Young Drivers are idiots.

[Salazaar]

You're excusing people of taking responsibility for the way they're driving.

Yes, people may drive irresponsibly but that's entirely their choice, manouvering around an island safely is not a task beyond the whit of man and if done at the appropriate speed, with due care, should not cause any more danger to anyone than driving down the street normally. Should anyone choose not to behave in that way its hardly the fault of the situation but directly down to the driver in question.

If there isn't enough space around an island in a specific situation it's because the island has been poorly layed out by the planner and not because the concept itself is flawed. I already said that's a situation which would need to be remedied by the local council.

As to why you might use them, perhaps because they're actually far more effective at curbing the speed of traffic than humps, because they're only safe to navigate at much lower speeds. Again bringing us back to the fact that it is the driver that must be responsible for navigating them at the right speed.

I'm not saying that accident won't happen but there's no greater risk going round something like that than going round a parked car or two and if they can't do a simple thing like that right then they're probably shouldn't be driving anyway.

[Dorza]

You're excusing people of taking responsibility for the way they're driving.

Yes, people may drive irresponsibly but that's entirely their choice, manouvering around an island safely is not a task beyond the whit of man and if done at the appropriate speed, with due care, should not cause any more danger to anyone than driving down the street normally. Should anyone choose not to behave in that way its hardly the fault of the situation but directly down to the driver in question.

If there isn't enough space around an island in a specific situation it's because the island has been poorly layed out by the planner and not because the concept itself is flawed. I already said that's a situation which would need to be remedied by the local council.

As to why you might use them, perhaps because they're actually far more effective at curbing the speed of traffic than humps, because they're only safe to navigate at much lower speeds. Again bringing us back to the fact that it is the driver that must be responsible for navigating them at the right speed.

I'm not saying that accident won't happen but there's no greater risk going round something like that than going round a parked car or two and if they can't do a simple thing like that right then they're probably shouldn't be driving anyway.

Well you know, my eyes don't lie to me. I've seen countless people almost get a smash when they're going around these things (including the police as I said previously) because a) They are reckless or b) they made the wrong decision - shame on them. If the thing wasn't there, they would never have been in that situation in the first place, fact. I'm sure there are many more people around the country who have also been witness to and been in a similar situation.

I will never accept that, these legalised obstructions add anything to the overall safety of our roads. On the one hand they slow traffic (+1), and on the other hand you have people taking risks with them (-1). Another note worth taking heed of is that people who want to speed will speed past them if the road is clear (as is the case with speed bumps), so they fail to slow down the target audience in such a situation. So with these facts in mind where is the real safety in them?

[Salazaar]

Well I do know that they've been effectively deployed near me in an inner city area, reducing speed down a long stretch of road with no additional incovenience to traffic than the cars parked in nearby streets. When used correctly, i.e. alternating left and right along a stretch of road, you'd have to be trying very, very hard to get up the sort of speed to be a danger to anyone.

If it can be done right there I can see no reason why it shouldn't be done successfully elsewhere.

And I'm sorry, I still can't accept a defense that if a thing weren't there that a reckless driver wouldn't have problems with it. You could say the same of just about anything stopping up the road, parked cars, crossings, traffic lights, even pedestrians!

[greektony]

does anyone else not think kalniel is being just a tad pedantic. 70mph in the fast lane is dumb. If you don't agree with people speeding on the motorways then GET OUT THERE WAY AND LET THEM GET ON WITH IT. All you are doing is enticing an accident to happen or get some nutter to follow you home and bitch slap you real hard. Real, real hard.

[kalniel]

Me?

Anyway, how can I get out of the way if I'm overtaking someone?

[staffsMike]

does anyone else not think kalniel is being just a tad pedantic. 70mph in the fast lane is dumb. If you don't agree with people speeding on the motorways then GET OUT THERE WAY AND LET THEM GET ON WITH IT. All you are doing is enticing an accident to happen or get some nutter to follow you home and bitch slap you real hard. Real, real hard.

Depends. There is nothing I like more than to just sit back on 70mph and cruise down the motorway (In the inner most lane possible of course).

If I need to be in the outside lane I will be.

But, when the traffic thickens up, and you get the typical driving standards we are all used to seeing, increasing speed seems like the only reasonable course of action to avoid getting stuck in numpty traffic.

I mean if you are doing 70mph and you catching someone up doing 68mph what do you do?

You are well within your rights to overtake if it's clear. But half an hour later when 68mph car has decided once you are half way passed that 70mph would be a better speed to do and you are both going no where fast.. and you have 35 cars waiting to get passed you, what do you do. Speed up and get passed or slow down and pull back in.. or just sit there and wait for something to happen..

My personal choice is to speed up. I refuse to follow people who speed up as you overtake them it's bad manors

[idimmu]

the extra lanes on the motorway are overtaking lanes, so if your overtaking people and you need to go into the outside lane doing 70 then so be it. if you just sitting in the fast lane at 70 just driving then its stupid. a lot of people dont drive in the correct lanes and tend to just sit in the middle lane which can clog up traffic