Drink Driving .

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Jersey
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Drink Driving .

Post by Jersey »

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Dominic
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by Dominic »

Good for them.
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Living in Polemi, Cyprus with my wife and daughter.
Kili01
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by Kili01 »

Good for the Police, but it is no good just doing this for a week. Drink driving is a big problem here, as is driving using a mobile and speeding. The crack down should be 24/7 to try to make the roads safer for all who use them.

Dee
geoffreys

Re: Drink Driving .

Post by geoffreys »

Kili01 wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 7:08 am Good for the Police, but it is no good just doing this for a week. Drink driving is a big problem here, as is driving using a mobile and speeding. The crack down should be 24/7 to try to make the roads safer for all who use them.

Dee
I agree, but are we prepared to pay double on annual road tax to pay for it?
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Ramone
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by Ramone »

Where did you get that figure from Geoff ?
trevnhil
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by trevnhil »

Surely it would be self financing from the fines.

Trev..
Trev..
geoffreys

Re: Drink Driving .

Post by geoffreys »

Ramone wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 10:09 am Where did you get that figure from Geoff ?
Rough guestimate. Point is, would folks be prepared to pay ANY extra, assuming fines did not cover all the extra enforcement costs, which they probably wouldn't given the rather high salaries paid here to public servants?
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cyprusgrump
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by cyprusgrump »

I'd like to see the police more active generally - rather than being parked up trying to catch speeding or drinking motorists.

On the way back from Pafos on the motorway on Monday there was a police motorcyclist that had hidden his bike and himself behind one of those big green plastic things on the motorway slip-road and had his radar gun pointing at the traffic.

I can't help but think that if he'd been riding around Pafos (instead of trying to catch motorists doing over 120Kph) he'd have seen some of the really terrible driving that I had witnessed while I was there and achieved much more in the way of harm reduction...
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Ramone
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by Ramone »

I agree, everyday you see people attempting to drive around Paphos, I sometimes wonder if they have a driving license in the first place.
I also don't see the point of sitting on a dual carriageway with a speed limit of 50 KPH hoping to catch somebody doing 65 / 70 !!
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cyprusgrump
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by cyprusgrump »

Ramone wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 3:05 pm I agree, everyday you see people attempting to drive around Paphos, I sometimes wonder if they have a driving license in the first place.
I also don't see the point of sitting on a dual carriageway with a speed limit of 50 KPH hoping to catch somebody doing 65 / 70 !!
Agreed!

They are the worst actually aren't they...? Enforcing a 50Kph speed limit on a dual carriageway with central reservation - the safest type of roads...

Meanwhile, missing: -

Mobile phone use and sometimes texting
Kids climbing around inside the car
Pulling out without looking
Creeping at traffic lights
Poor lane discipline
Vehicles which clearly haven't visited an MoT station for years/decades
etc.
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Lincoln
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by Lincoln »

Ramone wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 3:05 pm I agree, everyday you see people attempting to drive around Paphos, I sometimes wonder if they have a driving license in the first place.
I also don't see the point of sitting on a dual carriageway with a speed limit of 50 KPH hoping to catch somebody doing 65 / 70 !!
50 K is the MAXIMUM speed allowed . Any speed over that is HIGHLY DANGEROUS. Speed KILLS.
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cyprusgrump
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by cyprusgrump »

Lincoln wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 3:41 pm
Ramone wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 3:05 pm I agree, everyday you see people attempting to drive around Paphos, I sometimes wonder if they have a driving license in the first place.
I also don't see the point of sitting on a dual carriageway with a speed limit of 50 KPH hoping to catch somebody doing 65 / 70 !!
50 K is the MAXIMUM speed allowed . Any speed over that is HIGHLY DANGEROUS. Speed KILLS.
That is clearly nonsense...

Poor driving kills, driving at an inappropriate speed for the conditions kills, having a poorly maintained vehicle may kill and being distracted at the wheel may kill. Speed per se does not kill...

It is clearly not 'highly dangerous' to drive at 60Kph on a dual carriageway with a central reservation and little other vehicular or pedestrian traffic...
boycott
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by boycott »

Cyprusgrump - you are so so wrong - speed kills and is in every factor of road accidents.

IF cars travel slower they are involved in less accidents, have less serious injuries and the death rate would be lower, less damage to vehicles.

Travelling fast is not an issue till something goes wrong then it takes a lot more time to stop hence the above.

Of course driving skills and vehicle condition are a factor but they are all controlled by speed.
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cyprusgrump
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by cyprusgrump »

boycott wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 4:20 pm Cyprusgrump - you are so so wrong - speed kills and is in every factor of road accidents.
Really...?

Even accidents where people are on the phone and pull out in front of another car...?

Sure, if we all drove around at 5Kph we could avoid such things.

But speed per se does not kill....
Kili01
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by Kili01 »

Speed cameras at traffic lights would help stop some of the collisions one sees on the Polis Rd.. they would show motorists who jump the lights on red, usually driving at high speed.

Also I still think that making the use of direction indicators when turning compulsary, would be another good idea. How many drivers actually use them automatically before starting to turn? How many collisions are caused by not using them, especially on motorways when changing lanes? The roads would be far safer if drivers knew what other drivers were going to do in time to take avoiding action.
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cyprusgrump
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by cyprusgrump »

Kili01 wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 4:41 pm Speed cameras at traffic lights would help stop some of the collisions one sees on the Polis Rd.. they would show motorists who jump the lights on red, usually driving at high speed.

Also I still think that making the use of direction indicators when turning compulsary, would be another good idea. How many drivers actually use them automatically before starting to turn? How many collisions are caused by not using them, especially on motorways when changing lanes? The roads would be far safer if drivers knew what other drivers were going to do in time to take avoiding action.
Dee
Agree 100%

Not just the use of indicators but the correct and timely use of them. How often have you not pulled out from a 'T' junction because you didn't really believe that the traffic approaching was really going to turn off as indicated...?

Roving policemen (instead of sitting at the side of the road with speed cameras) would make a huge difference...
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cyprusgrump
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by cyprusgrump »

Austin7 wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 5:02 pm
Lincoln wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 3:41 pm
Ramone wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 3:05 pm I agree, everyday you see people attempting to drive around Paphos, I sometimes wonder if they have a driving license in the first place.
I also don't see the point of sitting on a dual carriageway with a speed limit of 50 KPH hoping to catch somebody doing 65 / 70 !!
50 K is the MAXIMUM speed allowed . Any speed over that is HIGHLY DANGEROUS. Speed KILLS.
IMHO that's rubbish! It is my belief that the speed limit of 50kph on the dual carriageway from the Debenhams roundabout down to the next roundabout was set at such a ridiculously low speed limit for no other reason than to catch and fine drivers, most of whom are driving perfectly safely, a few mph above that stupid limit. Why else would the police always be hiding behind trees in that location with their radar traps waiting for any unsuspecting motorist?
Quite!
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cyprusgrump
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by cyprusgrump »

Termites Dream wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 5:12 pm Cyprusgrump/Ramone. Having been prosecuted for doing 38 in a 30 at 3.30am in the UK I found myself on a Driver Aware course to avoid points and a fine. To be fair it was interesting. The logic was that as speed increases the death rate increases---pretty obvious I know. What was interesting was that after only 5mph, above 30mph the injuries and death rate rocketed. If memory serves at 40mph a child is not likely to survive. In my county they therefore prosecute at 35mph. Not very much at all above the 30mph speed limit. I suspect the multi carriageway 50kph limit is because it is in a built -up area. All the other offences you highlight are well taken, a point I mentioned to my Cypriot Police officer friend, when he drove past, while on the phone. Having said that only saints always drive by the rules and I haven't met one yet..
I think the key thing is that it is inappropriate speed that is dangerous...

In a built-up area with pedestrian and vehicular traffic 38 may well have been dangerous. At 3:30am less so...

The only pedestrian you are likely to see on the road down from Debenhams is the policeman that stops you! :lol:

As an aside, my friend swears that the policeman didn't even point the camera at his car before stopping him - the camera had 63 on the screen and of course he had no choice but to pay up...

And I believe there is another aspect to this - people use the speed limit as a guide instead of common sense. People really do drive at 70mph on fog-bound motorways in the UK 'because the speed limit is 70mph' which is clearly madness...
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by PeteandSylvi »

If you look at the reports for deaths on the roads in Cyprus, as I have done over the years as reported in Cyprus Mail, you will see that the majority of fatal accidents involve young people, drink, no seat belts and no crash helmets. Under these conditions speed limits become irrelevant as does speed of the vehicle. The issue is lack of control of the driver and therefore the vehicle.

To reduce fatalities it is those items that need to be addressed. I sincerely hope that Cyprus never goes down the path that the UK has gone down with speed cameras which are purely a cash cow and don't save lives.

I have a theory that the extraordinary low speed limits here - have you tried driving at 30 km/h on a clear open road? - have come about due to the change to metric and the existing signs were those used for mph.

Pete
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PW in Polemi
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Re: Drink Driving .

Post by PW in Polemi »

cyprusgrump wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 5:26 pmAs an aside, my friend swears that the policeman didn't even point the camera at his car before stopping him - the camera had 63 on the screen and of course he had no choice but to pay up...
Uuum, not necessarily so. A friend of mine was stopped on the motorway on her way back from Nicosia. She readily admitted to us she was driving somewhat over the limit. However, when the policeman showed her the reading on his camera, she said "Oh I'd no idea my little car could go so fast! Are you sure you had the camera calibrated this morning?" And was sent on her way with no ticket, implying that the camera had NOT been calibrated ...
And no, she's not a Victoria's Secret model lookalike complete with fluttering eyelashes and considerable cleavage on show - quite the reverse! :D
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