Ian, and others, you are all making one VERY BIG and VERY WRONG assumption guys! I didn't say how many of those accidents were my own fault!
Very conveniently also you have omitted to put it all in the context of the high mileage! My dad's been driving for 39yrs with no accident but he's only done about 200,000kms!
What I was trying to highlight was not the number of accidents one particular person was involved in, nor who's fault it was (as far as I'm concerned a bump is a bump, metal gets straightened, parts get replaced) but the fact that (in spite of the high mileage and speeds travelled) ALL MY BUMPS were at low speeds AND well below the speed limits of the roads concerned. The number was "released" to highlight the fact that I do speak "from experience", personal experience and that IMHO lowering the speed limits on the particular stretches of roads involved would not have made a blind bit of difference to the outcome of ANY of my incidents! Mind you for that matter raising the limits wouldn't have helped either!
WHAT WOULD HAVE? I hear you ask. Moving to an empty island, having a 5mtr field force installed on my car, or maybe on a serious note a lot more education, discipline and respect for each other on the roads would have for certain!
It has forever been drummed-up that SPEED in itself doesn't cause accidents! And I will shout this out as loud as I can at every opportunity I get! Simply because although inconvenient to the KILL THE SPEED campaigners, it is very very true!
On one particular of my accidents the person in question was in distress caused by the desperation to reach a hospital in time in order to catch the birth of his first son! I gave him a lift after the accident, his radiator was burst and his car wouldn't have made it! No hard feelings! And I got to see a gorgeous mother and new born picture! We're still friends BTW!
I'm definitely no authority in driving, but I class myself in a small minority of people with a lot of driving experience, real life experience, the kind missing from the armour of the statisticians! My driving represents a combination of commuting, long distance, long time driving during both daylight and at night, on every kind of roads, from motorways and dual carriageways to city residential and country single track roads. I've driven from John O'Groots to Lands' End and from Boston to Haverfordwest, I've driven in every single county of mainland Britain, as well as in some 15 or so other countries! And in spite of all that I still do deliberately go out for pleasure drives. My favourite road: the winding country roads, with a mixture of open and tight bends and stretches where you can overtake.
Now put that in context with one of your statistics and please THINK before you post the next reply!
Dan
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