Driving in the Philippines

yet they have a death rate per 100,000 on the roads nearly triple that of the UK

And according to my brother-in-law, who lives there, road rage often results in somebody grabbing his machete from behind the seat.

So they don't understand how to make best use of a three lane road either?

Tim

Yeah on national road (A or B roads). This is because anything can appears from anywhere anytime on country roads. Unlike in UK, you don't have a sense that your lane is clear as far as you can see. Unlit vehicles can appear at night. Bicycles going opposite rather than trying to cross the road. People, animals wandering about all hours. But the motorways are different.

I doubt very much that their 'motorway' death rate is anything like as low as the UK (2 per billion km travelled)

That sounds just like Cambridge;!...

I am surprised that so many of my acquaintances (especially women), are afraid of driving om Motorways. On a Traffic Light Awareness course (cough) we were asked to guess what %age of accidents occur on Motorways, country roads and local roads.

The answer surprised some of us, 4%, about 18% and 82% respectively.

I put the country road figure higher.

So did you figure on a total percentage higher than 104%, too?

Perhaps a basic arithmetic awareness course would be a good plan for your tutors?

.gov know the right answer: Overall, most road casualties (i.e. fatal and non-fatal) tend to occur on built-up roads. In 2012, 71% of casualties occurred on built-up roads compared to 24% on non built-up roads and 5% on motorways (see Table 2).

total 100 per cent

Yep, that adds up to 100%... I'm not altogether surprised at the figures, either.

On the SAC I did a year or so ago, in a predominately very rural area, the figure they were stressing was that the country roads - especially out here in the arse end of nowhere - tend to have much more serious incidents, with a higher likelihood of KSI. Partly because speeds are higher, partly because if you have a single-vehicle incident, you can easily go un-noticed, especially if you fall off the road into a valley or river.

LOL!

I remembered the 4% and rough proportion of the other two figures!

I'll look for the booklet in which I wrote my guess, but I think it's been recycled.

I did say "about", the 4% was definitely what they gave us for motorways. :-)

I found the booklet; we were given 4%, 21% and 75% by the course lecturer.

My memory is as bad as my arithmetic...

Do you remember what the traffic light problem was? :)

Yes. :-) It was on Alan Turing Way, in Manchester, where there are 16 sets of lights, two of which have cameras. I have made the journey almost every Friday evening for the last 15 years, and this is the first time I was nicked.

My recollection was of passing the signal on amber, probably too far into the amber phase, but the photo showed my car within the junction traveling at 26mph, and the signals on red.

According to the course lecturer, the camera is not triggered until the lights are on red when the vehicle crosses the line. I decided that he knew what he was talking about, and when I approach traffic signals I treat amber as STOP, unless it would require emergency braking. I am also committed to approaching at a speed which allows for this.

One old lady (80) of my acquaintance has attended 2 SACs, so I assume she learned nothing from the course. ;-)

Thought you only got one go at SAC.

Mum's Aunt had to do one at 94.

One go within three years. They've been running them longer than that.

It may also be that data is not shared across police forces, as I know of one lucky person that did two within a year. The first was with Thames Valley police, the second in Dorset.

Chris

They told us that if the offence was repeated within 3 years a course would not be offered, and fines and points would be issued.

Maybe three years had elapsed between her SACs?

Wish I had an aunt like her. :-)