Microcar Crashes

[marcus]

True, I can find little sympathy for the motorcyclist, 85 is far too fast on any road with junctions. As a regular cyclist I know that everyone on two wheels has to be very wary: at a T junction where you are on the main through road you will frequently see the driver wanting to join your road looking straight at you, you fix them in the eyes, but then their brain says "it's alright, it's just a bike, I'll pull out anyway". You HAVE to be ready to brake, swerve or jump or you will be another statistic. This biker was going far too fast anyway, and left him/herself no space or time to manoever. Probably young and inexperienced and enjoying the thrills of (short) life.

Sadly it is not just young motorcyclists who die. Plenty of older men can suddenly afford a nice bike after year of work and relive their adolescence. These Weekend Warriors can be seen all over the country, but they fail to understand that their modern machines are going very much faster than the bikes they grew up on, and also fail to realise that their reactions are very much slower.

[Big Al]

I would have thought it were quite feasible to equip these amazing computer controlled modern cars with an engine cut out if a mobile phone signal of a certain strength was used inside it without the system being on a proper hands free set. If it were up to me I would ban them as well, but the real danger are the bandits wuffing at phones in the hand. That would be a useful extra, like self de icing front screens most cars do not have. Modulated head lights that do not dazzle when in the presence of light etc etc. No lets go for totally useless extras which massage the ego of the driver, remove him further from reality into a computer game and make loads of money by programming the whole thing to go pop on a random time/mileage basis to get extra revenue. The majority fall for it. These guys will not be happy until the have perfected the long term lease a series of cars to us called 'ownership' as the accepted system. Safety, its a thing you do to keep the Government quiet, if they do not apply pressure where is the motivation. Do people buy predominantly the safest cars on the road, no. They tend to buy the trendiest thing they can get away with.

[Bob Purton]

Its like the fatal G-wiz crash that happen over a year ago, a female research scientist was killed in North London, immediately the news papers were full of stuff about how the G-wiz is unsafe and should be banned [of course if you did that you would have to ban all bicycles, motorcycle, vintage/classic cars and anything not meeting a modern crash test for full size cars!] , months later when the results of the inquest were made public it turned out that she was on her mobil phone, not wearing a seat belt and pulled out into oncoming traffic. It does put a slightly different complexion on the accident.

[marcus]

Cars are constantly getter bigger, safer and more comfortable. They are also capable of much higher speed, cornering and braking, so drivers feel comfortable and safe, and take more risks. They also drive faster, because to get speed thrills in a modern car is impossible at any legal road speeds, whereas 30-50 mph in a bubble is very exciting.

[AndrewG]

.....without the system being on a proper hands free set. If it were up to me I would ban them as well, but the real danger are the bandits wuffing at phones in the hand.

I believe research data says that hands-free and handheld mobile phone use are about the same danger - it's the distraction, not the use of one hand, that's the problem.  Otherwise smoking, eating and drinking would need to be banned too.

I think the law is restricted only to handheld because:
- the police can't prove hands-free use;
- the legislators use hands-free themselves and they can't be a problem, can they?

I think mobile phone use today is just where drink driving was 20-30 years ago - most people think it's dangerous for others to do, but they think they themselves do it safely - along the lines of "I think I'm actually a safer driver after I've had a drink or two".

[marcus]

.....without the system being on a proper hands free set. If it were up to me I would ban them as well, but the real danger are the bandits wuffing at phones in the hand.

I believe research data says that hands-free and handheld mobile phone use are about the same danger - it's the distraction, not the use of one hand, that's the problem.  Otherwise smoking, eating and drinking would need to be banned too.

I think the law is restricted only to handheld because:
- the police can't prove hands-free use;
- the legislators use hands-free themselves and they can't be a problem, can they?

I think mobile phone use today is just where drink driving was 20-30 years ago - most people think it's dangerous for others to do, but they think they themselves do it safely - along the lines of "I think I'm actually a safer driver after I've had a drink or two".


Yup, that's about it!
For a while my girlfriend had a neighbour whose routine was to get her children into her Range Rover Sport, strap them in, get in a strapped herself, start up the car, clap the phone to her head, then drive off at high speed along tiny residential roads. Any children playing in the road or pets had a loud blast of horn but no deceleration or allowances made for them. I never once in 3 years saw her driving without holding the phone to her head, or looking backwards and thrashing her other arm over the seat-back her to scold the children. The new RR was at the bodyshop about every 3 months.

[Big Al]

Its like the fatal G-wiz crash that happen over a year ago, a female research scientist was killed in North London, immediately the news papers were full of stuff about how the G-wiz is unsafe and should be banned [of course if you did that you would have to ban all bicycles, motorcycle, vintage/classic cars and anything not meeting a modern crash test for full size cars!] , months later when the results of the inquest were made public it turned out that she was on her mobil phone, not wearing a seat belt and pulled out into oncoming traffic. It does put a slightly different complexion on the accident.

Rather red faced in more ways the one!

[wilksie]

A microcar winning a confrontation with a lorry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DXqggvUJpI&NR=1

A topic from last year, but I meant to post this youtube link for some time. At 46 sec the driver's foot slips off the brake pedal on to the accelerator. For the first 15 seconds there appears to be another Biscuter in the background with the soft top up.

[marcus]

^ Great fun!

[richard]

yes but rusty chrome posted the same piece exactly under his biscuter thread , a couple of days ago . i was the only one to comment didn't any one else watch it .he also posted another biscuter film - very good as i said the other day 

[marcus]

I have a good excuse...I was away with my girlfriend!

[richard]

cherche la femme  do look at rustys though the other film is great stuff biscuters en force

[marcus]

Cheers, have done so!

[blob]

Not quite a crash, Isetta cornering!

http://vimeo.com/4823589

[marcus]

That rear over-hang saved the day!

It looks to me like he was accelerating hard out of the corner while already leaning, and that is where single rear wheelers are less stable.