dennis@home wrote:
"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
dennis@home wrote:

I have never had an accident when exceeding a speed limit..
Luck.
Probably more down to judgement. Most fast drivers I know don't speed in
silly places (i.e. through villages, in close proximity to where they are
people etc).

Do I take it that you have had an accident while driving below a speed
limit?
Don't know about Dave, but on the three occasions someone has managed to
involve me in an accident, they all occurred well below the speed limit.

But were you driving too fast to avoid them?


Hmm. In one case too slow to avoid them..in another well that WAS a
tricky one..a case of a completely random and panicky elderly gent who
dithered about stopping at a pedestrian crossing, put his brakes on,
then as I slowed, took them off and proceeeded halfway across before
slamming them on again when I had already used up my safety distance.
Wet road...Police said he had been done for careless driving a month
before and was very nervous about hitting people on crossings. Insurance
company didn't hit my no claims bonus..that was back in the early 70's..

Taught me to spot erratic drivers really early..

Worst one was a country road at 2 a.m. ..road being repaired..loose
gravel everywhere..been up working for 18 hours solid..came to a fork
and realized I was supposed to take the left one..swung the wheel
lazily, hit the bank, broke the rear springs, and that spun the car into
a ditch. Speed? about 40mph..

Fatigue, stress, unusual conditions (very loose surface there)...sure it
was 'too fast for the conditions' ..but WHAT conditions..the roadworks
weren't marked..all the white lines were erased..

Or another case..back in 1970 or thereabouts..temporary bridge of wood
planks with a metal entrance and exit strip ..raining, ford MkI escort
with RWD..approached at about 10mph..as wheels put down power to get up
the ramp onto it, they touched the metal strip, lost traction completely
and swung the tail out..the wood planks were muddy and sopping wet, no
grip, hit the side of the bridge. I'd only been driving 3 years then and
didn't have my own car..so not many miles under the belt..today one
would sue the council for a dangerous road surface.

Those are my worst ones..ones that required insurance claims.

Ive spun a jaguar at 50mph on snow, and controlled it well enough to
(after getting towed off the verge) have no damage...lost it at 100mph
on black ice..found grip on the sunny side of the road and made it
through..had a chap pull out in front of me doing 120mph in
Belgium..would have been OK if he hadn't panicked and jinked from side
to side..any side would have done..finally he settled on the slow lane
and I went past at 50mph..it WAS a dual carriageway, though not a
motorway..but apart from that I simply don't go fast when the conditions
don't allow it. Ive only had two 'moments' when driving over the speed
limit, but I have had dozens when driving at less than the speed limit.

Notwithstanding I have probably got about 15 speeding tickets over the
years.

Not one of which ever caused any insurance company to turn a hair. THEY
know there is zero correlation between the amount of speeding tickets
and the likelihood of having an accident. Police habitually look for
places where most drivers WILL exceed the speed limit because its potty.
Or for cars that arouse penis envy. Learnt that one early on. Do 100mph
in a Mondeo and they leave you alone. Do it in a sports car and they are
tailing you into the next county.

Looking back on my driving career, there are several dominant causes of
the accidents I have had..Inexperience at the start..not understanding
what the road conditions were..or how daft other drivers were or how to
spot them..and then finally fatigue and stress. Lethal. Fatigue, or a
temperature, or extreme stress and distraction.. frankly I'd rather
drive on 2 pints of beer than those. I used to carry aspirin to
counteract the odd cold etc. And finally learnt to force myself to
concentrate when I didn't want to.

These days I have the luxury of not having to drive when I don't need to..

However the point remains: the driver is finally the best judge of
appropriate speed, and, if he/she has enough experience, will finally
come to an understanding of what that is. The greatest danger remains
other drivers, and spotting the ones who are stoned/drunk/having a row
with their wives/driving stolen cars/putting on makeup/ or have zero
vision due to excess age..is the art.

Plus knowing the usual suspects of hazardous road conditions..any silly
speed reduction measures..all lethal. Tailgating round the M25 at 70mph
plus.in full rain..standing water..wet leaves..freshly rained on places
where cars idle and spew out oily exhausts...black ice..small children
running around streets..school leaving times..deer road crossing points
(yes, they have definite tracks..they always pop out of areas near
woods)driving at 11pm on a weekend evening in towns..the old boy with a
hat on driving too slowly..the middle aged woman whose head never moves
but stares fixedly straight ahead..the middle aged gent in a
Volvo..anyone with a fish symbol on their car..the one who never
signals, the one who hesitates and then does something silly..the ones
who drive 5 ft from your tail and never try to overtake..the middle aged
mum with kids in the car leaping around and yelling..the young lad in a
white van...the car that slowly deviates from the crown of the road to
the gutter and back..after a while you have a pattern of what is 'good'
and you know that if something doesn't fit the pattern, its extra risk.
Add space, add extra time..if you have the horsepower, overtake it.

After a few years of early driving, at which point your greatest danger
is yourself, you realise the greatest danger is other road (ab)users.
Not speed. Given a couple of clear visibility miles of empty road,
130mph is safer than 5mph in a crowded town street. Or 65mph in full wet
conditions on a crowded M25. Fast cars on good roads are predictable.
Other road users are not.