Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Axa Respect On The Road

If, like me you ride a bike sometimes, then you may well have had your life endangered by the various wretches of the road. Boy racers, half asleep drivers, too comfortable and lethargic to notice you, or those who simply have no spatial awareness whatsoever. I've always thought that too many drivers feel invulnerable when behind the wheel with the stereo blaring and behave toward other road users or pedestrians in a way they would never dare do in a face to face situation.

In order to try and draw attention to the problem, AXA Car Insurance are running a campaign at the moment called AXA Respect On The Road Click on the link I respect the road to visit their website and see a few details, or to add your own story of poor parking, motorway madness or traffic terror.

There is a Facebook Fanpage here which I urge you to 'Like' and a YouTube site here

Primary teachers might find the video ‘Road Rage kids’ useful.

It is acted entirely by 5 year olds, who imitate driving behaviour that they have copied from their parents. Children are the drivers of tomorrow, so anything we can do to try and influence them now can only be a good thing, especially as every blockbuster film bombards them with ever more ludicrous car chase scenes where nobody ever gets killed or injured, except possibly for a slight scratch or bruise with a bit of dust if the actor is male. Also, anyone who has to teach PHSE might well like Cab Cam, in which AXA took to the streets of London in a black taxi to carry out a survey of public opinion. (The driver doesn't appear to be wearing a seatbelt though!)

This post was sponsored by Axa Car insurance.

Sponsored Post

6 comments:

Sho said...

Just a quick one because I haven't much time - as I understood it (from a driver) cab drivers aren't required to wear seatbelts in case they need to make a quick getaway from a violent customer.

Unknown said...

Sponsored post?

Oh dear. Fucking marketing ruins everything in the end.

Goodbye Mr. Chalk.

Knight of the Road said...

Most cyclists appear to me to be either ignorant or disdainful of basc road rules - it's hard to feel much sympathy

Anonymous said...

Hackney carriage drivers are indeed exempt from wearing seat belts when working. Passengers however are not.

Conor said...

The best way to improve road safety would be to replace the steering wheel airbag with a 12 inch spike.

Anonymous said...

Personally I think the Best Idea is to move cyclists off the road and onto the pavements - a car hitting a cyclist will do much more injury in most cases (to both cycle and rider) than will a cyclist to a pedestrian.

Simply the roads are too full without having cyclists weaving in and out with their usual 'If you hit me its your fault' attitude because wherever the 'right' lies - death makes no difference !
Mind you - I do not cycle anywhere (too dangerous for a thinking individual) and believe that drunk drivers should be banned for life !
5 year bans for middle lane cruisers on the motorway and 10 year bans for speeders over 70 (maybe 80 - should be the limit) mph on a busy motorway ! These would get the number of people on the road down and make them safer for everyone. Oh and no insurance/tax/mot/license/stolen should be automatic life ban with a 10 year prison term suspended for life + unlimited fine (amount dependant on circumstances of how you got caught !)