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PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2017 22:59 
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Location: Treacletown ( just north of M6 J3),A MILE OR TWO PAST BEDROCK
So here we have it, and from a road "safety" charity.
Roads in England and Wales are in danger of becoming increasingly "lawless" because of cuts to traffic policing, the charity RoadPeace says.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39868659

It also says there is a "significant shift" away from prosecuting motorists for driving offences to sending them on awareness courses instead.

In 2015, 1.4 million motorists paid for such courses - treble the number five years earlier.

The National Police Chiefs Council says road policing methods have improved.

It also says it is working with the Department of Transport to assess the effectiveness of driver training courses.

The number of people killed or seriously injured on roads in England and Wales has been falling for decades, but RoadPeace says the decline slowed after 2010 when cuts were made to traffic policing.

The charity, which campaigns on behalf of road crash victims, says the number of people killed and seriously injured dropped by 16% between 2005-09, but only by 1% over the period 2010-15 in England and Wales.

Meanwhile, the number of officers fell by 28% in five years, outside of London where the numbers fell by 11% from 2010-14, according to Home Office figures.
Image caption Rebecca McManus was killed by a car that hit the bus stop she was waiting at

Rebecca McManus was killed in 2014 after a crash involving two men racing each other at more than 100mph.

The 21-year-old was waiting at a bus stop on her way to a hen party when she was hit by one of the cars.

Her father Gerard said more drivers felt that they would not be stopped by police for motoring offences.

"There's a danger that it's becoming culturally acceptable to drive dangerously," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
'Losing your licence'

RoadPeace says this has put the government's "proud" record on road safety in danger.

It also claims that allowing motorists who break the law to go on courses may not be as effective a deterrent as docking points.

Amy Aeron-Thomas, of the charity, told the Today programme that traffic police had been subject to "disproportionate cuts" compared with the rest of policing.

And she said that while awareness courses work for those attending them, "they don't impose penalty points, and the research has shown that it's the penalty points - the fear of losing your licence - that has the greatest deterrence effect".

"Roads policing isn't considered a prime priority for police. Police are not evaluated for how well they investigate collisions, not even fatal collisions.

"We're not increasing [accidents] dramatically, but they've stopped decreasing since 2010, and that's a cause for concern," she added.

Figures released in April by RoadPeace showed a 23% drop in prosecutions of drivers who cause fatal road crashes in England and Wales in the five years to 2015.

However, between 2014 and 2015 there was an increase in prosecutions, from 402 to 414, and convictions, from 312 to 321.
Traffic police on the roads decrease and accidents increase- says it all -

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Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on


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PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2017 07:51 
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Quote:
There's a danger that it's becoming culturally acceptable to drive dangerously...


Nonsense.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.


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PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2017 22:40 
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Not from my evidence ,locally. Tailgating- daily occurrence, possibly an attempt to force cars ahead to travel faster than what should be a safe speed ( irrespective of the limit). Poker playing at junctions, where cars try to bully approaching traffic to give up right of way . Parking close /on junctions. Pavements clogged with parked cars ,when parking is "decriminalised" ,and LA send out "wardens" to patrol town centres to optimise town centre car park revenue, but the outer areas are neglected.
Locally, I only see traffic policing in the town centre, with reliance on ANPR. I never see any signs of traffic policing in the estates. I've had several ANPR cars pass down our road , and not pick up on uninsured/untaxed/non MOT cars . I've phoned them in, and perhaps 24 hours later ( if the car is still there), Police MIGHT respond.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on


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PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 14:22 
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malcolmw wrote:
Quote:
There's a danger that it's becoming culturally acceptable to drive dangerously...


Nonsense.


:gatso2: Well, I wouldn't put it like that. But I do think that there's a definite decline in driving standards of late. You can google any amount of websites where you can view dashcam videos of drivers doing stupid, dangerous, inconsiderate and irresponsible things. Not only that, there are any number of photographs of drivers who can't even park properly between two parallel lines.

I've no regrets about installing a dashcam in my car.

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PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 23:24 
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Neither have I - and if I decided to send evidence off to Police Commissioner or Taxi regulatory folks, then, perhaps bums might get exposed to a hoy iron.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 00:22 
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Location: Treacletown ( just north of M6 J3),A MILE OR TWO PAST BEDROCK
Today, proved it beyond doubt. First thing, we headed down to walk the dog before the heat built up. On the way ,we stopped at a Lydl on the left side of the main drag. Coming out- I had to force out- NOTHING was going to let me out, just to turn left.
next- pick up Grandson from Son in Law's mother, and head down town. Main drag was solid, so I decided to bypass it, and on the main island- there was chaos. get in lane to go round and cars were pulling out, in "hey get out of my way , I'm coming out-see if I care" fashion.
Next island- there was a jam up the next main drag- so I decided to go another way- coming off the island ,and preparing to turn right, I had a car trying to get outside me -no notice of indicators, no notice of anything, till I stuck my right arm out to show it I intended to turn right. Again - a young female. She folowed me , trying to tailgate me. I've got an answer for this- I'm in a small derv car- get into 3rd at 20-30, and lift off- power on, and they find they have to do a lot of braking to stop hitting me. Normally ,it takes a couple of minutes to get the message.
later on, we decided to go down town, in the hpe that things had normalised. Fat chance. Local main island- there was a string of traffic pushing down from inside left, and a lot of traffic coming to island. I'd got sick of stuff from the left trying to block my right of way,and got well over to the left, when one car tried to block me off from the outside , by coming round and trying to cut across my front.
Few traffic cops on islands, and courtesy might prevail- or perhaps they might just stop some and ask for adocument and vehicle check. And then ,perhaps courtesy might come back, not the "jack the lad " attitude prevailing on UK roads. Or perhaps, those who think it's OK to hold up lines of traffic, might get a tug to check for problem, and advise.
Problem is that handing out advice to JACK and puling over the old lad for not letting others past,don't generate any income for the "Stves" of this worlds, and then nth Empire would collapse from lack of funds.
Policing ,used to be a Not for profit, just for safety, thing- not any more. NOW- it's a profit driven game, with bean counters ( most often called Steve) in charge.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on


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