[BBC News] Speeding 'video' drivers warned

[Stopover]

I hope this comes out right:

 

We are lucky on this Island, we have unrestricted roads (although the DOT are endeavouring to reduce them whether we like it or not) and we have a police force that still applies the law with a sense of fair play. What they are saying here is that if you display to the world that you abuse our island and its laws then they will seek you out.

 

I for one am happy with the current staus-quo, I have no intent to publish video's of myself doing 140mph over the mountain - although I do it.

[keyboarder]

I hope this comes out right:

 

We are lucky on this Island, we have unrestricted roads (although the DOT are endeavouring to reduce them whether we like it or not) and we have a police force that still applies the law with a sense of fair play. What they are saying here is that if you display to the world that you abuse our island and its laws then they will seek you out.

 

I for one am happy with the current staus-quo, I have no intent to publish video's of myself doing 140mph over the mountain - although I do it.

 

What a monumentally stupid post. You completely miss the point ie that the videos themselves are not the problem but the excessive speeds are. So contrary to your opinion that we are lucky on the island we are unlucky in that we have buffoons like you driving at 140 mph over the mountain. You are abusing the island laws and displaying it to the world via this board. They should be seeking you out.

[Stu Peters]

Keyboarder accusing someone ELSE of being a buffoon? Shurely shome mishtake occifer? Isn't there some cosmic overlord of the internet who will be offended by that particular irony and strike him down, to dissolve in a smoking pile of noxious green slime?

 

Keyboarder - rather than the usual 'I don't do it so nobody else should' knee-jerk response, why not consider that your own limitations aren't universal. I'm happy to drive safely at high speeds, you are apparently not. The fact that you might be able to play football or know the dance steps to 'YMCA' and I can't/don't doesn't offend me or have me calling you names or calling for a ban on others doing things that I find silly or pointless.

 

Similarly, colourful one-piece bike leathers make me look like a pregnant frog with a fat arse - but if others feel happy wearing them, crack on. Come on KB - stop being a grumpy and offensive little man - I know that under the internet tough guy bile there's a considerate human lurking...

[Lost Login]

I'm happy to drive safely at high speeds,

 

I am also very happily for you to drive safely at high speed but who is the arbiter that you do or somebody else similarly is driving safely at high speed. This is not a personnal attack as there will be some who do so who have done an advanced mototing course and other courses relating to driving at speed.

 

The majority will have not and the only judge that they are driving safely at high speed is themselves. These 120+ merchants also tend to claim that they are driving within their limits. Again another self judged standard which presumably stand true until the point at which they loose it.

 

I will hold my hand up and say as a person who has occasionally put his foot down on a motorway I struggle to understand that 120mph is safe on the Islands roads as 100mph to me seems pretty fast on a motorway and i would not want to go much over that just because the speed you cover the ground. I think at 120mph you cover something like 55 meters in a second.

 

I have no definitive knowledge if I am able to drive safely at high speed or even low speed, or that I drive well within my capabilities. I believe that I am as I have a reasonably good driving record. One accident in 25 years of driving plus the odd near miss where I might have had an accident had their been other vehicles around. My father has a similar record although I have been in the car with him when he crashed. OK we were only doing 5mph and hit a bit of black ice.

 

However what characterised both the crashes and all the near misses was at the time I considered I was driving perfectly safely within my capabilities. I may have even thought that was the case afterwards but it obvioulsy was not the case or presumably the incident wold not have arisen.

 

Finally it is often argued on these pages that speed does not kill or cause accidents it is misjudgements etc. I will agree as there would be virtually no accidents if nobody ever make a mistake behind the wheel. But one of those judgements is where you limits are and get it wrong and you may be a staitic.

[WTF]

I hope this comes out right:

 

We are lucky on this Island, we have unrestricted roads (although the DOT are endeavouring to reduce them whether we like it or not) and we have a police force that still applies the law with a sense of fair play. What they are saying here is that if you display to the world that you abuse our island and its laws then they will seek you out.

 

I for one am happy with the current staus-quo, I have no intent to publish video's of myself doing 140mph over the mountain - although I do it.

 

What a monumentally stupid post. You completely miss the point ie that the videos themselves are not the problem but the excessive speeds are. So contrary to your opinion that we are lucky on the island we are unlucky in that we have buffoons like you driving at 140 mph over the mountain. You are abusing the island laws and displaying it to the world via this board. They should be seeking you out.

 

how is 140mph over the moutain abusing a law??? there is no speed limit. as long you are in control and pose no danger to other road users or yourself what's the issue? many vehicles ( motorbikes especially ) are quite stable and safe/happy to be moving at those speeds on days when visibillity and road conditions allow. too much speed in the wrong places, or on wet or icy roads is what causes accidents and bad press. look how many crashes there were with the last little snowfall!! not driving to road conditions is the problem, and thats just bad driving, nothing to do with speed. speed alone does not kill, missuse of speed can.

[The Voice of Reason]

how is 140mph over the moutain abusing a law??? there is no speed limit. as long you are in control and pose no danger to other road users or yourself what's the issue?

 

The issue is that at driving 140 mph over the mountain you are posing a danger to other road users. End of. I've twice nearly been taken out by such idiots.

[Albert Tatlock]

how is 140mph over the moutain abusing a law??? there is no speed limit. as long you are in control and pose no danger to other road users or yourself what's the issue?

I've twice nearly been taken out by such idiots.

Ah well, 'Third time lucky' they say.

[3v0]

There are also forces outside of your control no matter how good a driver/rider you are, at 140mph, if a goat runs out infront of you your fucked!

 

Look at richard hammond! (not that that was goat related.....) he was on a runway, in a car designed purely for high speed runs, not exeeding the limits of that car and a tyre blew. That can and does happen to road going vehicles.

 

I'm not really advocating an opinion on the matter, when i'm out on the bike I ride within the limits that don't make me stain my underpants and believe me that limit is well below 140! I'd just like to point out that it isn't all about how "good" you are sometimes things go wrong and if your doing 140mph instead of 50 it makes a big difference to the outcome.

[Lost Login]

how is 140mph over the moutain abusing a law??? there is no speed limit. as long you are in control and pose no danger to other road users or yourself what's the issue?

 

The issue is that at driving 140 mph over the mountain you are posing a danger to other road users. End of. I've twice nearly been taken out by such idiots.

 

This is all down to opinion and in my opinion I have to admit that 140mph over the mountain is a speed that poses danger to other road users. At that rate you cover nearly 70 yards in a second and on a two way open road with gates and other openings on the road I stuggle with the notion that 140mph is a speed that poses no danger. One slight mistake or misjudgement or lack of concentration and you may pose a great danger

 

I could repeat my reply to Stu Peters but it does astound me when you see the number of accidents on IoM Roads that People appear to believe they are almost perfect drivers and will never make a mistake or an error of judgement, or that no matter how fast or slow they are going nobody else will in their vicinity or that ahead road conditions might not be ideal or that there is a tractor or trailer trudling along, or some mud has been dropped etc etc.

 

I fully accept that with modern cars in pefect conditions with no extraneous circumstances 140mph could be safe on the road. But my view is that if you drive at 140mph under those assumptions you are a statistic waiting to happen as unfortunately generally they are not the conditions we find ourselves driving in. If I had driven on that basis most of my life I would have had numerous accidents as I would not have been able to pull out of the way, break heavily etc etc to avoid either speed freaks on the road coming the other road who have drifted over the white line or decided to overtake with restricted few or just run of the mill drivers making a split second mistake.

 

Fortunately for the odd 140 mph merchant the majority are not and I woukd suggest it is the latter that are in general more responsible for the 140 mph merchants having avoided major incidents than the 140mph merchants themselves.

[WTF]

i agree that entry speed into an accident can affect the outcome, but without an actual accident the speed is irrelevent. what speed IS safe, bearing in mind the average human form is only expected to reach speeds around 20 mph for short bursts. it is all person dependant. 40mph is warp speed to some ( the grey haired sunday driver ) and snails pace to others, it is about what you feel safe at. if travelling up the mountain mile at 80 it doesn't even get my heart rate up, it does not feel fast or on the limits to me. i feel far more at risk wondering who is going to cut me up from the wrong lane at QB than i do doing 80 on an open road.

[Tempus Fugit]

the phrases

( motorbikes especially )

and

are quite stable

to me are totaly unrelated, there's nothing so unstable as a motorbike

 

4 wheels for me, 2 fall over to easily and wreck themselves

[Lost Login]

it is about what you feel safe at. if travelling up the mountain mile at 80 it doesn't even get my heart rate up, it does not feel fast or on the limits to me.

 

That in summary is the nub of the argument. Those who like or want to drive at high speed argue it is "about what you feel safe at". The important bit in that phrase is the "you feel" safe at. It should not be what you feel safe at but at what you are safe at.

 

We all see what in our opinion are knob heads on the road. I bet if you asked them 99.99% of them would say they are driving in their opinion in a way that "they feel safe at".

 

The argument put forward by those in favour of less restrictions on drivers is that they they drive in a way that they feel safe at and within their limits. Two totally subjective opinions. The first time that somebody discovers that their opinion is wrong I or my family & friends might be coming the other way. Sorry but I do not want rules relating to how an individual drives being based on an individuals gut feelings. Would we agree to doing away with the driving test and instead say that once an individual believes themselves competent to drive they can have a license. In my opinion no but presently we have a system which once you have passed for a year allows you to drive at a speed etc which you believe yourself competent without restriction.

[Stu Peters]

This is probably becoming a circular argument as usual - but to qualify my earlier post and the points subsequently raised.

 

I have travelled at 140mph on the Mountain mile. There was nothing else in either carriageway for as far as the eye could see, I was in a supercar (and once also on a superbike in similar circumstances) and deemed it safe. I didn't factor in a wandering goat, but there's always a chance I might have seen it and avoided it, had it materialised by magic. There are very few derestricted roads suitable for a high speed hoon, but that's one of them.

 

I'm a former club-class racing driver, campaigned in modsports and Formula Ford for some years and won two championships. I take driving and safety VERY seriously, and last year became an IAM member after some superb tuition.

 

I'm admittedly not as confident on a bike though, and am considering doing an IAM course on my Yamaha. I DO make mistakes, and am quick to admit to them in the hope that others can learn without the pain.

 

Of course, I could be killed tomorrow by driving at 140mph. Or hit by a loose slate, electrocuted by faulty wiring or caught by a cuckolded husband. My only intention is to do my best not to take anyone with me.

[WTF]

another factor to consider is the vehicle in use. if you are doing 80 in a car that can do 150, you are at just over 50% of the cars ability, the brakes suspension tyres etc are all working well below levels they are capable of. if you are doing 80 ( if it gets there ) in a 1970's mini, everything is at its limits and is far more dangerous than a modern car at similar speeds.

[The Voice of Reason]

My only intention is to do my best not to take anyone with me.

 

Let's just hope your best is good enough then.

 

I doubt anyone causing a fatal crash intended to take anyone with them (or indeed kill themselves). Fact remains 140 mph is a ridiculous speed to be doing anywhere on the Island.