England finally has a worthwhile banning

[AggieDave 6]

They're getting rid of standard road signs (banning the old steel ones) and replacing them with "bendable" signs. All in all a good step for the protection of those who can't help but drive through signs and such.

(As a side note I do find it relatively ironic that this is from the BBC's "UK edition" news source. Wouldn't BBC news be a "UK edition" without stating, but any other change to cater to other regions and countries would possibly be a different edition?)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4587629.stm

Quote

Bendy road signs sound like something out of Alice in Wonderland. But highway bosses have a sensible explanation for their new flexible friends.

Their function is to help drivers but road signs have had a hard time of late.

First they came under fire from the Campaign to Protect Rural England for "cluttering up the streets".

Now the Highways Agency says road signs need to be replaced by bendy ones because they're injuring motorists who collide with them.

In 2002 there were 39 people killed hitting signs or traffic signals, 294 were seriously injured and 1167 were slightly injured on all the UK's roads.


Anything that improves the potential of people surviving a crash has to be welcomed
Caroline Chisholm
Brake
Usually there are safety barriers erected at the side of the road if the sign is deemed at risk, so the injuries are sustained hitting the barrier. There were 50 such fatalities in 2002.

But the new "passive safe signposts", which are available for motorways and trunk roads across the UK, bend or break when hit. They are equipped with a hinge at their feet, which makes them collapse at the point of impact.

They cause less injury to motorists and less damage to vehicles, says the agency, and tests showed they cause less injury than the safety barriers.

Ginny Clarke, the agency's director of safety standards and research directorate, says: "The signs are being increasingly used nationally as a replacement when damage occurs to existing ones. Passively Safe Signposts are being encouraged as the preferred choice for a replacement sign."

Some local authorities are using these signposts on urban roads, and the Highways Agency hopes to extend their use to traffic lights and street lights.

Cheaper option

Caroline Chisholm of the road safety charity Brake says: "Anything that improves the potential of people surviving a crash has to be welcomed and what we are seeing here is a lot of forward thinking on the part of the Department for Transport."

The average life of a road sign is 10-12 years, so over the next decade most will be replaced. They are cheaper than a steel one because there is no need to put a safety barrier around them, and easier to replace.

In Norway there are about 10,000 such signs and there has never been a death or serious injury from hitting one.

A seminar in June hosted by Mott MacDonald aims to spread the principles of passive road safety to police, local authorities and solicitors.

The firm's head of traffic management, Andrew Pledge, says soon everything put by the side of the road will be made safe, such as electrical cabinets which can instead be put underground.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[mr2mk1g 10]

I've dealt professionally with a chap who smashed his head in against a road sign last year and wound up dead.

Of course he had been doing 100mph on his motorbike just prior to hitting the damn thing and only came off his bike because he hit a kid while doing a wheely.

[rehmwa 2]

Quote

Of course he had been doing 100mph on his motorbike just prior to hitting the damn thing and only came off his bike because he hit a kid while doing a wheely.

How did the kid do after the idiot hit him and then killed himself?

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Zep 0]

It's called the UK edition as it puts out the news in 46 different editions (languages). if you include English


Don't ya just love the BBC

Gone fishing

[mr2mk1g 10]

Pedal from his push bike was 20m up the road. The seat was on one side of the road, the rest of the bike on the other.

Kid was fine thankfully although reportedly went through two full cartwheels before hitting the ground. Ended up with literally nothing more than a couple of bumps.

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

It's called the UK edition as it puts out the news in 46 different editions (languages). if you include English

Right, I figured as much; however, since the BBC has "British" in their name you would figure that everything else would be an edition and the news at home would be just news, not an edition. See what I mean?

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[KidWicked 0]

Quote

since the BBC has "British" in their name you would figure that everything else would be an edition and the news at home would be just news, not an edition. See what I mean?

How funny, you're isolationist mentality even extends to such things as this.

Coreece: "You sound like some skinheads I know, but your prejudice is with Christians, not niggers..."

[beej 0]

not really ironic...

the BBC has always served globally, and has done since the 20's (to serve the British Empire etc).

----------------------------------------------------
If the shit fits - wear it (blues brothers)--

[AggieDave 6]

Ok, yall are putting too much into this one.

What's in the BBC's name?

British, right?

Then their regular edition would be the UK edition, but if they made an edition for Canada or the US it would possibly be a N. America Edition, right?


This isn't a seperatist mentality or anything sinister then that, think really dry humor. British is in the name but there's a UK edition, I found it humorous in an ironic way, now I have proven to myself that even little jokes can't be stated in SC without people getting their panties in a twist and start calling names.

Thanks for proving to me the absolute lack of maturity in some of our posters.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."