Speeding Not Ice Causes Deaths

[chrissa1]

Sadly two teenagers died last night and it was blamed on the conditions. Nobody dies in a crash at 20mph. Speed and bad driving caused their deaths Not the ice and snow.

[Toureman]

Any more details.

[welshlibranr]

You are so right chrissa, sadly, some drivers don't drive with the conditions in mind!.............We see it every day!...........They are in such a rush to get to wherever they are going!..................

[trt]

So you are an expert on road accidents chrissa. Try telling that to the parents!

[Jan1957]

Of course they do if they were driving at 20 mph and then skidded on ice. Haven't seen the story but it may well have not been their fault so will reserve judgement.

[bloomwood]

This is so sad, but think you have a point chrissa, teenagers dont have the experience of driving in these conditions.

[R1Geezer]

have you got a link to this?

[sara3]

oh dear!

very few of us are taught to drive on ice and snow. you can't assume they were doing 90 around a blind bend on a dry road. probably drunk. or high. or showing off. with no seat belts on.

of course ice causes accidents, as does bad driving, but you can't make assumptions on every case, or just because they were young.

[mollykins]

Two girls from my high school died in a car crash on the a12 a couple of years ago and since then, the school has bought this online tutorial thing for sixth formers that helps you with your driving theory and stuff like visual awareness so you can get use to having to look at loads of things at once, before you actually start driving. it's harder than i thought, but I'm not doing to badly and even though I don't drive, seeing the road from a drivers perspective has helped me as a cyclist.

[daffy654]

My oh has just phoned me from work to let me know he had arrived safely despite the icy conditions. He is a very safe and slowish driver but still managed to skid and do a 180 degree spin on a roundabout, obviously he ended up facing the oncoming traffic. He the had to do a 3 point turn to get the car facing the correct way. Luckily the road was fairly clear and he wasn't hit by any other cars!

[boxtops]

Generally chrissa, I agree (but send condolences to the parents in this case). We get a lot of fog here but still see drivers belting up the outside lane - there is no way they could stop in time if they suddenly meet a tailback. Many of us (not just the youngsters) haven't driven in ice for some years, the first time I did for many years was only a couple of years ago, it so rarely happens down here.

[jd_1984]

sara3/Chrissa - true, driving lessons and subsequent tests are not geared (no pun intended) towards adverse driving conditions. A 17 year old could in theory have passed his/her test a day before the recent cold snap and would likely panic in the conditions and mis-judge road conditions. No amount of theory or "fussing" from parents will prepare you for the first time you drive in these conditions.
But what can be done? Bottom line, dont drive if you dont have I suppose and never underestimate things such as black ice. I have been driving 11 years and have never been involved in an accident and yet I lost the back end of my car slightly this morning as I was "gently" accelerating - its no joke kids!!

[chrissa1]

trt. No I'm not an expert on road accidents and I wasn't really denigrating these two poor girls. It might not have been their fault, (probably not), a Mail van was involved so could have been that driver's fault. My point was that, it was the speed that "someone" was travelling at that caused the accident.

Daffy. Glad your oh arrived safely. So even though he did a 180, he wasn't hurt Because his speed was slow enough to cope with the conditions.

Jan1957 <nobody dies in a crash at 20mph..ofcourse they do> Why do we have 20mph speed limits in built up areas then? Hit ice at 50 - 60mph and the resultant speed Can kill, hit it at even 30mph or less, you'll damage your car but probably walk away. IMO.

[pastafreak]

What happens in an accident is dependent on way too many things.To try to 'blame' their deaths on one part of the equation is a bit simplistic. None of us was there-either in the vehicles,or watching.....The same driving-without the bad weather conditions-may not have resulted in deaths.It's the combination of factors that did it.
Many years ago-when we lived in a suburb about 40 miles outside NYC,I was in the car with my husband. He was driving at about 10 miles ph,as we knew there was a risk of black ice. He still lost control of the car,and both we-and a car coming in the opposite direction - did 180 degree spins on a downward sloping road. Both cars had minor damage...but a few inches either way,and things may have been much worse.

[chrissa1]

That's my point entirely pastafreak.

[paddywak]

You can't just say it was speed or ice or any one thing unless you were there people just don't know the cause untill the investigation is over. Some years ago a guy I worked with was killed coming home from work in the early morning.There were no witness as to what happened but he lost control on a bend and rolled into a field. By the time he was found he was dead despite being virtually untouched by the accident he had been knocked out and strangled by his seat belt, the thing that was supposed to save him. All you can do if you have to go out is drive carefully and to the conditions and hope everybody does the same

[woofgang]

I have been out driving on ice and slid sideways when going at a slow walking pace...you just cannot blame this accident on speed or bad driving unless you know all the circs and that was a hurtful thing to post.

[Toureman]

Speeding by itself does not cause death !

Speeding inappropriately causes death!

Ice does not cause death !

Stupid drivers do!


This is Answerbank, whats your Question?

[pastafreak]

Chrissa...you seem to be contradicting your question title......I'm saying that it is NEVER just one thing-ie speeding-that can be the cause-especially in bad,icey conditions.

[chrissa1]

Woofgang, I was simply stating that the News coverage on this very sad topic was blaming the wintry conditions for the accident by saying that the conditions had claimed two more lives. The road conditions ofcourse played a large part in the accident but speed had to be a contributory factor.
I had no intention to be hurtful.