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I don't get that scenario.

Four lanes, I'm on the inside lane doing about 40mph. As I'm about 50 feet or so from the intersection, the lady pulls out of the side road to cross my lane and enter the lane of oncoming traffic. From my perspective, it was obvious we would crash if I didn't take evasive action. I started to lift my foot off the accelerator and hit the brakes, but intuitively, I realize that I won't be stopped before reaching the point where she crosses my lane. So, I take a gamble that my car can speed up and swerve to the left to give me more room. I make it, but not by much.

The other driver can cross your lane so fast that there should be no way you can steer around them.

The other driver wasn't exactly Mario Andretti. It doesn't take long to cross eight feet, even from a standing start, but by swerving left, I increased the distance she had to travel to get where I was.

I have been in that situation several times too and the solution has always been to hold my line and break hard.

I (obviously) didn't have time to do the math at the time, but I do now. At 40mph, it takes about 120 feet to stop (source). As I said above, I was probably about 50 feet from the intersection when the other driver pulled out. My car was rather sporty with sticky rubber, so I *might* have done better than 120 feet to stop, but not more than 50% better. My options were: 1) try to stop and hit her anyway; 2) do nothing and hit her anyway; 3) take a gamble, hit the gas instead of the brake, and swerve left to give myself as much room as possible. Since two choices looked pretty certain to fail, I took the third option that at least gave me a chance of avoiding the accident, and it worked <shrug>

If you don't hold your line you put yourself at fault.

I call B.S. on that. She pulled out into oncoming traffic without even looking to the left to see if anyone was coming from that direction. Ergo, she gets a ticket for failure to yield. It would have to be some pretty bizarre logic that says taking the course of action that you reasonably believe gives you the *best* chance of avoiding an accident automatically puts you at fault. The only way I could see that happening is if I had hit someone in the oncoming lane of traffic. However, had there been traffic to hit in that lane, she wouldn't have pulled out in the first place, since that's the lane she was trying to enter.

In any case, I'm not trying to change your mind about what evasive action you should take when driving. You are the only one who can make that call. In your car, on your roads, in your situations, you know what works. In my car, that time, swerving and accelerating worked. In a similar situation, I'd probably do it again on the motorcycle I now drive. In my pickup truck, I'd push my brake pedal through the floorboard and let the ABS do what it can.

You should obviously look to the UK for this kind of product:
http://www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk/argtec.htm

Also films, sprays, etc:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=number+plate+speed+camera

But it seems like a lot of effort to save a few seconds getting to work in the morning :-S

And dont even get me started on the automatic congestion charge cameras.
More details here

> I have my switched on cycling
Its somewhat easier to stop on a cycle than a motorcycle (especially one doing the sort of speeds that the rider in question was :-). But then again, there is very little in common between the cycling experience and the motorcycling experience (except that both are at high risk from oter road users. Number one rule of surviving on a motorcycle - EVERYONE else on the road is an idiot).

> as its easier to call
Uh, on my phone the difference is one button. The "on" button.

> the polis when somebody endangers my life in a way think they care about.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but what makes you think the police care about somebody endangering your life? As an example: The speed limit on the road I live on is 30mph. Personally, I think it's too high (not because I live there, but because I don't see how you can drive down it at 30mph with any degree of safety. There are families with children that live down there). The local police have been asked, several times, to do something about people driving at high speeds (I estimate above 70mph) down that road. Usually late on Friday/Saturday evening (yes, there is a pronounced pattern to it). And the response was "there's not much we can do unless somebody gets killed". That's right. It's not a word-for-word quote, but it expresses the sentiment - and the word "killed" _is_ a direct quote.

> cell coverage can be large; many tens of miles in the obscure areas where demand is low
Such as, perhaps, a non-urban dual carriageway between population centres? Like, say, the A14...

> See statewatch [statewatch.org].
Thanks for the link.

> BTW I dont think they'd bother to catch this particular motorbike;
But it was you who first suggested they might try (using his phone).

> more insidious is they can use phone velocity to work out your speed down, say, the M5 over an afternoon
There are easier (and more reliable) ways than using a phone signal. Ways that don't require you to have a mobile phone, don't require it to be switched on. Perhaps they could use cameras which recognise your number plate. Although Trafficmaster claim that their cameras do not retain the registration data, there's no reason why the same technology cannot be used to track your speed over distance. Such as, for instance the S.P.E.C.S. system. Isn't this where we came in?

> "shutter" device that fits on top of license plate
You mean something like the Flip Tip?

It's designed for bikes, but a flip-plate, controlled by the rider, already exists.

Alternatively, there's the Priva-Plate which just uses a big LCD block over the number. Press a button in the car and it greys out your plate. Neat.

Monitoring traffic going in and out of London has been going on for years though - all that's new about this is that they're planning to charge people for it.

It's designed for bikes, but a flip-plate, controlled by the rider, already exists.

Alternatively, there's the Priva-Plate which just uses a big LCD block over the number. Press a button in the car and it greys out your plate. Neat.

Monitoring traffic going in and out of London has been going on for years though - all that's new about this is that they're planning to charge people for it.