. It is the sudden stop that kills. Actually it is the rate of stopping on impact that kills, and that varies with the square of the speed, not the speed itself. Speed makes an accident more likely and increases the likelihood of serious injury or death in the event of an accident. Fact. Yet how many of us can honestly say that we never speed?
As others have said, the less chance there is of getting caught, the more likely we are to stretch what we do until we are driving not just unlawfully but dangerously. Who is then to blame: us or the government?
This has been a very good discussion, but it is time that each of us took personal responsibility for our own attitudes and actions and stopped thinking that a new law will fix the problem. The solution lies in our own hands, but there are sadly those who are psychologically unsuited to safe driving. They usually remove themselves from the gene pool. Sadly, they too often take others with them. And an occasional driving test will almost certainly not identify the problem.
Sorry, off the soap box now.
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