140km/h on M7 more dangerous than climbing Everest

unkel

According to Brenda Power in the last Sunday Times:

Brenda Power wrote:

As risks go, what he did was probably less hazardous than tearing up the M7 from his native Laois to Dublin at 140km per hour.

In a story about 42 year old businessman John Delany, who died climbing Everest, leaving behind his wife, two toddler boys and a few days old baby girl, who he had never seen.

Does Ms Power not realise nobody dies driving on a decent motorway at 140km/h? She usually makes sense, but has she completely lost the plot here?

Anan1

Easy now. Remember what happened to that professor who dared to point out that taking ecstasy was 'about as dangerous as horseriding'?;)

Alanstrainor

What an idiot.

Heroditas

unkel wrote: »

According to Brenda Power in the last Sunday Times:



In a story about 42 year old businessman John Delany, who died climbing Everest, leaving behind his wife, two toddler boys and a few days old baby girl, who he had never seen.

Does Ms Power not realise nobody dies driving on a decent motorway at 140km/h? She usually makes sense, but has she completely lost the plot here?

I can't wait for the hand-wringers and the high horse brigade to get a whiff of this.
The mortality rate for Everest is ridiculously high. Isn't it about 10%?
So therefore that means that if I go at speeds over 140kmph I have a greater than 10 chance of dying? :rolleyes:

Anan1

Any chance of a link to this article?

unkel

Anan1 wrote: »

Remember what happened to that professor who dared to point out that taking ecstasy was 'about as dangerous as horseriding'?;)

My sense of statistics would give the chance of dying from either about one in ten million. Driving at 140km/h one in a billion. Whereas climbing Everest, like Heroditas pointed out, is nearly as deadly as playing Russian Roulette.

zuroph

seems I'd be well able to climb everest so.

Keith186

She left out the part saying "at 140km per hour blindfolded"!

Maybe then it'd be less hazardous climbing Everest.

unkel

Anan1 wrote: »

Any chance of a link to this article?

Sunday times on line is paid subscription only. I have the printed article here in front of me, but I don't have a scanner, unfortunately.

alias no.9

How many drivers hit 140km/h on the M7 every day? How many die?

2.05% of all climbers attempting to reach the summit of everest between 1922 and 2006 died in the process.

Do journalists do any research for their articles any more? Do editors do any fact checking?

Plug

Anan1 wrote: »

Easy now. Remember what happened to that professor who dared to point out that taking ecstasy was 'about as dangerous as horseriding'?;)

I remember something about that, any chance of a link?

coolbeans

unkel wrote: »

She usually makes sense, but has she completely lost the plot here?

No she doesn't. I remember her on Newstalk and she used to strike me as a real "won't somebody please think of the children"type. Her outrageously condescending tone disguised a poor grasp of analysis.

stimpson

David Nutt was the guy. Lost his job by suggesting that government used evidence based science as a basis for drugs policy. As if that was going to fly...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8334948.stm

EPM

Keith186 wrote: »

She left out the part saying "at 140km per hour blindfolded by a hooker with a bag of coke"!

Maybe then it'd be less hazardous climbing Everest.

FYP

I drive the length of that every day almost and I find it's safer being in and around 140 rather than taking your chances trying to get up to speed to fit in a gap tbh.

maxer68

I think she was trying to tell the asses who claimed he was stupid for carrying out such a climb when he had a baby on the way, to get off their high horse.

For an experienced climber, Everest is not overly dangerous and whilst there are accidents, the vast majority of experienced mountain climbers conquer Everest without any problems and that it is no longer considered a particularly risky project.

Nothing whatsoever to do with a driver doing 140km on a motorway - more saying that the same busy bodies who would moan about 140km driving are moaning about his climbing and as they know nothing about either, they should shut the f up as neither are theorectically dnagerous when in experienced hands.

token56

Didn't realise 140 km/h was "tearing it up".

Ridiculous statement really. Complete and utter sensationalism.

keithclancy

Climbing this ...

Is as dangerous as travelling at 140km/h on this:




What ?!!??!

stimpson

keithclancy wrote: »

What ?!!??!

In fairness, there is someone tailgating a bus on an empty carriageway.

Alanstrainor

stimpson wrote: »

In fairness, there is someone tailgating a bus on an empty carriageway.

They're clearly drafting...you know, save on petrol and all that...

/sarcasm alert.

cadaliac

token56 wrote: »

Didn't realise 140 km/h was "tearing it up".

Ridiculous statement really. Complete and utter sensationalism.

+1

It was a stupid campain for her to launch, let alone without researching the facts.


Although, @ maxer68 -
"Nothing whatsoever to do with a driver doing 140km on a motorway - more saying that the same busy bodies who would moan about 140km driving are moaning about his climbing and as they know nothing about either, they should shut the f up as neither are theorectically dnagerous when in experienced hands."


Thats not exactly true either. She directly refered to the road and speed.
And, I don't agree with the rest either. Was he not an experienced climber? Or, at least, anyone who takes the challange should be experienced.

My 2c only.

Anan1

maxer68 wrote: »

For an experienced climber, Everest is not overly dangerous and whilst there are accidents, the vast majority of experienced mountain climbers conquer Everest without any problems and that it is no longer considered a particularly risky project.

A 2.05% chance of dying is a lot for a father of young children in anyone's book, I would have thought.

TGi666

so if that theory is true your almost sure to die on the autobahn in germany where you can legaly go twice that which most sporty cars are near capable of these days, or is the m7 a different animal to the autobahn

unkel

maxer68 wrote: »

I think she was trying to tell the asses who claimed he was stupid for carrying out such a climb when he had a baby on the way, to get off their high horse.

Yes she was, you did read the article

maxer68 wrote: »

For an experienced climber, Everest is not overly dangerous and whilst there are accidents, the vast majority of experienced mountain climbers conquer Everest without any problems and that it is no longer considered a particularly risky project.

Indeed. Everest is not overly dangerous and climbing it is not an overly great performance. So WTF made this man so eager to put it on his CV? Completely ignoring the needs of his family?

A real man looking for proper mountaineering action and risk would not stop short of K2. That real man would not even consider doing it if he had dependents. That real man would die saving lives. That real man was Irish too and his name is Ger McDonnell.

AugustusMinimus

maxer68 wrote: »

I think she was trying to tell the asses who claimed he was stupid for carrying out such a climb when he had a baby on the way, to get off their high horse.

For an experienced climber, Everest is not overly dangerous and whilst there are accidents, the vast majority of experienced mountain climbers conquer Everest without any problems and that it is no longer considered a particularly risky project.

Everest is not an overly dangerous climb as long as you know your own limitations.

The vast majority of people who die on Everest die of altitude sickness. It usually starts an hour or more before the climber gets into significant difficulty.

A clever climber, knowing that altitude sickeness is befalling him, will straight away turn around and head for the nearest basecamp. Foolish people will drive for the summit and most likely die.


IMO, it's got to the stage now, that journalists can blow up the dangers of our road network as much as they want without an repercussions. In fact, if people were to question her on a public forum about her comments, I bet most of the general population would actually back her up.

Logic and common sense get thrown out the window in this country when it comes to road safety.

Anan1

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Everest is not an overly dangerous climb as long as you know your own limitations.

The vast majority of people who die on Everest die of altitude sickness. It usually starts an hour or more before the climber gets into significant difficulty.

A clever climber, knowing that altitude sickeness is befalling him, will straight away turn around and head for the nearest basecamp. Foolish people will drive for the summit and most likely die.

That's a bit like saying motorbike racing is safe if you don't push it too hard, though, isn't it?;)

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

IMO, it's got to the stage now, that journalists can blow up the dangers of our road network as much as they want without an repercussions. In fact, if people were to question her on a public forum about her comments, I bet most of the general population would actually back her up.

That's very true, and not just about speeding.

AugustusMinimus

Anan1 wrote: »

That's a bit like saying motorbike racing is safe if you don't push it too hard, though, isn't it?;)

That's very true, and not just about speeding.

Jackie Stewart after the 1973 F1 season swore he'd never drive an F1 car competitively again.

However, it never stopped him driving F1 cars around a track at 5 mph below the grip thrsshold afterwards for advertising and events.

Daegerty

There should be a grand straight road to the top of mount everest.

Esel

maxer68 wrote: »

For an experienced climber, Everest is not overly dangerous and whilst there are accidents, the vast majority of experienced mountain climbers conquer Everest without any problems and that it is no longer considered a particularly risky project.

That statement is nearly as far-out as Brenda's one, tbh.

Wolverine_1999

We can only hope for or own sake that she doesn't drive with statements like that :rolleyes:

TwoShedsJackson

Anan1 wrote: »

A 2.05% chance of dying is a lot for a father of young children in anyone's book, I would have thought.

Would it be less if he didn't have kids?

Anan1

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

Would it be less if he didn't have kids?

I'd be less inclined to risk my life with infant dependents than without.

JimmyCrackCorn

unkel wrote: »

According to Brenda Power in the last Sunday Times:



In a story about 42 year old businessman John Delany, who died climbing Everest, leaving behind his wife, two toddler boys and a few days old baby girl, who he had never seen.

Does Ms Power not realise nobody dies driving on a decent motorway at 140km/h? She usually makes sense, but has she completely lost the plot here?

Brenda Powers road safety qualification is?

Given the choice this morning of having to do 140 on the M7 and climbing Everest id have to say id be allot more nervous about Climbing Everest.

I wish the Joe Duffy, over reacting, Fun police, PC nutters would bugger off and do something useful with there time like maybe climb Everest.

TheZ

Ian Taylor who was youngest Irishman to climb Everest seems to think it is fairly dangerous



"I didn't have that sense of joy when I stood there. No one can really understand what it's like. When you go above 26,000ft [the "death zone"] it doesn't matter how prepared you are, because nothing can prepare you for it.
"All you can try to do is limit the potential danger. It becomes a game of Russian roulette. It becomes less about skill and more about luck. When I was on the top, I remember thinking 80pc of the accidents happen on the way down.".....

"People are so driven they walk past people in trouble to get to the top. The attitude is: if you can't help yourself up there, tough. Two people died when we were there. We saw them 10 hours before they died. Everest certainly conquered those people.
"Everest will show you your limits and show you who you are. It also shows you your values and what type of person you are. You see yourself in a different light. Coming out of there alive, it shows you a whole new side. It probably showed me I was reckless and very selfish."

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/i-nearly-died-climbing-to-the-top-of-everest-but-i-found-out-who-i-was-2662565.html

Gophur

Brenda Power has an opinion on everything, not much of it is common sense, unfortunately.

Hard to believe she is a fully qualified Barrister! (I wouldn't like to be depending on her to defend me in a Court of Law!)

PARKHEAD67

unkel wrote: »

According to Brenda Power in the last Sunday Times:



In a story about 42 year old businessman John Delany, who died climbing Everest, leaving behind his wife, two toddler boys and a few days old baby girl, who he had never seen.

Does Ms Power not realise nobody dies driving on a decent motorway at 140km/h? She usually makes sense, but has she completely lost the plot here?

Those poor German bastards on the autobahn.:D. It must be like going into space with no oxygen for them.Danger,danger I'm doing 200km/hr.:pac:

keithclancy

PARKHEAD67 wrote: »

Those poor German bastards on the autobahn.:D. It must be like going into space with no oxygen for them.Danger,danger I'm doing 200km/hr.:pac:

Depends on how you look at it ....
I.E your danger per km covered is probably lower than Ireland.

Your likelyhood to die in the event of a collision is probably much higher.

Sure if your doing 200, you may as well push for 250 ... same difference anyway. (If you can afford the Diesel)

PARKHEAD67

keithclancy wrote: »

Depends on how you look at it ....
I.E your danger per km covered is probably lower than Ireland.

Your likelyhood to die in the event of a collision is probably much higher.

Sure if your doing 200, you may as well push for 250 ... same difference anyway. (If you can afford the Diesel)

Not many accidents occur on the motorway in fairness.This Brenda one thinks if your doing 140km/hr your Evil Knievel. FFS.

Mr. Presentable

It's a story, not a news report. The comparison is clearly not intended to be taken literally.

AugustusMinimus

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

It's a story, not a news report. The comparison is clearly not intended to be taken literally.

Clearly ?

Are we to take it she was making a joke in a report about the death of a man ?