Safe Speed Forums

It's good that there's a lot of emphasis on people driving at unsafe speeds. I can't understand, however, why this concern is not coupled with an equal concern for driving at unsafe distances with respect to other road users. In Ireland, most of the new penalty point offences have at their core a concern for inter-vehicle separation but this concern is not sloganised in the way that the rightful concern for unsafe speed is.

There are so many different forms of unsafe distance, the most prominent being that involved in overtaking on single carriageway roads:

* The car to be overtaken may be tailgated often for a long time

* The car being overtaken may be cut in front of as the overtaker prematurely returns to his/her own side of the road

* The overtaker may be far too close to an oncoming vehicle or to a brow or bend that conceals such

* The overtaker may be too close to the car being overtaken when he's alongside, perhaps because he's creating imaginary third lane down the middle of a single carriageway road.

There are a proverbial 101 other ways of being too close, such as when turning right, or just following far too closely mile after mile for no good reason.

So the slogan should always be "don't go too fast or too close" or "choose safe speeds and safe distances as you travel".

In rail, air and sea transport, inter-vehicle separation is of cardinal importance. In rail it's primarily achieved by engineering; in sea and air transport it's primarily achieved through driver education and enforcement. Road transport is unique in there being so little emphasis on vehicle separation as a means of reducing accidents.

It's strange to see a police officer or a road-safety spokesperson at the site of a ghastly head-on collision urging people just to slow down (utterly needful though that may be) and not, in addition to that urging them, to, for pity's sake, keep away from other vehicles! "Give everyone room for safe driving and time to expect the unexpected" should in my opinion be their heartfelt plea. "Slow down and keep a safe distance from other vehicles!"

I think you will feel at home here!!
Have you read through the forums, or are you still finding your way?

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Hi and

You're really trying to say 'low risk driving' I think, and there's still an element missing. Have a look at: http://www.safespeed.org.uk/sss.html

Steve defines three elements that form the basis of a driver's risk management model - speed, surprise and space. Steve's analysis of the driving process is now published in the book 'MIND DRIVING'. See http://www.safespeed.org.uk/minddriving.html

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I greatly appreciate the replies that I've received within hours of my posting on the site.

Yes, I have read quite a bit of the SS site. I know that the emphasis on this site is, in my opinion, balanced. When I expressed slight petulance on there being emphasis on speed alone it was in respect of what occurs in society as a whole in Ireland and, I strongly suspect, in some other countries such as the UK.

My interest is in finding a way to get people, including so-called experts, wanting to condemn unwisely chosen speeds to condemn, in the same breath, unwisely chosen distances. It borders on the absurd to condemn one and not the other.

I like the idea of space, speed and surprise as a way of encapsulating this.

Of those, surprise (or rather, lack of) is by far the most important imo - and that includes you surprising other people as well as other people surprising you. Managing speed/space, observation, planning, signals etc are the means to this end.

It's very hard to have an accident without at least one of the participants being surprised.

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Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)