i can't remember the commedian that suggested it but the way to make the
roads much safer is to remove all air bags and put a very sharp, large spike
in the middle of the steering wheel. i think that would make people
concentrate on their driving skills!

over here in NZ we have a huge problem with Driver arrogance, Kiwi bloke all
think theu are Micheal Schumacker.....so our police force now has a 3 strike
policy....you get demerrits for traffic offences, graded on the
severity...IE the hiigher the speed, the more points once you reach a level
of points in a time frame you loose your licence and have no right to
appeal. We also have speed cameras, both in plane view and very well marked
and now hidden.....but all this only comes after the fact....

We have recently tightened up the procedure for obtaining a license, we used
to be able to sit a simple test at 15 years old and then drive with out
restriction, but now we have a graduated system with restrictions. Such as
no passengers, no driving after sunset etc etc....
\

BUT to be honest these changes I feel are more required because of the
vehicles we have on the road today, yes all the "saftey" features lead to a
felling of immortality for many but I think the bigger issue is the power
the modern motor car is putting out. Back in the mists of time when I was a
young driver a powerful car was my Mini 850 which had all of 25-30bhp, but
today young folk can and do drive around in cars which develope upwards of
150bhp and all the other flash go faster bits....to be honest I feel its
power thats not needed and the enforcement people should be looking at
restricting power etc to young learner drivers....
Another issue which effects driver saftey is these bemouths of vehicles
which some folk just insist on driving, such as the big american style
SUV's....why do we need these in such numbers on our roads? Drivers of these
vehicles should also recived attention and restriction until they are
assesed as competent to drive one. I remember my motorcycling days when we
used to always complain about how car drivers never looked for us
riders...well now we have gone up a step and the SUV driver now dosnt look
for us small car drivers.....
I had first hand experience in dealing with this, I drive a Mini around town
and I can guratee that someone in the course of a morning will fail to "see
me" and pull out in front of me, or fail to indicate or what ever...I now
also drive a 4WD Landrover, for towing and use on the farm and have sudenly
noticed how no matter what they are driving no one now fails to give way or
yeild to me......quite enjoy it really LOL but it has tough me a huge lesson
in awareness of the roads around me....which being an ex bike rider also
did. I always look twice, and then look again weather Im in my Mini, in the
Landi or riding my bikes....as many have already said its a matter of
perception ....maybe we need to put all drivers through a similar regiment
of experience to teach them perception

Tim
Just the rambling of an old bloke...who when I was 21 I promised myself I'd
never become LOL !!!!!!!!!