In article , Terry and Tracey <foxcroft@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes
Everywhere in Australia is like that. No seatbelt you will get a ticket.
Even if you put it on by the time the cops pull you over, you get the
ticket.
But our road deaths are down because of it (and random breath testing).
Are ALL road deaths down, or just car occupant deaths?
All. I arrived in Australia in '72. The road death score for Victoria
was around 1000 per year. Now with 2-3 times the vehicle miles
travelled by Victorians the rate is 3-400. The first downward trend
was with seatbelts. Then changed attitudes to drink-driving, bendier
cars, speed cameras, serious jail terms for 'culpable drivers' and so
forth.
Here in the UK, when seat belt wearing became compulsory for front
seat occupants, late 70s (?), the number of pedestrian and cyclist
deaths significantly increased. Apparently the effect of the belt
was to make the driver feel more secure and hence many unconsciously
drove closer to the limits of their ability.
All Volvo drivers, I'll bet. There may be other explanations? We
count all such deaths as road casualties - even drunks who die from
sleeping on the road.
That particular statistic, although receiving moderate publicity at
the time, was swiftly buried. Too many "safety" measures only shift
the danger from one group to another rather than remove the danger
entirely. Such deceptive safety campaigns are very much on my mind
as I write this, for good reason.
Of course - the significant injury stats are higher as more are
maimed rather than killed.
Just over a year ago the speed limit on the main road into the town
where I live was reduced from 40mph to 30mph and enforced by a radar
operated speed trap camera. There has never been a
pedestrian-vehicle accident on this stretch of road in the 20 years
I have lived here, but some locals complained that the traffic was
too fast so the speed reduction was hailed as a safety measure.
Last night, within 50 yards of the speed trap, an eight year old
child was killed and her mother seriously injured whilst crossing
the road. :-(
Awful as that is, you simply cannot extrapolate from one example. It
could have happened a year earlier, or later. Close to me, some years
ago, two teenagers were killed by a car literally flying over a new,
low intersection roundabout. The driver was an occasional visitor,
in the habit of speeding and didn't know it had been built. He went
straight over it and lost control. Perversely, it had been put there
to slow down dropkicks like him and to protect people like the
victims. We preferred to put the blame where it belonged - that is,
with the driver.
Sadly, this is not an isolated freak occurrence and I have heard of
other similar cases.
Kennedy
Never, ever put your trust in anecdotal evidence. I had to help drag
a suicidal student off the road outside my school the other day -
fortunately the local drivers were obeying the 50km limit and had
their wits about them. Even so, she nearly succeeded. A local
resident did successfully suicide by jumping off a bridge into
freeway traffic, causing a nasty situation for drivers below. Still,
I'm not about to suggest that large numbers of road deaths are
suicides (even though I suspect many are) because of local knowledge.
The sample is too small.
AndrewF
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|