French Car Forum

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 11 Jul 2006, 16:45

Stirling Moss was on the box the other night being interviewed about the old days, when they didn't even have rollover protection.
He said they drove just as hard back then as they do now-safety never crossed his mind: the only difference is that now they don't die so often in the crashes.....

I guarantee that if we took away the all the seatbelts, airbags, abs, esp, eba, go back to mechanical drum brakes and cross plies, etc, people would drive no differently to the way they do now: all that would happen is that they'd have more crashes and survive less of them.

Clogzz · Post by **Clogzz** » 12 Jul 2006, 13:19

fastandfurryous wrote:neither the government nor the car manufacturers actually care about road safety.... they just want your money.

How wonderful to find such a cynical statement in our playpen.

Sad, but true, and if we see it in that light, everything falls into place around it.

Homer · Post by **Homer** » 12 Jul 2006, 20:17

bxbodger wrote:I remember my Dad whinging on when compulsory seat belts were introduced, how it would make people take more risks and drive more dangerously, chaos on the roads, etc, it never happened.......

Yup, it's the same story throughout motoring history.

4 wheel braking, disk brakes, all round disks, ABS...........

sub42 · Post by **sub42** » 13 Jul 2006, 18:37

PowerLee wrote:Hi

While my 206 is having a new door fitted I have been given a 1.4 Golf mk 5 to drive around in.

This is the first car ive driven with ESP fitted & I must say im impressed so far with it.

The system worked lovely as I provoked it going round a roundabout, Light flashed, power cut, brakes applied & the car came back on line, all under in half a second each time.

Now before anyone moans the roundabout was empty & I provoke the system on purpose to see what would happen if it cut in if I had to swerve in an emergency.

Im highly impressed with the ESP system, In everyday driving it should never have to cut in, But if that unforeseen obstacle appears in front of you the ESP system could well save your life.

ESP is exactly the reason that everybody is driving around in pointless mammoth urban 4x4's. All manufacturers selling mum-trucks have fitted ESP and ABD and ABC's and XYZ's with added EBD. That therfore makes them the safest method of running little Cuthbert and Daisy to school and back along those big bad roads. NOT! ESP makes just about any car idiot proof. It also makes people do exactly what you did. They drive on the limit because the car 'helps' them to do it.

I have seen first hand the results of an idiot, not in a 4x4 may I add (but that in itself was a surprise) causing on of the worst pile ups in my driving memory. Picture this, driving along on the big carpark, and the traffic starts to 'concertina', just like theres a problem up ahead. At the '3' marker numpty bo****ks in his Mercedes AMG whatsit realises that lane three is at a halt. He is doing approx 100mph at this point, and he realises he will not stop in time. He dives for lane two. It was at this point that I realised he wanted to exit at that junction! His efforts to get from lane three to two caused a four car shunt. The man in the rear car nearly got rear-ended by a HGV, the driver of which used lane three instead, to avoid obliterating the cars that had obviously stopped a lot faster than he expected. As Mr Dickhead barges into lane one he gets it wrong, and clips a van, at which point he broadsides it and goes up the bank and through the hedge! Net result? A total of seven vehicles on the hard shoulder, the owners of two at least having to be restrained before the old bill arrived.

Anyway, the excuse for his folly? You won't believe it I tell you! It went something like this....

"The sat-nav was late telling me to exit, and when I looked up from my laptop, all of the traffic had come to a halt, so I decided to get off the motorway pronto. This car cost sixty-five grand and it's got the best brakes and ESP in the world. I'm going to get Mercedes to check it out. I'm sure it's faulty.......blah blah blah....."

The copper at the scene could hardly hide his amusement at the moron. 'Big car, big ego, can't drive' he said.

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 13 Jul 2006, 23:59

ESP is exactly the reason that everybody is driving around in pointless mammoth urban 4x4's. All manufacturers selling mum-trucks have fitted ESP and ABD and ABC's and XYZ's with added EBD. That therfore makes them the safest method of running little Cuthbert and Daisy to school and back along those big bad roads. NOT!

I don't think the people who buy these trucks know any of that gear is there- they just buy them because they're BIG!!! No other reason, and given that most of London in particular is festooned with a speed hump every few yards, only a big-tyred 4x4 or a hydro-Citroen makes any sense!!

sub42 · Post by **sub42** » 14 Jul 2006, 20:32

bxbodger wrote:
ESP is exactly the reason that everybody is driving around in pointless mammoth urban 4x4's. All manufacturers selling mum-trucks have fitted ESP and ABD and ABC's and XYZ's with added EBD. That therfore makes them the safest method of running little Cuthbert and Daisy to school and back along those big bad roads. NOT!
I don't think the people who buy these trucks know any of that gear is there- they just buy them because they're BIG!!! No other reason, and given that most of London in particular is festooned with a speed hump every few yards, only a big-tyred 4x4 or a hydro-Citroen makes any sense!!

I still prefer the idea of driving a hydro Citroen, don't you? I really want an SM, but can't afford the time I will spend keeping the thing on the road! I have been looking at an Activa however, and might be going to buy one tommorow

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 15 Jul 2006, 10:10

I still prefer the idea of driving a hydro Citroen, don't you?

Excellent for the speed humps, and a lot cheaper than a 4x4 as well!! The speed bumps really are getting to be a problem though. I work in East London and must drive over hundreds of them every day- virtually every side road now has rows of the things, much more of a nuisance than cameras.

When I'm in the office all day I sometimes take the Triumph, and the humps then become a REAL nuisance- no ground clearance and about 2" suspension movement............

fastandfurryous · Post by **fastandfurryous** » 15 Jul 2006, 10:26

I read recently that there's a move to remove many of the speed humps in the UK as they are now becoming a hinderance to the emergency services. Obviously they will still be on private roads/land like car parks, but hopefully they won't be littering the roads for very much longer.

Yet another case in point, where rather than educate the driver as to what a safe and sensible speed is, councils try and engineer the environment instead. All very well until a situation arises where the driver's judgement is far more useful than a load of lumps in the road.

ESP

Re: ESP