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How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads

ourworldindata.org

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Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads

#21

Post by throwaway290 »

marliechiller wrote: post #15
zik wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Our AC plugs are, however, the safest design on the planet. Not if you step on them with bare feet - those things are worse than LEGO. They could punch through a horse's hoof.

why are you stepping on them?

because sometimes you unplug it and leave it around. unless you live like a king sometimes there is 2 sockets and you have 5 devices to plug at different times. european and other ones will be on the side so stepping on it is no problem but uk ones will be the pointy end up

Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads

#22

Post by PaulRobinson »

As somebody who has driven in a few places around the World, I would say that overall the standard of driving and safety is remarkably high in the UK given that the road layouts are often quite confusing (we have roads in use today from Roman, Saxon, Norman, Medieval, Tudor and more modern phases of development, so it can get confusing), and the level of signage around some confusing layouts is much lower than, say, California.

This is because the rules are more complex, but actually get a license is, too. There are plenty of bad drivers, there are still idiots who drink/take drugs/use their mobile phones while driving, but it's way, way less than in some other parts of the World. And the rules of the road are broadly followed in terms of lane discipline and right of way in a way that they aren't in much of Europe or elsewhere.

I sometimes wish that we had clearer lane signage in some parts of the road network, like that seen in the US, but overall, once you get it, it's all very straightforward.

Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads

#23

Post by PaulRobinson »

zik wrote: post #10
PaulRobinson wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our AC plugs are, however, the safest design on the planet. I think if these guys are honest about their numbers - and the main number they're calling out is a 22-fold decline in road deaths per mile driven in the last 75 years, which is remarkable - and shows those other safer regions in their comparisons, what is the problem?

> Our AC plugs are, however, the safest design on the planet. Not if you step on them with bare feet - those things are worse than LEGO. They could punch through a horse's hoof.

Don't leave them unplugged. The standard requires all modern sockets to have switches, so there is no reason to have the plugs lying around on the floor.

Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads

#24

Post by rusk »

zik wrote: post #10
PaulRobinson wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our AC plugs are, however, the safest design on the planet. I think if these guys are honest about their numbers - and the main number they're calling out is a 22-fold decline in road deaths per mile driven in the last 75 years, which is remarkable - and shows those other safer regions in their comparisons, what is the problem?

> Our AC plugs are, however, the safest design on the planet. Not if you step on them with bare feet - those things are worse than LEGO. They could punch through a horse's hoof.

That’s a nice reminder that they should be respected. Not left lying around.

Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads

#25

Post by fiftyacorn »

petesergeant wrote: post #3

My least favourite part of driving in the UK is that a road like this[1] (chosen at random from rural roads) has a speed-limit of 60mph/95kmh 0: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.358056,-2.6822578,3a,75y,344...

I think this type of road combined with satnavs makes them more dangerous - number of times ill enter a destination on my satnav and its trying to send me on some lane

I notice it when cycling too - there is more traffic on these lane - and the drivers think they can drive along like some A-road

Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads

#26

Post by rusk »

hazzamanic wrote: post #17

I wonder if there will be a reversal in pedestrian deaths with the rise in larger cars. I live in a large UK city and it is mad the number of SUVs you see driving around.

There is a compensating rise in small EV also so hopefully that will cancel things out

Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads

#27

Post by zelos »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #2

From the footer: > Our World in Data is a project of Global Change Data Lab, a nonprofit based in the UK (Reg. Charity No. 1186433). I'm a Brit too, but this article felt a bit too self-congratulatory given I've read other recent reports about other places (cites, regions, and entire countries) with overall safer roads; kinda like how we love to tell everyone how chuffed we are with how safe our AC plugs are.

It would be more interesting to compare the rates of serious injury (including death), I think. That would remove the effect of improvements in medical treatement over time.

Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads

#28

Post by robertlagrant »

marliechiller wrote: post #15
zik wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Our AC plugs are, however, the safest design on the planet. Not if you step on them with bare feet - those things are worse than LEGO. They could punch through a horse's hoof.

why are you stepping on them?

Sometimes you've just got to put your foot down.

Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads

#29

Post by robertlagrant »

hdgvhicv wrote: post #16
seszett wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to drive 60 mph there though. You can use your judgement. I'm more used to France's 90 km/h countryside roads (now 80 km/h for most of them) but it's the same, sometimes you can only drive 70 or 50, but sometimes 90 is perfectly fine. But you should be able to see it for yourself, and in the specific places where you can't see the danger there are generally signs and a lower speed limit.

I drive 20 miles a day on single track roads. The widths vary from a few passing places which you have to reverse if you meet a horse or bike coming the other way, let alone a tractor or lorry, to places where you can just about pass a large vehicle without stopping, and easily pass a car. There’s even a handful of places you can overtake if the car in front stays to the left and nothing is coming. Safe speeds vary f…

It's not country road driving. What you're calling an "idiot" is probably just someone who doesn't know the roads. You'd have the same problem elsewhere.

Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads

#30

Post by CalRobert »

KaiserPro wrote: post #20

I have children who are now approaching, or have approached large independence milestones. By the time I was my eldest's age (no just in high school [11-13 years old]) I knew of at least one kid from my school (a school of 55) who had died in a road accident. By the time I had left sixth form (18), two other people from my high school had died in RTAs and two others had life changing injuries. Granted this was rural…

Similarly, Ireland has seen a massive drop in road deaths, but one problem is that a lot of that improvement came from removing vulnerable road users - the kids biking and walking to school, etc are now much more likely to be in a car. (The US is similar - biking or walking to primary school was once the norm). Similarly you’d have zero drownings if you threw sharks in every pool. I do wish we could acknowledge that a lot of the improvement in road “safety” was a result of people just removing themselves from places where cars are.
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