It's motorists who pass too close like this one LC05CBY and AO05GNY both filmed overtaking me today with my Helmetcam on its first outing. No excuse in either case, there was plenty of room to pass with a safe margin. With luck the quality of my filming may improve. Is it ignorance or are some trying to drive us off the roads?
I think it's mostly ignorance. As you observe, neither seems to be particularly unusual, sadly.
ReplyDeleteI was nearly clipped by a guy who couldn't be bothered to cross the line properly when overtaking me on a quiet three-laned section of road. I was cycling about a metre and a half or so out from the kerb at the time. I caught up to him at the lights and calmly told him he was supposed to cross over the line when overtaking another vehicle, whether cars, buses or bikes. He seemed genuinely surprised at what I was saying, but he seemed to take it onboard. To me, this suggests woefully inadequate driver training and examination. Surely we should make it much more difficult to pass the driving test, rather than letting people who don't have the skill or knowledge to repeatedly go for tests and "brute-force" their way into becoming a licensed driver. After all the government is supposed to want to reduce driver numbers. How about letting people take the test twice and if they fail the second test they must wait a year before they can try again. Combined with a harder test it would reduce driver numbers whilst increasing the overall competence on the roads.
ReplyDelete@Mr Colostomy: I think the main problem isn't the current driving test (which puts quite a lot of emphasis on vulnerable road users these days, I understand) but the fact that once you've passed your test you don't have to take one again. This allows people to develop bad habits, and doesn't allow new thinking to be taught to old drivers. I passed my test nearly a quarter of a century ago! How about mandatory driving tests every five or ten years? You have to be regularly re-tested if you want to fly a light aircraft.
ReplyDelete@Fonant: I agree with the idea of re-testing, and think it could work well in conjunction with increasing the test difficulty and making more driving offences punishable by banning, and extending the length of bans where they already exist. A large part of the problem on the roads is that driving has come to be seen as a right rather than a privilege, so when people do commit serious offences they are let off lightly so as not to impinge on the person's "right to drive" (even at the expense of others' right to live). A combination of tougher testing, re-testing and more frequent/longer banning for offences would help to reduce the traffic on the roads and the problems caused by it. Doing it this way is most equitable because we reduce traffic volumes by getting rid of those least able to drive safely whilst keeping those who are more skilled/safe on the roads.
ReplyDeleteOne problem is that 40,000 new drivers who have lost their licence under the New Drivers Act, did not retake their test.
ReplyDeletePresumably, they are still driving, but are noe driving unlicenced and uninsured.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article1728930.ece