[BBC News] Teenager dies in wall collision

[Newsbot]

An 18-year-old man dies when the car he was a passenger in hit a wall and overturned in the Isle of Man.

 

Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/...man/7384197.stm

[The Thriller]

one of my best friends was killed there In August 98, I know its a 40mph but couldnt the DOT do something usefull and change the corners that need changing like Hillberry.

[andrew]

one of my best friends was killed there In August 98, I know its a 40mph but couldnt the DOT do something usefull and change the corners that need changing like Hillberry.

 

But it's a 40 limit at that corner. As you come down the hill, especially at night, you can't fail to notice the signs and there is plenty of space to slow down there. If you are doing 40 around the corner, then there isn't a problem with it. The people that seem to crash there (as far as I know) are all doing way more than 40 (no disrespect to your friend).

 

There isn't a lot the DOT can do to that corner - if they curve it out even more, then people will drive faster through it.

 

Unfortunatly, the DOT will probably have a kneejerk reaction and move the 40 limit to the exit of Brandish and then make it a 30 limit where the current 40 limit starts. The problem being that people will still drive hell for leather down from Brandish and still crash at the corner.

 

I can't see what can be done at that corner to make it slower, short of putting in speed humps!!!

[keyboarder]

I can't see what can be done at that corner to make it slower

 

The installation of a speed camera or two would probably do it.

[jimbms]

one of my best friends was killed there In August 98, I know its a 40mph but couldnt the DOT do something usefull and change the corners that need changing like Hillberry.

Even better couldn't the drivers drive within the speed limit, the cars limit and their own limits.

[The Thriller]

Yeah but some drivers dont

[TerryMcCann]

I can't see what can be done at that corner to make it slower

 

The installation of a speed camera or two would probably do it.

 

Can't argue with that

[Frances]

I know nothing about the current incident and thus can't comment on it - however as the Government spends most of its road maintenance money on a race track and then allows all to use it, then why is anyone surprised that some drive beyond their limits and ignore unenforced speed limits.

Speed bumps and other traffic calming devices etc are needed at several places on the course but of course the TT is more important.

[3v0]

I don't want to sound cold because it's tragic when anyone dies regardless of age, so this isn't anything to do with the current incident or any specifically...just for the record.

 

Why does the DOT / Government etc etc have to do anything? Every time there's an accident there is this attitude that someone is to blame and something must be done to prevent accidents, unfortunatly accidents happen all the time! There is no way you can go through life and not be at risk of something happening to you, even if you stayed at home and never left you could still be killed by a freak ironing accident or something!

 

If you want to completely eliminate road traffic accidents then the only thing you can do is eliminate road traffic....sorted, 100% solution to the problem, other than that then sometimes these things are going to happen and there isn't anyone to blame other than mechanical problem or driver driving above their limits / car's limits / road conditions or maybe even a freak accident.

[Max Power]

I know nothing about the current incident and thus can't comment on it - however as the Government spends most of its road maintenance money on a race track and then allows all to use it, then why is anyone surprised that some drive beyond their limits and ignore unenforced speed limits.

Speed bumps and other traffic calming devices etc are needed at several places on the course but of course the TT is more important.

 

That we should need traffic calming on a main road sounds ridiculous to me. We don't have it on any other 'A' roads on the Island or in the UK on similar graded roads.

 

If an accident like this occurrs in a speed limit then only the driver really knows what happened, so called traffic calming can be just as dangerous as anything if ignored like a speed limit. Blaming the Highways Dept and the TT is just masking the real cause. This is a rural society and deaths and injuries happen on other roads also, perhaps we should straighten every single road, track and street so that corners are eliminated totally?

[Chinahand]

It isn't the risks themselves, its that people miscalculate the risks.

 

Society tries very hard to ensure that risks and peoples perceptions of risk align. The risks of driving without a seat belt are huge, but if you are a 17 year old in a rush it doesn't seem such a big thing. Hence mandation.

 

The problem is that people have very wide risk perceptions and these vary alot. On a Wednesday going into work, people will tend to calculate the risks of a certain overtaking manoeuvre very differently than on a Saturday night going for a BIG night out.

 

Society will always have to put up with risk - I find it irksome when people simplistically go on about people wanting to eliminate all traffic or whatever. There are huge advantages that vastly out weigh the risks in having cars etc , but people, especially the young will miscalculate the risks and either hurt themselves or die.

 

There are very few disadvantages, for example, in getting to Douglas from Ramsey 5 minutes later - but the risk reduction in forcing that behaviour change will save lives.

 

I have really great difficulty when people go - they knew the risks, it was their choice. More often than not the people didn't know the risks, and the cost in ruined lives is far more than the state taking an effort to stop people miscalculating.

[3v0]

It isn't the risks themselves, its that people miscalculate the risks.

 

Society tries very hard to ensure that risks and peoples perceptions of risk align. The risks of driving without a seat belt are huge, but if you are a 17 year old in a rush it doesn't seem such a big thing. Hence mandation.

 

The problem is that people have very wide risk perceptions and these vary alot. On a Wednesday going into work, people will tend to calculate the risks of a certain overtaking manoeuvre very differently than on a Saturday night going for a BIG night out.

 

Society will always have to put up with risk - I find it irksome when people simplistically go on about people wanting to eliminate all traffic or whatever. There are huge advantages that vastly out weigh the risks in having cars etc , but people, especially the young will miscalculate the risks and either hurt themselves or die.

 

There are very few disadvantages, for example, in getting to Douglas from Ramsey 5 minutes later - but the risk reduction in forcing that behaviour change will save lives.

 

I have really great difficulty when people go - they knew the risks, it was their choice. More often than not the people didn't know the risks, and the cost in ruined lives is far more than the state taking an effort to stop people miscalculating.

 

Yeah that's what I was trying to say only less eloquently!

[Utah 01]

3Vo - completely correct. Another young life needlessly lost but more breast-beating, more inept calls for 'speed cameras here', 'speed bumps there' will ensue. An accident is the result of something upsetting 'the norm' and that external influence on 'the norm' can either be within or outwith the control of the affected person/object. Much of our everyday lives is actually taken up with constant risk assessment and accident avoidance that results in self-preservation ie constantly consciously and subconconciously using our senses to monitor the environment to ensure anything that might affect 'the norm' is apporpriatley dealt with. Thus, we survive.

 

Without prejudging any investigation into this 'accident' but based on the recent history of 'young driver/passenger' car road deaths on this Island the cause will, I venture to submit, be due to an inexperienced driver driving at a speed inappropriate to his/her ability and, most importantly, the road conditions (which encompasses the geography of the road).

 

So, let's forget calls for 'smoothing the bend' or installing speed control. Thousands of cars drive quite safely past this spot daily and no accidents occur. What we must do is try to get through to the 'Boy Racer' community is that the mark of a good driver is her/his ability to drive safely, and that doesn't necessarly mean dawdle (a hazard in itself), at a speed appropriate to 'road conditions' and all that is encompassed in that term.

[Chinahand]

Utah 01 I fail to see why a speed camera will not help. If you agree that speeding is illegal what is wrong with putting a camera at an accident black spot as a "reminder" to the boy racers to be good citizens?

[3v0]

Utah 01 I fail to see why a speed camera will not help. If you agree that speeding is illegal what is wrong with putting a camera at an accident black spot as a "reminder" to the boy racers to be good citizens?

 

I don't personally believe speed scameras achieve the desired result, especially not over here, unless you are going to put cameras in fairly close proximity to each other on every road they just won't work, ok so it takes 2 days to learn where all the cameras are so you slow down for them, just make up the time somewhere else....meaning even faster driving to make up for lost time, they just don't work in the big picture and are another way of generating profit.