Catching motorway speeders saves lives {Fact! ;)}

Sandwich

The European Transport Safety Council ETSC reports that Swiss motorways are the safest in Europe with 1.41 deaths per billion km. Ireland has 2.39 deaths per billion km.
The ETSC attributes Switzerland's top rating to increased speed checks on motorways in that country.

colm_mcm

Bit of an obscure statistic as most of our deaths happen outside of the motorways.

Fony Tenton

I would imagine a very very low percent of deaths happen on our motorways,no?

eringobragh

colm_mcm wrote: »

Bit of an obscure statistic as most of our deaths happen outside of the motorways.

X2 No relevance to Ireland whatsoever.

D_murph

colm_mcm wrote: »

Bit of an obscure statistic as most of our deaths happen outside of the motorways.

yep. safe roads that are built for speed will generally have less casualties .

they should factor in the statistics of how much more revenue is generated on these roads by these speed checks as well :rolleyes:.

it never ends............:rolleyes::rolleyes:

astraboy

Sandwitch, promoting the shooting of fish in a barrel? Never!:D Anyway the swiss are ridiculous when it comes to cars, they have many arcane laws regarding motoring. If road deaths are to be reduced it'll take more then catching people going 8Kph over the limit on a motorway sandwitch.

cyclopath2001

D_murph wrote: »

yep. safe roads that are built for speed will generally have less casualties .

But people who break the law on motorways obviously have a wrong-minded attitude towards road safety in general, so probably drive dangerously on non-motorways too.

Padraig Mor

1. Didn't the same report also say that Ireland's M-way casualties were lower than the EU average?

2. Am I right in thinking that the Swiss have higher limits than us? And that they are EXTREMELY strict - 1 k/h over and you'll be done? I also heard they'll ban you for life if you have ice on your windscreen! Not sure how true that is though.

antodeco

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

But people who break the law on motorways obviously have a wrong-minded attitude towards road safety in general, so probably drive dangerously on non-motorways too.

Driving over the speed limit on a motorway and driving dangerously are two very different things.

D_murph

antodeco wrote: »

Driving over the speed limit on a motorway and driving dangerously are two very different things.

^X2. i agree totally.

speed traps on motorways have nothing to do with road safety also. when last did you hear of a bad crash on one either?

all the carnage is happening on the back roads but the policing is kept to the big open roads where they can have a turkey-shoot.

just an easy buck from the motorist on a road made for the job :rolleyes:

prospect

eringobragh wrote: »

X2 No relevance to Ireland whatsoever.

X3

Mitch Connor

D_murph wrote: »

^X2. i agree totally.

speed traps on motorways have nothing to do with road safety also. when last did you hear of a bad crash on one either?

Well there was that big one on the M7 last year, but then those drives would not have been cuaght for speeding by a speed camera as they were under the limit, just driving too fast for the conditions.

Seth Brundle

Switzerland also is extremely tough on motorists who are caught speeding anywhere, not just motorways. As a nation, they hate the car (but have excellent public transport). The punishments they give out are enough to deter anyone from doing anything wrong. Furthermore, speeding there I believe is more of a criminal offence than a motoring offence.

Now compare Switzerland to Ireland, where we have no driver education worth talking of, extremely poor skills as a result and people who are able to drive at speed oblivious to everything around their little coccoon.
We are lucky to rate below average in that survey mainly because we have less lengths of motorway. If it was a survey comparing billions of miles travelled on all roads then the stats would be much different.

Tenzor07

I've driven in Switzerland.. and the roads are far superior to here, wider lanes, people dont hog the outside lane, dont drive with fog lights on clear nights.. speed traps have plenty of warning signs and are not designed as revenue collectors as they are here.
You can drive from one end of the country to the other without passing through a village or town.. Sign posts are clear and plentiful.. So is unfair to compare our "motorway" network to the Swiss...

Tenzor07

Padraig Mor wrote: »

1. Didn't the same report also say that Ireland's M-way casualties were lower than the EU average?

Because we only have a tiny amount of motorway as compared with the rest of Western Europe!

[QUOTE=2. Am I right in thinking that the Swiss have higher limits than us? And that they are EXTREMELY strict - 1 k/h over and you'll be done? I also heard they'll ban you for life if you have ice on your windscreen! Not sure how true that is though[/QUOTE]

In some places it can be 130km/ph.. and no!

hugoline

Just want to clear up some statements here about driving in Switzerland.
I grew up in Switzerland and did some years of driving there before moving to Ireland 5 years ago.
The speed limits are the same on motorways as here, 120 km/h and not higher (there was a vote on it many years ago raising it to 130 km/h, but was voted against by the public). Funnily enough there are laws allowing the local councils to lower the speed limit as low as 80 km/h under smog conditions. On country roads the speed limit is 80 km/h, so less than in Ireland.
In general I would say that the swiss don't hate cars or their drivers, but you are made to pay for it (saying that, there is no VRT and tax is less than half of cars here and petrol is slightly higher as it is in the rest of Europe compared to Ireland).
As mentioned before, the public transport system is excellent and for certain routes faster than the car and this is heavily funded by taxpayers money, hence the more expensive driver experience to make people shift onto public transport.

Back on topic of the ETSC report, I don't think you can fully compare Ireland in that statistic with other European countries yet, as there are not enough motorways present here. Speed-traps are not that numerous on motorways in Switzerland (the M1 has a higher density of them!), but they are everywhere in the city, i.e. traffic lights with cameras that not only flash people breaking the red light but also check the speed) as a result the drivers stick much more to the rules on motorways and on regular roads. Hence I would say: enforcing the current rules and regulations safes lives, no matter where.

Steve

Sandwich wrote: »

Ireland has 2.39 deaths per billion km.

Thats quite good. How many billion km of motorway have we?
Average 350-400 road deaths per year, as the saying (accurately) goes: you're more likely to get run over by a bus.

WHITE_P

Sandwich has been so quite lately, I was hoping he had taken my advice and taken up knitting, obviously not, must have been spending all his time looking for obscure motoring statistics to bore us all with.

Yes excessive / inappropriate speed can be a factor in accidents, but sneaky speed traps on motorway's is not going to bring down the death toll.

They need to do more to improve driving skills, awareness on our roads, and improve the standard of our road system to cope with the volume of traffic now using the roads every day.

There was a time when driving was quite enjoyable, however these days its more of a chore than a pleasure. Between the number of retards who can't drive properly and all the PC bull**** that the authorities want to ram down our throats.

Come on sandwich (or should that be uncle Gaybo), get down from your soap box and find something interesting to say will you.

There is just as many bad / dangerous drivers out there who never exceed the speed limits as there is, one's who do.