If your job was to reduce road deaths what would you do?

[jellywrestler]

pretty simple really, put cameras in all the cop cars so they can get filmed evidence and they will spread their attention to offences other than speed and it will save a lot of defended court hearings time and money removing the "he said she said" element of court fights.
also be good to see the conduct of cops and offenders in police chases.

[Katman]

The best law is that which is easiest to understand and put into practise. All of the excellent ideas about training days, grades of licences, certified ATGATT etc require an enormous bureaucracy. Do any of us really need more red tape?

And that is why I have always said that changing motorcyclists attitudes is at the very heart of the solution.

No more red tape + lower accident rate = we all win.

[scumdog]

pretty simple really, put cameras in all the cop cars so they can get filmed evidence and they will spread their attention to offences other than speed and it will save a lot of defended court hearings time and money removing the "he said she said" element of court fights.
also be good to see the conduct of cops and offenders in police chases.

Certainly would help.

But people would still say they weren't being careless/dangerous etc regardless.

[SixPackBack]

pretty simple really, put cameras in all the cop cars so they can get filmed evidence and they will spread their attention to offences other than speed and it will save a lot of defended court hearings time and money removing the "he said she said" element of court fights.
also be good to see the conduct of cops and offenders in police chases.

An excellent idea, would clean up Hazzard county overnight!

[=cJ=]

I would remove safety belts, driver's air bags, collapsible steering columns and the like from all motor vehicles. I would instead make it mandatory for a Dirty Great Spike(TM) to be affixed to the centre of steering wheels, stopping about 10cm short of the driver's throat.

I would remove all road signage, including that Stop and Give Way at intersections nonsense that apparently troubles so many, as well as all restrictions on speed. There would be no formal regulation as to which side of the road should be driven on, instead I would leave that to be negotiated in good faith by road users as necessary.

I would encourage people to drive whilst pissed, preferably using a cellphone at the same time.

Meanwhile I would go and lie on a beach somewhere for about two weeks, while road users became used to the concept of taking responsibility for their own actions and learning how to drive.

Yup, this I would vote for...

[rocketman1]

I think that the best way to educate people (bikers) is first hand experience.
I guess those that have alot of experience, are the ones that are still alive, as a result they have experienced more situations, and are likely to stay alive longer because they are Street / Road wise, and so it goes on.

I have read from NZ govt stats that 48% of bike deaths happen on corners.
This would be a good place to start. But I doubt you will change things even if you educate everyone personally, because unless you have seriously stuffed up on a corner enough to think I'm lucky to be alive, you probably havent learnt anything from it.

Like bringing up kids, if you dont let them climb a tree they will never know how hard the ground is if they dont fall. Once they fall they become alot more cautious next time.

The trouble is experience comes to late for some, dead bikers don't spread the safety message do they?

I think by riding off road bikes you get a good perspective of alot of areas in road riding that are improved.

You could get a list of why most people on KBr have crashed or nearly crashed, and what they have learnt from it.
Then replicate on video they same thing happening, with a stunt rider, distribute the message ....somehow.
I Hope, I would learn from it.

[NDORFN]

I would fix the fucken roads.

[The Stranger:Me]

Ban right hand bends.

[Ixion]

Ban all bends. Roads should have turntables like railway tracks.

[Ixion]

If every corner had a flag marshal to signal if there were any hazards, fast riders would be at less risk of falling off.

[mstriumph]

Interesting thread Tony - thanks

I would make it mandatory for folks to have a motorcycle licence and be the registered owner of a bike for three years before they were even permitted to sit for a car licence

benefit 1 ... Darwin's theory
benefit 2 ... Those that DID survive would automatically be 'bike aware' and, therefore, much better drivers.

I would deter the use of those massive 4 wheel drive monstrosities by:-

a] introducing a seperate driver-licensing category for them, with seperate training, wait periods and practical testing
b] banning their use in all built up areas
c] doubling their vehicle-licence fee

I would raise the top speed limit to at least 120kph and introduce a MINIMUM limit of 100kph on the open road..... same penalties to apply for driving too slow as for driving too fast.

Bikes would be permitted a limit of 150kph where safe ... with penalties of dangerous driving to apply for having a speed-related accident where it WASN'T safe

All police to spend at least a year on bike patrol as part of their qualification.

[Winston001]

And that is why I have always said that changing motorcyclists attitudes is at the very heart of the solution.

No more red tape + lower accident rate = we all win.

Probably the simplest solution would be to remove motorcycles. Leave scooters up to 250cc.

[Winston001]

The concept of diminishing returns means the earnest suggestions given so far involve enormous bureaucracy and cost. Spend $100 - save 4 lives. Spend $200 - save 1 further life. Spend $800 - save 1 more. But whatever we do, folk are still going to die.

The longterm answer for motorised transport lies in technology and removing control from human beings. Wire down the centre of the road and your car/bike follows it at a specified off-set distance. No head-on collisions. Speed and braking are all controlled by computers with emergency over-ride. Manual control allowed up to 15k to allow manoeuvring and passing tractors etc.

I confidently predict this will be standard in 60 years or sooner. Mercedes and BMW are already experimenting with it.

[Tony]

Piss off, there are waay more dangerous things around our roads than them - how many motorcycle death have resulted from a biker hitting them?

Scumdog I am curious what is the answer to this question?
is this statistic collected?

[Ixion]

..
The longterm answer for motorised transport lies in technology and removing control from human beings. Wire down the centre of the road and your car/bike follows it at a specified off-set distance. No head-on collisions. Speed and braking are all controlled by computers with emergency over-ride.

Those who work in IT are all rolling on the floor with laughter at the inherent contradiction in that statement.