#88

I know, you think it must have been carnage out there on the roads. Yet when you talk to older people they say ‘the roads were quieter, people may have been drunk but they drove slowly, cars were less powerful’. I personally think it just wasnt as well published so they just didn’t hear about all the accidents.

#89

I mean there were definitely less cars. When I look at the town I grew up in during the 80’s it is clearly way busier now traffic wise. I can remember my dad and uncle would have a few halves of beer but had a “only one short” rule if driving (this was in their respective houses not the pub) and my uncle was a copper ! We had an Austin Allegro at the time. Doubt it did more than 50 mph

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#90

There were fewer people driving therefore less chance of hitting anyone maybe. Seem to remember my dad telling me that cars used to only have one wing mirror, and when I asked how the fuck anyone managed to park he basically said there were enough fewer cars that it didn’t matter

#91

I guess it could be. Ale was the main beer choice and pretty weak in the 70s, right?

I’m not saying you’d be okay to drive on that much weak ale but it’s probably not quite the ludicrous amounts of beer 5 pints tends to be today.

#92

Fossil fuels and capitalism.

'mon guys you nearly got to 100 replies and no-one’s thought of the things that are going to have made life borderline impossible for our grandchildren in not too long?

#93

That car Richie Ronco posted only has the one wing mirror, in fact!

I think there were a lot of accidents for sure

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#94

you didn’t even need a license till around that time either

#95

we had an orange allegro!

The black plastic seats were vicious when you wore shorts in the summer

#96

That’s from this page


@froglet
and I guess it’s also worth considering that as those deaths have fallen the number of road users has shot up
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#97

As I grew up in a fairly rural area, I can’t say how things were in cities. But in the country, folk would tend to drive, have a few drinks and go home. It was not like everyone was shit faced and falling over. There was not much traffic about, if anything people would tend to go to slow and overly careful because they didn’t want to get pulled over for speeding.
They weren’t safe, certainly by our modern standards, but there was less opportunity for them to smash into each other. They were more inclined to quietly drift off the road into a ditch.
In retrospect, it was utterly stupid, but it was the way things were at the time.

#98

So from @1101010’s graphs, in 1965 there were a quarter of the number of vehicles, and four times as many deaths as there are now. Yipe.

#99

My Granddad was a coach driver in the 50s and 60s. He drove people to day trips on the coast, that sort of thing and apparently getting the drinks in for the driver in the pub on the way home was standard practice.

#100

What’s the reason for the massive peak then drop off during the war? I’m guessing black out circa the blitz and then lots of people off fighting so not as many cars?

#101

Yeah, I presume the same thing although obviously the petrol rationing would massively hit too. And maybe just people getting used to how life in the war would be so not going out.

#102

It should also be remembered that cars were death traps. They were solid pieces of unforgiving metal. Car safety features have come on unimaginably even since the 70’s. Ralph Nader’s ground breaking ‘Unsafe at Any Speed’ was written in 1965.

1 Like
#103

yes ! leaving the windows wound down made absolutely no difference either.

Slightly related - I remember going to buy the car (second hand) with my dad when I was about 11 off some bloke who had a big house and garden. His wife was sunbathing topless. Pretty sure it was my first viewing of boobs in public. Blew my tiny child mind.

#104

Blew my wad.

:rolling_eyes:

#105

Why are you so angry at me because i’m younger than you, Theo?

#106

reminds me of a family holiday to the south of France at a similar age - boobs everywhere. A confusing time for me I think

#107

Remember when you had to wait for your photos to be developed before before you could bin all the blurry ones?