drunk driving is nothing more than willy-waving

That's my favourite quote from this article in Media Guardian by Kira Cochrane. And yes this post is part of the Stop the Carnage Week.

In fact she goes further, she asks if it would have been better if Richard Hammond had died in that jet car accident rather than survive and be granted a bigger contact by the BBC and becomes a bigger stat. Let's face it, it hardly bodes well when speeding and crashing is promoted like this.

In fact she condemns the entire Top Gear programme for the way they "deify and fetishise speed. In the recent past, the show has tested brakes by aiming cars at cardboard cutouts of Richard Brunstrom, the Chief Constable of North Wales. Why? Because Brunstrom has had the temerity to promote Arrive Alive, a charity that campaigns for more speed cameras."

This attitude has more than a little to do with the death her older bother (when he was a child) from a car hitting him at 43 mph in a 30mph zone. Not that much speed kills. Also her little brother was hit.

"We were building a snowman, perfectly content, when a car hurtled down (it can't have taken more than a few seconds for it to slip silently from the top of the hill to the bottom), losing control on the ice and smacking into Frazer. As he lay in a deep bank, blood spreading around him, I screamed for our mother. I was certain he was going to die.

Fortunately, the snow was sufficient cushion to save him. Frazer was only cut and concussed. We heard later, though, that before we had gone out to play, the teenager driver had been speeding up and down the hill repeatedly, skidding each time at the end of the cul-de-sac, trying to impress one of the neighbourhood girls."

And this is where "willy waving" comes in. Most of the accidents on Irish roads come down to one thing : stupidity.

Not just on the part of drivers. I would like to have a chat with Fermoy Town Council and Cork County Council about their placement of speed zones for no apparent reason. More stupidity which leads to people ignoring the speed signs when they shouldn't.

What kinds of stupidity? Let look at low speed incidents.
stopping and turning with out warning i.e. not signaling (thanks Michele)
reversing without looking (usually in a parking place, but I've bee hit be cars coming out of parking places in South Mall when I'm stopped at the lights)
not looking when moving (let me look down here and change the radio station at this busy junction as opposed to the pretty behind bending over)

There is also :
the high speed overtake on the narrow road with oncoming traffic
the driving too fast for the corner
the driving too fast to stop
the trying to impress the mates / the girls
the impatience at trying to gain 30 seconds

and in between is the one I meet on the roads the most.. the 40 miler. The car travels at 40mph regardless of speed limits. So you're stuck behind in a 80kmpk (50Mph) zone, and the takes off ahead of you in a 50kmph (30mph) zone. I honestly suspect this guy leads to some of the incidents above.

I'll request one thing. If someone tries to impress you with their "No Fear" driving style, tell them to "Fear Off".

take care,
Will

tags : Damien Blake road safety roadsafetyblog Media Guardian Kira Cochrane
drunk driving driving willy-waving willy waving
Richard Hammond Top Gear car speed cameras speed stupidity Fermoy Town Council Fermoy Cork County Council speed zones No Fear