22.05.10
This is the New Chamber car blog, a free, blog for all things automotive. Driving lessons, new cars, car shows, road safety, road traffic law, and much, much more. Bear with me as I try to keep the blog up to date. We have currently closed comments so as to avoid comment spam. Sorry if that is frustrating, but nobody likes a list of worthless comments for the sake of self promotion!
27.05.10
Every day, almost without fail, there are stories in the press about another family has lost a mother, sister, father, brother, grandparent, etc. There are warning triangles up all over the place, junctions, bends, and the like, but the exact same locations are repeatedly the scenes of further accidents and road deaths. Why are we not learning? I think we are just not taking responsibility for our actions as drivers. Road safety is seen as being the responsibility of local councils and the Government as opposed to the individuals themselves.
10.06.10
Just seen a dodgy advert for a modified car show at Santa Pod (but I guess a lot of this type of show will attract questionable clothing or less!) but other than that, I aim to go at some point! Santa Pod is home of European Drag Racing - a sport with a lot of speed and the unmistakable (I'm told) smell of gas (fuel I mean). A slightly scary aspect it the authentic danger involved, I am almost certain that a few years ago there was someone killed at one of their meetings when a fiece of debris flew off a crashed car. Sure, there must be a significant amount of safety proceedures in place, but, as the example shows, there are certainly no guarantees!
11.06.10
1. Stop calling them 'safety cameras' and start calling them 'speed cameras'. That way there would be less debate about whether this one or that one were really helping 'safety'. Instead, there would be a bit more emphasis on breaking the law.
2. Hide them. This comes down to the 'safety debate' again. :If they are for safety then why is there more interest in people being caught as opposed to there being a visible deterrent?:.
3. Increase the penalty. If 10mph could be the difference between life and death for a child, then why does it only mean a 30 quid fine?
12.06.10
I am sure you have seen the advertisements on the television about what the chances are of a child surviving if hit by a car travelling at 20mph as opposed to a car travelling at 30mph. Needless to say, the child that is hit at 20 has a massively higher chance of surviving the collision than the child hit at 30. But if these are the figures, why do the government not reduce the speed limits to 20mph in every built up area as opposed to just a few? The answer is undoubtedly 'public outcry'. If all speed limits were reduced, there would be an awful lot of moaning about it! It is as simple as that. What are the chances of it being changed? I would say that there is more chance of a being hit by a car at 30mph.