Shite 'heads up' - 1983 Mazda RX-7 on BBC Panorama

[ProgRocker]

Panorama - Drivers who kill. Very interesting programme, includes a comparison between 2 Mazdas: an RX-7 of 1983 vintage and a 2014 Mazda3.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04c01vs/panorama-drivers-who-kill

 

Do drivers really need 'Faceache' on their dashboard screen when 95%+ of them have smartphones that can access it?

[AnthonyG]

I remember seeing that and thinking 'what a shitheap'. If that's the best old Mazda they could find at short notice...

 

The bit where he said 'all the knobs are just controls for the car' with a close of the empty radio hole (remains of a standard DIN metal bezel carved into the dashboard to fit something aftermarket remained) made me chuckle.

[Spiny Norman]

I saw that the other day.
They have a point, and I reckon it's only a matter of time before the EU intervenes and calls a halt to all this internet shite that's appearing in modern cars before your windscreen is replaced by a widescreen LCD monitor displaying all your faceache updates, cute kitty-cats and Xhamster with the outside world and view of the road ahead reduced to a small window in the corner which flashes when you're about to hit something.

 

I am of course a grumpy old luddite fart and no doubt have this totally wrong. I'm sure this is the way of the future and it'll all be perfectly safe*.

[Bobthebeard]

I saw that the other day.

They have a point, and I reckon it's only a matter of time before the EU intervenes and calls a halt to all this internet shite that's appearing in modern cars before your windscreen is replaced by a widescreen LCD monitor displaying all your faceache updates, cute kitty-cats and Xhamster with the outside world and view of the road ahead reduced to a small window in the corner which flashes when you're about to hit something.

 

I am of course a grumpy old luddite fart and no doubt have this totally wrong. I'm sure this is the way of the future and it'll all be perfectly safe*.

Actually being able to see the road/traffic conditions in most modern cars that I have driven seems more difficult than it should be. Wide screen pillars and low rooflines etc. How anyone can actually see anything from inside a Range Rover Evoque, for example, is a mystery.

Must be like peering out of a WW2 pillbox bunker.

[Skizzer]

Facebook and Twitter while driving?  For fuck's sake.

 

Obviously 5 deaths a day on the roads is a bad thing, but what these TV shows never say is that 10 years ago it was more than 9, and 20 years ago it was nearly 12.

 

Since 1992:

• Traffic volumes are up 19%
• ...but the number of accidents is down 38%
• ...and the number of road deaths is down a massive 59%.  Even cyclist and motorbiker deaths are down 42% and 30% respectively.

​Using a mobile phone is a contributing factor in 1% of fatal road accidents (it's much lower with non-fatal accidents, 0.3%, but when someone is killed the police are much more likely to check whether the phone was being used).  It's 40th on the list of causal factors.  Twice as many fatal accidents are caused by drivers being dazzled by the sun.

 

The three biggest causes of road accidents are drivers not looking properly (a factor in 30% of accidents), not judging others' speed correctly (22%) and driving carelessly, recklessly or 'in a hurry' (16%).  These are all much the same thing: shit driving.  Where's the report into how come so many shit drivers are getting (and keeping) licences? And on why so much of the police / Highways Agency / local authority focus is still on enforcing speed limits?  (Breaking the speed limit is a factor in 4% of accidents, by the way.)

 

Having Facebook next to the rev counter is completely stupid, but I call this Panorama piece very lazy reporting.  Now there's a surprise.

 

 

 

(If anyone else cares, all the statistics are here.)

[Bobthebeard]

Statistics are just that... Statistics. What is an accident? An incident that was reported to the police or one resulting in injury?

Many low speed knocks go unreported. Drivers 'not looking properly' is, in my opinion partially down to reduced visibility from inside the cars. Too much interior clutter and distractions etc.

[Skizzer]

Reported to the police, whether someone was injured or not.  The Panorama piece was about fatal accidents:  I think it's safe to assume the great majority of these get reported.

[robinmasters]

Why would anyone need Facebook read out to them while driving? People are fucking loons. I suppose it is slightly safer than the dim-witted bimbos playing with their phones (/sexism, but it is normally a woman in big sunglasses driving a white car veering all over the road whilst they type out something incredibly important*).

 

I actually sided with the police for once. Using a lorry so that they could look down into people's cars (and into lorries) was a brilliant idea, and something I'm quite happy for them to spend 'my' money on.

[garethj]

When you're on a motorbike you pass a lot of traffic, especially if you're a filtering god like I am.  That's when you really notice how many people are playing with their phones while driving.

 

You can see them from a few cars back, slowly drifting from one side of their lane to the other.