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Clarkson on Top Gear copycats

"Speed never killed anybody," a defensive Jeremy Clarkson tells A Current Affair. "Suddenly becoming stationary -that's what gets you killed."

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Credit where it’s due. A Current Affair last night tackled Jeremy Clarkson on the question of fan copycats, the issue of hoon drivers and the morality of Top Gear stunts (just).

The show was probably forced to go there after last week’s two-night story about a man who sped on NSW roads as part of his audition for Top Gear Australia.

Top Gear had also come under fire from Today Tonight ahead of its debut as a Nine 2010 show.

Tracy Grimshaw didn’t shy away from raising the subject when interviewing Jeremy Clarkson, though his answers likely won’t please road safety advocates.

TG: We have had in Australia some horrendous car crashes, I don’t know how much you know, involving young drivers, drink and speed. The latter of those two things are things that you’ve done on Top Gear a lot.

JC: Speed? Speed never killed anybody, it’s very important to get that straight. Speed has never killed a soul. Suddenly becoming stationary -that’s what gets you killed.

TG: Some people think they can take us out, drive at these speeds and nothing will happen to them and of course something does happen. What do you do about that? What do you do about the copycat element, I suppose?

JC: People were crashing long before Top Gear came along, and in bigger numbers and in greater consequences.

TG: So what does that mean? What do we do?

JC: Honestly? Nothing. You know you can fiddle around with the law and say you’ve got to wear your P Plates for a bit longer, you’re not allowed to pass your driving test til you’re 24 or you can fiddle about….. but it will make, unfortunately, no difference, really -cos kids are kids.

TG: That’s a pessimistic view isn’t it?

JC: It’s a realistic view.

Questions at 3:45mins

24 Responses

  1. People who have seen Top Gear more than a few times knows also that Jezza has a sore point with the Government. From Wiki – “Clarkson is in favour of personal freedom and very much against government regulation, stating that government should “build park benches and that is it. They should leave us alone.” ”

    That’s probably got something to do with it as well …

  2. At the end of the day we can all get angry at Clarkson. I think he was just annoyed at the question. ACA are famous for crap questions. Parents have to take responsibilty, you don’t teach your kid correctly, and give them a speeding bullet, the blame lays at your door. It’s the hard truth, but something they have to live with. The people who are killed in accidents get the easy way out, it’s the people left to deal with it I feel sorry for.

  3. Not a fan of A Current Affair, or Tracy Grimshaw for that matter (shes ok – but not the hard hitting interviewer that Nine think / claim she is), but Jeremys answer was spot on – kids will be kids, no matter how many laws & penalties are introduced.

    Someone dies in a car crash as an innocent victim – my heart goes out to them.

    Someone is killed because they are driving like an idiot – sorry, but honestly I think ‘serves you right’ – I couldn’t care less. The rest of us have to suffer with increased laws & penalties, reduced speed limits etc, all because of a small percentage of idiots who think they can drive dangerously like morons and get away with it. Top Gear is a TV show, filmed in controlled environments – and if you think ‘I’m gonna do that because they do it on TV’, you’re a bloody idiot.

    Good on Jeremy for saying it how it is, no matter what any do-gooders out there think! I don’t think he was joking – hes probably sick to death of people saying “you drive fast & do hoon type things – you encourage it and must be to blame”.

  4. he’s right though you know. Yes speeding will ultimately result in a crash but Motion does not actually kill you, it’s the sudden stop in movement, it’s just physics, having said that I would have to be against Jeremy saying that speeding never killed anyone, because it has as a result

  5. I have to say I was a bit horrified when I heard Clarkson’s glib answer to that question (although I’m by no means surprised he made it). When talking about a very serious issue involving young people dying on the roads, I don’t think it was really the time for a joke. At other times, sure the joke is funny, but when specifically referencing recent accidents I think it was really tasteless. Of course I don’t think Top Gear has contributed to kids wanting to speed – it’s always been the case that kids push boundaries. And why there have been so many accidents just recently I don’t know, but I’m sure there’s little or no correlation. I am a fan of the show and Clarkson himself, but I still wasn’t impressed by the way he handled that question at all.

  7. Fixing our country roads would go a long way to preventing fatal accidents. Clarkson is spot on, you will never stop young or old people doing stupid things on the road. I honestly don’t understand the hysteria over fatal accidents.

  9. @Clint – Monkey see Monkey do!

    I don’t get people on cell phones, get a hands free, it’s safer and legal and cost less than a fine when you get caught doing the wrong thing.

    At least the TG guys all use hands free when on their phones and driving, the first ep of the new series they actually make a point of it.

  10. ACA is full of monkey’s on typewriters, ask a stupid question get a stupid answer. Although people do die due to speeding, it doesn’t mean if you speed, you die. Otherwise why would the police speed? Why would people race cars? etc – the debate could be never ending.

    This boils down to education, and I can be very honest in saying in the last few weeks I’ve seen things that have made my blood boil.

    1) Saw a driver teacher (in a marked car) had L plates still on – those ones you flip around, he drove whilst on the phone, he didn’t use his indicators etc.

    2) More disturbing, the other day I was waiting in a car park for my girlfriend, it was raining and very wet, this idiot in a holden came flying into the car park, did a donut up one end of the car park, drove up to the other, did another donut, got out, put L plates on the car, then let the passenger drive.

    E d u c a t i o n ! ! !

  11. @Craig – you’ve nailed it. I’ve always wondered why driver ed isn’t taught as part of the curriculum in High Schools. If that isn’t preparing a young person for life what is? And I think a chat to a road trauma victim should be part of it – to hear one of their peers talk about their crash may make them think.

  12. @bindi
    yeah, Tracey’s words weren’t the greatest.

    I have to say, Clarkson does have a good point, accidents will always happen regardless of what laws are in place.

    I like how he says that people become injured if a car suddenly becomes stationary. A clever answer to the question about speeding.

  13. I’ve never seen them speed on public roads, except in controlled conditions. They only speed on their track, which is an airport runway.

    Having said that, they do talk about how fast cars are as though that s a reason to buy them, even though you aren’t allowed to travel that fast at any time ever. But car ads do that too. Always thought that was a strange contradiction.

  14. He could have said it with more sensitivity but he’s quite right of course people will always do stupid things on the road no matter what laws are changed.

  15. What an idiot. Speed never killed anyone?? Tell that to the 5 kids killed in NSW last month. Tell it to the people killed by speeding drivers. You ‘suddenly become stationary’ because you’re speeding lose control and then ‘suddenly become stationary’ by hitting a tree.

    Got no problem with Top Gear, but they should at least be advocating safe driving on our roads and reinforcing this not saying speed doesn’t kill so speed as much as you want. Bloody idiot he is.

  16. Buffoon, it’s the speed at which the hoons are travelling when they suddenly stop that kills them, and in most cases, others with them. Why do I always think of the NSW “limp pinky” road safety commercial when I see this guy?

  19. No Bindi that was one of the worst interviews Ive ever witnessed ,with all the face touching and hair flicking on top of light questions its surprising that Tracy Grimshaw has made it this far as a TV journalist

  20. Don’t get me wrong as I do like Top Gear and can’t wait for the new Aus series but anyone who thinks shows & movies like this and games that are car orientated don’t influnce bad driving is kidding themselves !

  21. Jokes aside he is right you can change the law all you like but that will not stop some people doing stupid things to get themselves (and other) killed, raising the driving age to 21 will just mean more young people on the road without licenses and come 21 it means a new crop of older inexperienced drives.

    What needs to change is the attitude and there needs to be more driver training, why isn’t there mandatory drivers ed in high school in this country? Take learners to see victims of road trauma and see the results.

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