The Blog of G

I love the modern world we live in, nothing is your own fault anymore, kill someone it was the video games and heavy metal music’s fault. Park your car on a level crossing and it’s the GPS’s fault.

Seriously, can anyone read that article and tell me how exactly it’s a GPS systems fault that Paula Creely parked her car on a railway crossing between the gates?

What the hell has gone wrong with the world that this girl can misuse a Level crossing and then blame a GPS. Did the GPS tell her to stop in between the gates? was the GPS driving? Is she just stupid? Are the BBC stupid for publishing such a stupid story?

Come on Paula, take some responsibility for your own stupid mistake.

Drunk Driving, that’s so easy to eliminate it baffles me as to why some of the car manufacturers haven’t already implemented it.

A while back I saw a post on the giz about this device and giggled to myself a little, it did seem like a step in the right direction though as most folks who drive and want to play there tunes from there ipod will want an FM transmitter so coupling it with a breathalyser means you don’t have an excuse for not checking before putting that key in the ignition and heading home cause you’ve got an early Dail session in the morning

But seriously folks, here’s another area where technology could really help. If one of these breathalyser devices was linked to the ignition of your car and you were forced to blow into it before you could start your car, of course if your over the limit your car is immobilised until someone who returns a sufficiently low result takes the test, then at least you’d have to get some sober person to conspire along with your own drunken insanity, and how many people are going to do that for someone?

Maybe these idea’s are a little extreme but they’re both fairer than the current penalty points system, maybe they could be used in conjunction with each other, say you get 6 points for speeding then you have to have the GPS tracker thingy on your car until your points expire, and this is noted on your license so if your stopped at a random checkpoint the garda is notified that you should have this device and can check etc. etc.

Similarly, all convicted drunk drivers would be forced to have the breathalyser ignition system fitted and similar note on there license, in this case I would say permanently. there would still be a need for random checkpoints but it’s gotta be better value for money than having Gardai sitting in hedges?

What with my recent nowhere-near-fatal-accident and “that” pile up not so long ago, it’s fair to say that road safety has taken a more prominant place in my thoughts. I have a 110+ mile commute to and from the office so I drive a bit, it’s fair to say and the standard of driving I encounter on a regular basis is appalling. I’m not talking about speeding either.

Let’s start with the basics, Mirrors, they let you see whats coming behind you. It’s handy to check before you switch lanes or pullout in to traffic. Next up, indicators, they give other road users an “indication” of when we are about to change direction, you know like when your about to turn at a junction, switch lanes or even when your pulling out of a parking space.

I mean, the only thing’s that you ever hear of causing accidents in the news is speeding and drunk driving and if there really was a will to sort it out it could be quite simple and without resorting to draconian measures that grandad proposes, funny and all as they are. Although there is some sense in the drivers license that starts the car idea.

A more cost-effective solution would be to require all road vehicles to carry a GPS tracking chip, heck you can have these fitted to your car so it can be found easily if it’s stolen, simply use the technology to record only the times that a driver is exceeding the speed limit. The costs could be easily offset with the savings in paying the Gardai to sit in the hedgerows with there hairdryers. The government would still have the cash cow for speeding tickets, cause lets face it there will always be people who speed.

I remember hearing about an insurance company on the radio who offer discounted premiums to younger drivers once they have just the type of system I propose installed. The digital maps with the relevant speed zones indicated already exist so why can’t this be implemented? All it would need would be some politician to pick up on the idea, hell we can Eliminate smoking in public buildings why can’t we do this?

So, that’s speeding taken care of, simple as that, maybe an extra few quid on the price of your car but so what in the name of eliminating all those crashes caused by speeding.

So what about drunk drivers? How do we rid the roads of them… I think I might have an idea…

On tuesday last, Ireland witnessed one of the worst traffic accidents in our history. It’s been covered plenty on breakingnews.ie so I’m not going to go into details here, my sympathy goes out to all those involved and their families and friends. This was a truly terrible accident, myself and Elly passed the scene about 10 minutes before it happened. I hope you’ll forgive me for feeling relieved that we weren’t involved.

Something positive has to come from a tragedy like this and I hope it’s helped others to think about the way they drive, the way it has made me think about how I drive. The question that comes to my mind is “so, how fast should you drive in fog?”

Tonight, I did some calculations and worked/puzzled this out. At 120Kph you move a little bit more than 33 meters every second. That’s obviously far to fast to be travelling if you can only see 20m or 25m and thats still only a light fog. If you come up to a stationary object it’s already too late to brake.

So what speed is safe?

Lets say you can see 20m. That’s about 65 feet. What distance can you stop your car in, from what speed? is 70Kph slow enough? Well, you travel about 19.5m in 1 sec. Could you react and stop your car in 1 sec? I know I don’t want to find out.

Even at half that speed you only have 2 secs to react and avoid something thats happened 65 feet ahead. Think about that next time you start your car, I know I will.

Lets make that the positive thing that comes from this, think about how you drive. Not just the speed, your road manners as well. Indicate when you’re going to make a turn or change lane not as you do it. Don’t stay in the overtaking lane if you’re not overtaking and leave earlier so you’re not in a hurry. and maybe we’ll all help make our roads safer for us all.