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This weekend's carnage

(37 posts)

12

  1. neddie
    Member

    This weekend seems to have been particularly bad:

    Car driver dead & 3 serious in 'bus crash':
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-34692480

    Driver dead:
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-34692479

    10yr old cyclist serious:
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-34692778

    Driver serious:
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-34692775

    Makes grim reading. To me, this carnage has become normalised in society. People need to be reminded of what is happening here, but the subject still seems to be taboo - I would not dare to raise it at lunch-time conversation for example.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  2. acsimpson
    Member

    The really sad part is that this is probably a fairly normal weekend on the roads. Most serious injuries and I suspect many road deaths go unreported in national media as they are just not newsworthy enough, perhaps if everyone made the front page people would start to reconsider how good "they" are at driving.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  3. minus six
    Member

    Couldn't agree more, Eddie.

    Its shockingly over-tolerated, due in no small part to the bland (yet partisan) pseudo-matter-of-fact style of reporting.

    Take the 10yr old cyclist article.

    Many won't read beyond "The girl was cycling on the A71" and draw a particular conclusion.

    But viewed on google street view, this is a built up area, with the usual unenforced 30mph limit which certainly has a case for being a 20.

    Opportunities exist to report on the carnage in a different light, but there's little chance of Stop de Kindermoord catching on in this country, while the convenience of high speed private motoring is seen as an unassailable right.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  4. Charlethepar
    Member

    Interesting to compare with volume and tone of coverage for the one young man very sadly killed at an Aberdeen school.

    Deaths on the road are just seen as one of those things.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  5. PS
    Member

    It's all in our conditioning.

    Yesterday my 9 year old niece told me the sad story of a schoolmate whose 2 year old cousin had been killed by his grandmother as she reversed her car. My niece said it wasn't the grandmother's fault as the child had got out of a pushchair and gone behind the car.

    She seemed genuinely confused when I suggested that anyone driving a car has to take responsibility for what they are doing with that vehicle and, who knows, maybe it was her fault for not paying attention.

    Most of this clearly stems from parents' concerns to protect their offspring - "don't cross the road in front of cars", etc - but it reinforces victim blaming and a hierarchy in our public spaces from a very early age.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  6. unhurt
    Member

    The wee girl has died: http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/girl-hit-by-car-in-west-calder-dies-in-hospital-1-3934177

    The article has a picture of the street. Looking at all those houses/flats it's exactly the sort of place you should be able to expect kids to play out in safety.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  7. Stickman
    Member

    That is awful news.

    "A71" suggests a high-speed road. The picture tells a very different story.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  8. minus six
    Member

    Extremely sad news.

    Nothing whatsoever in response from local MSPs or Council chiefs on twitter.

    The Scottish media's fatalist taboo surrounding safety for vulnerable road users must end. It is sickening.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  9. Stickman
    Member

    http://m.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/boy-10-taken-to-hospital-after-being-hit-by-car-1-3936120

    "...he did not remain at the scene"

    At what point do people say enough is enough?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  10. neddie
    Member

    Very sad to hear about the girl.

    Another one that occurred last weekend, not reported until Monday:

    Driver dead:
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-34698124

    Posted 9 years ago #

  11. unhurt
    Member

    The Strathy death is another sentient vehicle I see.

    There was a vet killed last week on Mull in a two car collision too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-34667112 (I saw the P&J paper report thus the vet detail).

    Posted 9 years ago #

  12. Murun Buchstansangur
    Member

    Hadn't heard of that one, unhurt - another tragedy:

    https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/islands/738333/man-charged-with-causing-death-of-vet-by-dangerous-driving/

    Driving a Maserati & accused of failing to provide a sample of breath - hmmm.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  13. Edinburgh Cycle Training
    Member

    Another bairn killed

    http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/greenock/articles/2015/10/29/545981-latest-fatal-greenock-accident-boy-named/

    Posted 9 years ago #

  14. Stickman
    Member

    Yet another:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-34709603

    Posted 9 years ago #

  15. minus six
    Member

    Boy of six, seriously injured on Aberdour High St

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-34720665

    Posted 9 years ago #

  16. Stickman
    Member

    81 year old woman killed by a taxi.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-34732523

    Posted 9 years ago #

  17. chdot
    Admin

    "This weekend seems to have been particularly bad"

    Is any of this related to the clocks going back?

    Are there (preferably for Scotland) crash/casualty breakdowns by month - and also time of day?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  18. slowcoach
    Member

    data for 2014 and earlier is available at Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2014 - Datasets
    Tables 6 and 27-29 give data by month and separately by time. Other details are available
    RoSPA often says changing the clock causes extra casualties around this time of year.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  19. crowriver
    Member

    "RoSPA often says changing the clock causes extra casualties around this time of year."

    I'm not surprised. It's suddenly dark during evening peak homeward stampede time, plus as commented in threads passim, driving suddenly seems to get more aggressive as a result. Maybe it will settle down: I hope so!

    Posted 9 years ago #

  20. crowriver
    Member

    So from those data sets it seems road deaths have decreased (on average) between 2004-8 and 20010-14. Except for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, where they have gone up! Shocking really: a function of increased prosperity and higher car ownership, more lorries trundling inadequate road infrastructure, etc.?

    Will the various dual carriageways being built in those parts reduce road deaths, or merely increase the amount of traffic and average speeds, leading to more carnage?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  21. crowriver
    Member

    Hm. Perusing the figures in more detail, there seems to be a close correlation between the economy and traffic levels (vehicle distances travelled). See Table 40. We can observe "peak traffic" around 2006-7, then a decline over a few years to around 2010, then it depends on geographical area, but in most a gradual rise, until by 2014 levels are almost at the peak, but not quite: maybe 2015 is the year where they have reached once again "peak traffic" levels? We shall see.

    In Edinburgh there is a noticeable spike in traffic levels in 2014: economic recovery coupled with the end of the tram disruption perhaps?

    Overall the rise in traffic levels would help to explain the overall rise in road deaths compared to 2013.

    If it carries on like this the only way to better protect pedestrians, cyclists and vulnerable road users will be giving more priority to them, and less to motor vehicles, across the country's roads.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  22. chdot
    Admin

    "

    The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents estimates that changing to Central European Time, which would give us an extra hour of evening daylight both summer and winter, would save 80 lives and prevent 212 serious injuries each year

    "

    http://www.scotsman.com/news/joyce-mcmillan-high-time-we-had-lighter-nights-1-3939111

    Posted 9 years ago #

  23. slowcoach
    Member

    New provisional figures just out today, suggesting that although traffic has gone up again in year to end June 2015, casualty numbers have come down after the rise in year to end June 2014.
    For cyclists there was a decrease but the numbers remain well above the previous average, unlike other groups.

    What would be an acceptable number of people killed?
    See the 'towards zero' campaign from TAC Victoria, Australia.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  24. wishicouldgofaster
    Member

    The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents estimates that changing to Central European Time, which would give us an extra hour of evening daylight both summer and winter, would save 80 lives and prevent 212 serious injuries each year

    I remember when we didn't put the clocks back. Don't know if there were more accidents or not but I remember the outcry about children going to school in the pitch black. We were all given reflective armbands to wear and my school changed to a 9:30 start.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  25. Min
    Member

    I just don't see how that is possible. You don't get any extra light. They would just kill more people in the morning, surely?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  26. gembo
    Member

    Soon it will be dark in morning and evening. Well it is at the moment. Dark

    Any change causes accident spikes - rain, wind, earlier darkness or as min says - darkness early. Morning ( we had wee plastic white helmets with red light bulb on top in early seventies experiment but no actual traffic back then)

    The series of small holes dug in the ground at the moment also causing chaos.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  27. slowcoach
    Member

    @Min - the accident numbers have been higher in the late afternoon/early evening peak than in the morning peak. While there would probably be more deaths in the mornings, those in support of GMT+1 in winter expect there to be more gains in the late afternoon/early evenings than there would be losses in the mornings. I'm not convinced by either side yet.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  28. crowriver
    Member

    @slowcoach, those are the GB figures. I was talking about the Scottish figures you linked to earlier. It's possible there has been a decrease over the whole UK, but a further rise or standstill in Scotland. Given that the overall road deaths in Scotland have increased as a percentage of those in England & Wales during the past decade (from approx. 9% to over 11%) I suspect this is likely. :-(

    Posted 9 years ago #

  29. Stickman
    Member

    Two more.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-34755517

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-34752606

    Posted 9 years ago #

  30. Stickman
    Member

    Two separate incidents in West Calder, days after the 10 year old girl was killed.

    http://m.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/crime/call-for-traffic-calming-after-brooke-bagley-death-1-3940554

    The village is a mile long – if you drive through ten miles above the speed limit, how much time do you save? A few seconds.

    Posted 9 years ago #

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