• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

What if highway fatalities were treated as seriously as those of Covid?

Status
Not open for further replies.

LSWR Cavalier

Established Member
Joined
23 Aug 2020
Messages
1,565
Location
Leafy Suburbia
Seems unlikely but if so, the maximum speed limits are obviously too high
Doubtless many 'accidents' are caused by following too close, failure to yield, distraction by telephone etc

Enforcement is the thing! Maybe the cops should employ some railway safety experts
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

squizzler

Established Member
Joined
4 Jan 2017
Messages
1,903
Location
Jersey, Channel Islands
If we are going to take highway deaths as seriously as that from Covid, we will want to keep wearing our masks every time we head out on the street to prevent breathing in tyre and brake dust from the motorists. If cars go electric they might use regenerative braking more than friction, but the batteries weigh more so they might produce more tyre dust. We need fewer cars in the future, however they might be powered.

Pollutionwatch: toxic threat from wood burning and tyre dust​

Swiss study analyses different sources of air pollution – the fourth largest risk factor for early death
Wood burning has been increasing due to policies on renewable energy.


Globally, breathing polluted air is the fourth largest risk factor for an early death. Most of this health impact comes from particles that pollute the air that we breath. We know from industrial diseases that inhaling some types of particle such as asbestos or coal dust is harmful. In outdoor air, the particles that we breathe come from a wide variety of sources and it is unclear what sources cause the most harm.
In a new study, Swiss scientists collected particles from five locations that were dominated by different sources: a busy road, a courtyard in the middle of Zurich and mountain valleys. Each sample was then tested to see how much it could overwhelm the protective chemicals that act as natural defences in our lungs. The chemical composition was also measured to work out the sources of the particles in each sample, to match them to their toxicity, and to estimate how much we each breathe.

The greatest toxicity in these European samples came from sources that are poorly controlled. These include wood burning, which has been increasing because of policies on renewable energy, and dusts from the wear of tyres, brakes and roads. Controlling these would require policies that reduce traffic volumes.
 

21C101

Established Member
Joined
19 Jul 2014
Messages
2,544
If we treated road fatalities in much the same way as covid fatalities there would be a 10mph national speed limit with speed governors compulsory on all vehicles.

This would suppress road deaths to virtually zero at a cost of total ecomonic carnage and making the lives of millions (particularly those living in rural areas) utterly miserable. Meanwhile those living in London Zone 1 would hardly notice any difference (other than seeing large numbers of cyclists get done for speeding).

In time rail travellers would notice services being slashed as a two car sprinter every 30 minutes became a 12 car sprinter every 2 hours at irregular intervals to clear paths for freight switching to rail.

Lets hope the powers that be don't read this any time soon....
 

The Ham

Established Member
Joined
6 Jul 2012
Messages
10,283
Not zero, but they could easily be halved, and halved again, they have been halved in the past..

In the last 20 years we've seen deaths in the roads halve, it's unlikely that we'll see it fall by another half for quite some time unless there's a cultural shift in the way we view driving.

Actually we need to see people use cars less than they currently do to likely see it halve again.

Yes but most of those involved wouldn't even know they'd had a crash, not sure there's such a thing as an asymptomatic crash?

It could suggest that there is, in that any crash which is damage only doesn't cause any symptoms for those involved.

What about when school children use ordinary buses? In Cheshire there's very few designated school buses due to funding cuts.

Regardless on the legislation there's no excuse for teenagers not following The Green Cross Code when crossing a road.

All road users need to be aware of others doing things which they shouldn't be doing, as such whilst it's inadvisable to overtake a bus when you do you should drive in such a way that means you're at least risk of causing others harm.

As such that's driving slowly, passing with as much of a gap between you and the other vehicle as possible, and the like.

Most accidents happen below the speed limit, in fact, more than 95% of them happen below the speed limit.

There's a big difference between below the speed limit and traffic going too fast.

Most roads are subject to national speed limits, however fairly few of them are suitable to be driven at that limit.

Likewise stored may not be the primary cause but chances are lower speeds would result in lower risk of being involved and lower levels of injury when you are involved.

Currently the risk of dying in a road accident for everyone is about 1:250, whilst were currently at 1:1,000 for Covid-19 (although that is getting more risky as time passes and is likely to get to our at least much closer to 1:500). Yes when you compare the last year is like 1:10,000 for road accidents, but then

Now it may well be that if Covid-19 stays with us then over time the rates may start to get close, however it would likely fall over time due to increasing population size (i.e. total population of the UK since start of 2020).
 
Last edited:

LSWR Cavalier

Established Member
Joined
23 Aug 2020
Messages
1,565
Location
Leafy Suburbia
' Accidental' deaths have been halved more than once in the past, they could be halved several times more. Likewise 'accidental' injuries

By automatic enforcement of maximum speed limits, following distances, by separation/protection of cyclists and walkers, by applying existing law, enforcement -> loss of licence
By reducing traffic volume, which is desirable for other reasons too
 

The Ham

Established Member
Joined
6 Jul 2012
Messages
10,283
' Accidental' deaths have been halved more than once in the past, they could be halved several times more. Likewise 'accidental' injuries

By automatic enforcement of maximum speed limits, following distances, by separation/protection of cyclists and walkers, by applying existing law, enforcement -> loss of licence
By reducing traffic volume, which is desirable for other reasons too

I didn't say that they haven't halved before, rather that they took about 20 years to halve the last time that they did and that (as you discribe) there would need to be a significant cultural change.

Part of the reason for reduced deaths is that all highway schemes go through a road safety audit process (a minimum of two steps, to but can be 4 for larger schemes), so most errors in designs should be picked up.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top