Personally, I think the guy's a complete prat and will get what he deserves in the slammer.
There is one point in all this though and that is the hackneyed expression that "Speed Kills". Always used, of course, to back up any Gatso or Talivan operation to which we all cry "foul" when they nab us.
In my view, speed does not kill per se, but has the potential to make any RTA worse than it would have been without the speed. The cause of most accidents, IMHO can be put down to (in no particular order):
1) Inattention(fiddling with mobile, stereo etc.)2) Aggression(tailgating, undertaking, running red lights) etc.3) Lack of experience(young drivers suffer a far higher rate of RTAs)4) Lack of knowledge of a vehicle's operation in adverse weather (rain, fog, snow)5) Inability to read the road ahead, anticipating danger(Used to be in the Police Roadcraft manual. Most drivers merely watch the vehicles in front of them, not the vehicles/road hazards further ahead)6) Inappropriate speedEspecially round housing estates, schools etc. The limit may well be 30, but driving at 30 with vehicles parked on either side of a narrow street may well be unsafe, as the dangers (children running out between cars) cannot be seen until it is too late for avoidance.
7) Falling asleep/dozing at the wheel(Once knew someone who fell off the M4 when he decided to have a bit of shuteye)
Overloading (I'm getting sick of reading of stories of 5 and 6 people killed/injured when a small hatchback hits a tree.9) Poor vehicle maintenance (I've very nearly been hit by an exhaust system falling of a Fiesta in the outside lane of the M1 at 70mph). In most of these cases, except maybe 6), it's not the speed itself that kills. Who is the greatest danger? Someone driving at a 30mph speed limit on a suburban road while making a mobile phone call and driving with one hand, or someone doing 80mph on the motorway with complete concentration, both hands on the wheel and a safe distance behind the vehicle in front. Applying the Speed Kills motto in isolation would suggest that the second is more dangerous than the first. It's a pity the police seem to concentarte their efforts on speeding alone.
Finally, we have catastrophic failure. Assuming a vehicle is well maintained, such an event should be rare,but it is still possible to have a blow-out even with a new tyre. Look at Richard Hammond's crash.
Forgetting the traffic and the 2 o'clock in the morning argument, this prat in the Porsche was operating outside the vehicle's safety window in that the road was not guaranteed to be debris-free and the tyres were operating at the limit of their rating. A crash at that speed would almost certainly have caused a roll and debris would have impacted at high speed with oncoming vehicles on the opposing carriageway. In this case, the excessive speed would likely have killed if anything had gone wrong.
As far as the officer's comments, I know what you mean. Perhaps he should have said "..and I would like to warn those who want to drive at excessive speeds to consider prison shower blocks before they do so". That would work!
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Topic: My HERO!!!! or (Maybe Not) (Read 3442 times)