tldr; speed limits
How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads
71–80 of 269 posts
Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
> kinda like how we love to tell everyone how chuffed we are with how safe our AC plugs are. I never see Brits saying this. Only people from other nations. The plugs are the safest though!
Oblig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEfP1OKKz_Q
Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads
#73UK is extremely risk-averse. In the case of road safety, it shows: a lot of time and cash goes into minimising deaths. This is not only road users: roadworks have restrictive speed limits, which are not taken down when there is no workforce out, to minimise risk to workers setting and unsetting limits, traffic cones etc. Things that in other countries would close a lane often close the whole road, again because of ri…
Seems a rather tenuous link to the state of the NHS. The UK has a lower tax regime than most equivalent nations. If we wanted a better NHS we could just collect similar tax rates to that of Germany or other western nations. One of the issues is we’re trapped with a media ecosystem that won’t even allow progressive parties to say “we’ll take a bit more in tax and in return you’ll get a functioning health service”, ins…
It's not just the roads, it's everything. Most pension money is invested in UK bonds. UK treasury department focuses on a set of very narrow spending criteria, so much so that it's hard for governments to spend money on investments.
And then it's not just the NHS. My point is, rather, that extreme risk aversion in the short term can actually increase the medium-term risk. If the UK could generate a few extra 0.1% of GDP growth per year in exchange for some risk, that would seem an overall better world to be in.
Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads
#74As 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,…
Confusing roads are safer though, it forces drivers to pay more attention
Kinda.
In South Kensington, they spent a fortune trying to use this non-delineated road setup where its not clear quite where the pavements (sidewalks for the USians), and road borders are, and in theory it means everybody just becomes very hyper aware of each other.
The theory goes something like how cycle lanes - just the a white line down the side of the road - can cause drivers to pass much closer to cyclists than they otherwise would without that border there, where a driver might slow and move a few feet out to the side on a single carriageway.
In reality, it's actually kind of anxiety inducing, particularly if you're in a larger crowd (common at this time of year, as Royal Albert Hall where proms season is coming to a close is at one end of this area), because drivers don't really seem to know what is going on.
I suspect it means cars are, on average, slowing down, but I can't find stats on whether its reduced accidents or not. I know it makes me nervous though.
Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I’ve never had an experience in any house or office where there’s been enough sockets to leave everything plugged.
I've never had an experience in any house or office where anything has ever been unplugged other than to put it away (a kitchen appliance that doesn't need to live on a counter, or a hair dryer, for example).
Buy a fused extension cord with more plugs, you have now turned one socket into 4, 6, or 8 sockets. You can even get some that have USB built-in, so you don't use a socket up for a phone or tablet charger. They're not even very expensive.
And in an office, I'm pretty sure all equipment (computers, lights, controls for adjustable desks if you have them), are meant to remain permanently plugged in anyway in a properly installed desk setup. What is going on in your office where you're choosing what is plugged in and what isn't, constantly? And why can't your office manager spring £20 for an extension cord with multiple sockets?
Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oblig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEfP1OKKz_Q
Oblig: https://youtu.be/139Q61ty4C0?feature=shared https://youtu.be/92YHhed3B-Y?feature=shared https://youtu.be/dTPuYf30B1M?feature=shared https://youtu.be/efh4k6TJa2c?feature=shared https://youtu.be/2rQiiOKIEcU?feature=shared https://youtu.be/eeT5xtc_Dd4?feature=shared +1000s more…
> I never see Brits saying this
...but that was my point: Tom Scott is British.
Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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. I think your experience is extremely unlucky. I went to a school in London (in the 80s) with around a 1,000 kids from 8 to 18 and there was one road death, and two injuries, all in the same accident, in all the time i was there. I did not know the buy who died personally, although…
> I think your experience is extremely unlucky You're probably right on that. I'm in a london suburb now as well, which may also has something to do with it. I think the big difference is that there isn't anywhere where you can drive on to a 70mph road in the dark without a long merging lane. > I do think the 20mph limits where I now live (and in some other places) seem a bit random, I don't mind them being random so…
I agree entirely that A roads and city roads are a LOT safer than country lanes. Easier to drive on too. I find London more stressful and harder work to drive in - it may well be safer, but its harder. I far prefer public transport in big cities and I have not driven in London for years.
The only time I have tripped a speed camera was doing 57 on an A road after missing the temporarily lower 50 limit for road works in the night.
The road I currently I find hardest is one road where the limit keeps changing. its pretty much the same all the way along (residential area, so default would be 30, but wide as its an A road or a continuation of one). It changes four or five times over a few miles.
Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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. I think your experience is extremely unlucky. I went to a school in London (in the 80s) with around a 1,000 kids from 8 to 18 and there was one road death, and two injuries, all in the same accident, in all the time i was there. I did not know the buy who died personally, although…
Rural and metro areas, especially before traffic calming mesures of the last 20 years, were very different. I'm not from the UK, but in Brittany, everybody know of a schoolmate who died from traffic (especially since you have one high-school for like 15 towns, so in a way, you're schoolmate with half the kids in your area)
Rural roads still often lacking in safety in the UK.
Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oblig: https://youtu.be/139Q61ty4C0?feature=shared https://youtu.be/92YHhed3B-Y?feature=shared https://youtu.be/dTPuYf30B1M?feature=shared https://youtu.be/efh4k6TJa2c?feature=shared https://youtu.be/2rQiiOKIEcU?feature=shared https://youtu.be/eeT5xtc_Dd4?feature=shared +1000s more…
> I never see Brits saying this ...but that was my point: Tom Scott is British.
Right. I had never seen it. That was my point.
Now I’ve seen 1.
Re: How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads
#80From 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.
>kinda like how we love to tell everyone how chuffed we are with how safe our AC plugs are. I would actually love to see some data that compares total deaths and injuries per capita from electrocution from plugs across different countries. I have a feeling the total worldwide figures are tiny in comparison to injuries from stepping barefoot/putting your knee on UK plugs. Also, UK plugs tend to have the wire coming ou…
The big danger from outlets and plugs is fire rather than electric shock, which is what you'd need to compare.