Don't Drink & Drive

gubble

Fairly obvious statement to make.

On the way home from a gig last night my drummer and singer who were sharing a lift witnessed this accident:

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/15788911.Driver_has_lucky_escape_from_dramatic_crash_on_Hampshire_road

The car missed them by metres, by pure luck they got away with just a few scratches on the car and thankfully didn't cause them to loose control when hit by debris but they were both quite shook up when I spoke to them around 2am.

Crazy that in this day and age people still try their luck and drive after having a drink. This guy walked away, could very easily not have. Could also very easily have killed two of my closest friends and devastated their families forever.

Sesh

Crikey, glad your band mates were ok.
I heard a car rolled over on the road from Ringwood to verwood yesterday afternoon too. Don't know what caused that though. Those roads always have nutters on them.

DefaultM

I'm not working at the minute and most days when driving I'll see multiple things that make me say "What. The. Fuck?!".

People going all the way around a roundabout without signaling. Why would you do that? You know that you're supposed to signal and it helps stop other people from driving in to you.
People waiting at a junction, seeing me coming, making eye contact, waiting, and then cutting in front at the last second so I have to slam on.

gubble

The stretch between the M27 and Rufus Stone always worries me. I've experienced a car doing 30mph along that bit where you go up the hill just before the Travelodge. That caused quite a few cars to anchor on.

The A35 between Lyndhurst and New Milton can be very dangerous at that time of night too. So many people drive way too fast on it and some really slowly. I've seen a few bad accidents on that stretch on the way home.

mellowsun

On a related note a family friend was killed by a hit and run driver last Christmas.

The culprit received only a 14 month driving ban. The maximum sentence for failing to stop after a fatal collision is only 6 months. If this bothers you, please sign this petition 

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/208008

Phil_aka_Pip

'funny, a car "ploughed into" the central reservation. Didn't collide with it or hit it, that language wouldn't be sensational enough.

scrumhalf

We are way too soft on drink-driving offences.

Emp_Fab

Last night it was a standard pre Christmas drink.. One thing led to another and I had a few too many drinks and then went onto the shots!! Not a good idea. Knowing I was over the limit, I decided to leave my car in town and took the bus home. Sure enough, I passed a police checkpoint where they were pulling over drivers and breathalysing them.  Because I was in a bus they just waved it past.   I arrived home safely and without incident, which was a real surprise as I've never driven a bus before and I am not even sure where the fuck I got it from.

MrBump

Emp_Fab said:

Last night it was a standard pre Christmas drink.. One thing led to another and I had a few too many drinks and then went onto the shots!! Not a good idea. Knowing I was over the limit, I decided to leave my car in town and took a taxi home. Sure enough, I passed a police checkpoint where they were pulling over drivers and breathalysing them.  Because I was in a taxi they just waved it past.   I arrived home safely and without incident, which was a real surprise as I've never driven a taxi before and I am not even sure where the fuck I got it from.

Worthy of a "lol".

EricTheWeary

scrumhalf said:

We are way too soft on drink-driving offences.

The U.K. drink driving laws are very old ( although sentencing guidelines have been revised several times) and probably not fit for purpose. It’s also often a crime that’s a bit more across class boundaries so a lot of perpetrators pleading that it was a one off mistake, they can’t lose their jobs,etc, etc, or they’ve started sorting their drink problem out - people who present themselves better than maybe the run of the mill folk who went to court.
It’s also quite complex and even different in Scotland than the rest of the U.K. 

I haven’t looked at it recently but figures were generally going down for a long time, very few younger people as well.  If I walked through reception in Probation and there was a man over fifty in there I’d think drink driver or sex offender and I was rarely wrong. We also used to get a disproportionate number of of female drink drivers ( disproportionate to the overall percentage of female offenders) although women’s bodies generally process alcohol more slowly than men so they can be over the limit on less alcohol. 

Pretty common when speaking to people people convicted of drink driving that they would be in favour of a zero limit ( several countries have this) because the element of ‘ I’m probably alright, I’ll take a chance’ would be removed. For some reason there's never been a political will to get it changed. 

xwaspfan

It should be zero alcohol for driving end of
This country of ours is far too soft on law and order IMO

Moe_Zambeek

It's closer to zero up here. Good for the coppers of a morning  

i dont really think the limit or the law is the problem, it's enforcement. If no one gets caught because roads policing is a job for the gatsos these days what can you do? A blitz at Christmas isn't really good enough.

I'd also add that I see more shoddy driving through phone use than anything else these days and no one is catching them either. I followed someone today weaving all over the road because she was changing tracks on her iPhone, which incidentally was stuck to the middle of her windscreen almost right in front of her.

on an average commute in the city on 2 wheels, easily 60% of drivers in queues or slow moving traffic are on their phones. In winter it's even easier to see them because there lit up from the 'hidden' screens on their laps.

xwaspfan

I agree using phones is pure stupidity whilst driving and this should be a driving ban for 12 months
A phone should be locked in the boot while driving

Phil_aka_Pip

waspfan said:

It should be zero alcohol for driving end of
This country of ours is far too soft on law and order IMO

I'm not convinced. I've read stuff (where? when? well, too long ago to be sure but ...) it said that they have zero tolerance in some european countries together with worse crash statistics than ours, so IMO small amounts of alcohol are not the problem, driving competence is. I also think that while finding a "limit" below which you are legal and above which you aren't is difficult, and in some peoples' opinion arbitrary, it's better than banning someone for half a pint's worth of alcohol when there's no proof that his driving was in any way substandard as a result of it.

Having said that I've read local stories about people umpteen times over the limit that escape jail or even keep their licences and I'm thinking your second sentence is quite correct.

EDIT 12 months is too short a ban for use of phone while driving, should be 5 years

xwaspfan

No
Zero tolerance is the only way forward

Phil_aka_Pip

waspfan said:

No
Zero tolerance is the only way forward

We'll have to agree to differ on that one.

ronnyb

I stopped drinking and driving. I kept spilling it.

Emp_Fab

Me too.  You can't solve society's ills with a blinkered approach of ever more severe punishment.  It simply doesn't work.

xwaspfan

We're  too soft as a nation and that ain't working from where I'm looking

Emp_Fab

Where are you looking though?  Or is this just one of these swivel-eyed, poorly thought through, oversimplifications advocating "locking them all up and throwing away the key / national service / birching / stopping their benefits / sending the buggers back / bringing back hanging" ?

Dominic

I never drink and drive ..............I'm bad enough when I'm sober