Driving standards

[Reorte]

1 minute ago, 30801 said:

I used to have winter tyres but the weather here has been so mild the last few years there wasn't much point. Still have a set for the Jazz but they've been in the garage for seven years or so and I'm not sure what state they're in.

For the Smart I got a set of Autosocks just in case and they'll definitely be needed should I encounter a slight incline.

 

Winter tyres aren't completely valueless even in milder winters, the level of grip starts to drop on ordinary tyres whilst still several degrees above freezing. That difference should still be well within the margins you should leave when driving, so it shouldn't add a significant extra risk but winter tyres will give you a bit more even then should you need it. Personally I wouldn't buy them if that's all the weather ever did in winter, but I wouldn't regard putting them on and then having a relatively mild weather as a waste either (I keep meaning to get some, never have done, and won't this year since I'm in the process of finding a new car anyway, but definitely will some day!)

[Reorte]

41 minutes ago, big jim said:

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/23181759.brighton-council-urged-act-mum-crashes-elm-grove-bollard/
 

Person drives into traffic island then blames everyone else but herself!

 

Just as well there wasn’t someone stood  on the crossing

 

It was really rainy and it was about quarter to five, so it was already getting dark,”

 

also…..
 

“We were coming down the hill at normal speed.

 

Appears to be this one:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.8316356,-0.124922,3a,75y,281.33h,93.09t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spT95O456wf0ABnp0Gis8vQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

Not the best placed but there's both a nearby street light and the car has headlights so I struggle to see how it could be easily hit by a sensible driver. Even dirty it should've been visible enough to be avoided, even if something plonked in the middle of the road should be more visible (because the reality is that road design has to accept non-decent drivers drive on them).

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The second one was a BMW.

Problem is people can fit cheap carp replacement parts to anything nowadays and often do!

[Nick C]

44 minutes ago, Reorte said:

 

Appears to be this one:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.8316356,-0.124922,3a,75y,281.33h,93.09t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spT95O456wf0ABnp0Gis8vQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

Not the best placed but there's both a nearby street light and the car has headlights so I struggle to see how it could be easily hit by a sensible driver. Even dirty it should've been visible enough to be avoided, even if something plonked in the middle of the road should be more visible (because the reality is that road design has to accept non-decent drivers drive on them).

I don't see anything wrong with it's positioning - yes, I'd agree that it should be lit, but equally she should have been looking where she was going! What if it had been a child...

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, big jim said:

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/23181759.brighton-council-urged-act-mum-crashes-elm-grove-bollard/
 

Person drives into traffic island then blames everyone else but herself!

 

Just as well there wasn’t someone stood  on the crossing

 

It was really rainy and it was about quarter to five, so it was already getting dark,”

 

also…..
 

“We were coming down the hill at normal speed.

 

 

Ridiculous case of not driving to the conditions, any excuse.

Edited December 12, 2022 by boxbrownie

[Pete the Elaner]

1 hour ago, big jim said:

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/23181759.brighton-council-urged-act-mum-crashes-elm-grove-bollard/
 

Person drives into traffic island then blames everyone else but herself!

 

Just as well there wasn’t someone stood  on the crossing

 

It was really rainy and it was about quarter to five, so it was already getting dark,”

 

also…..
 

“We were coming down the hill at normal speed.

 

 

 

I've found that most people blame others for their own mistakes, even where it is not possible to throw the blame at anybody. I have done it myself in the past too.

 

I also found the way this was written to be interesting:

"suffered concussion and whiplash after their car collided with the bollard".

It made it sound like her car was in control of her, as if it was in some sort of self-drive mode.

[Reorte]

9 minutes ago, Nick C said:

I don't see anything wrong with it's positioning - yes, I'd agree that it should be lit, but equally she should have been looking where she was going! What if it had been a child...

It looks like it would be a bit of a chicane with the parked cars (which seem to have marked places, so can reasonably be expected to be there). Downhill on a straight road it's the sort of thing that could catch out an inattentive driver. I'm not excusing the driving at all, and it should pose no problem at all to someone paying sufficient attention and driving to the conditions, but "good enough for decent drivers" is lower than the standard is, as much as ideally that's all it should need to be.

 

I do want to emphasise that I'm in no way at all defending the driver here, it does not let them off the hook one tiny little bit.

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by Reorte

[boxbrownie]

1 minute ago, Reorte said:

It looks like it would be a bit of a chicane with the parked cars (which seem to have marked places, so can reasonably be expected to be there). Downhill on a straight road it's the sort of thing that could catch out an inattentive driver. I'm not excusing the driving at all, and it should pose no problem at all to someone paying sufficient attention and driving to the conditions, but "good enough for decent drivers" is lower than the standard is, as much as ideally that's all it should need to be.

But it did it’s job, it slowed down a less than attentive driver 😁

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Reorte said:

 

Winter tyres aren't completely valueless even in milder winters, the level of grip starts to drop on ordinary tyres whilst still several degrees above freezing.

 

The cross over is about 7° which it's generally been above a lot of the time.

I tried all-seasons on the Leaf and they were noticably worse in all non-arctic conditions.

[Guest]

43 minutes ago, Nick C said:

I don't see anything wrong with it's positioning - yes, I'd agree that it should be lit, but equally she should have been looking where she was going! What if it had been a child...

 

I've just been out in the dark and looked at the bollards. Most of the lit ones were so poorly illuminated that I could only tell once they'd passed out of my headlamps. Where new bollards have been put in they are unlit reflective ones.

Miraculously I managed not to hit any of them.

[johnofwessex]

2 hours ago, big jim said:

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/23181759.brighton-council-urged-act-mum-crashes-elm-grove-bollard/
 

Person drives into traffic island then blames everyone else but herself!

 

Just as well there wasn’t someone stood  on the crossing

 

It was really rainy and it was about quarter to five, so it was already getting dark,”

 

also…..
 

“We were coming down the hill at normal speed.

 

 

 

Of course proper accident investigation, in particular of 'single vehicle' accidents are few and far between.

 

Similarly we dont seem to treat Road Traffic Collisions as a 'child protection' issue, while I wont make any comment on this incident there are many cases where either child protection should be getting involved with the family, or drivers detained to protect child road users.

[stewartingram]

Regarding those brake discs above, it amazes me the number of times I've been told that brake discs need changing - even on my own car (I always have done all my own maintenance). I passed my test 1n Jan 1967. In that time, i have changed my discs (as a front pair) only ONCE (and yes I have kept an eye on them). I only changed that pair because, like the 2nd one above, the disc broke. Story is this:

A Sunday morning, I'm on shift in London and I have to drive in (depending on the route and final destination as I might get sent to an incident) 70-90 miles. I have a Rover 827 Sterling, in decent condition. I'm approaching a roundabout at Huntingdon on a downward grade, lightly apply the brakes and hear a clunk. For safety I pulled over after the roundabout to check things, found nothing amiss and put it down to something on the road. I even then did an emergency brake test and everything seemed right, no pulling over to one side or anything else. 

After work, I drove home, all ok. The next morning, a rest day, I jacked the car up just to check things properly. I found most of the osf brake disc missing, only a part of it, the size of the brake pads/calipper remained! Bear in mind the emergency brake test I had done!.

So a pair of new discs were fitted - my 1st and only disc change. Not bad for all those years - and I keep my cars a long time, usually 12 years or more. In recent years before retiring, 20k miles each year.

 

[Quarryscapes]

If everything's working properly then brake discs should last ages. Unless you have a new Peugeot, then their lifespan can be measured in months. Both my partener's X Trails have had an issue with one of the rear calipers having stuck sliders - not just wiping out half a set of pads as you'd expect but taking out one face of a vented disc too. Not sure when such soft cast iron became the norm on cars. I've generally upgraded the brakes on all my cars, so a set of new discs and that's it, never a replacement set needed due to wear. I had to replace on set of disks on my FTO due to a missing chunk and a crack starting, and I'm going to have to replace the rear discs on my DS3 because the bearing in one is getting noisy. 

[zarniwhoop]

10 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

Do many others have a set of tyres for winter? I put mine on 2 weeks ago. Maybe it is peace of mind that if I do need to stop suddenly, I may do it in a slightly shorter distance & that could make a difference between damage/injury & avoiding it.

For your own stopping they should indeed help. But in this part of the world winter tyres are unusual and all you need is one driver behind you who notices your car is stopping well, so moves closer because it is obviously not slippy here.

[Flying Pig]

8 hours ago, Reorte said:

It looks like it would be a bit of a chicane with the parked cars (which seem to have marked places, so can reasonably be expected to be there). Downhill on a straight road it's the sort of thing that could catch out an inattentive driver. I'm not excusing the driving at all, and it should pose no problem at all to someone paying sufficient attention and driving to the conditions, but "good enough for decent drivers" is lower than the standard is, as much as ideally that's all it should need to be.

 

I do want to emphasise that I'm in no way at all defending the driver here, it does not let them off the hook one tiny little bit.

 

 

Also the speed limit appears to be 20mph.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, zarniwhoop said:

For your own stopping they should indeed help. But in this part of the world winter tyres are unusual and all you need is one driver behind you who notices your car is stopping well, so moves closer because it is obviously not slippy here.

Nothing quite like driving along on winter tyres with a two tonne Chelsea tractor up your bum on summer tyres who needs about four times distance to stop as you do.

[Enterprisingwestern]

7 minutes ago, 30801 said:

Nothing quite like driving along on winter tyres with a two tonne Chelsea tractor up your bum on summer tyres who needs about four times distance to stop as you do.

 

But you are missing the point, the average chelsea tractor driver doesn't give a sh!t about you, they've got size on their side.

 

Mike.

[johnofwessex]

3 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

But you are missing the point, the average chelsea tractor driver doesn't give a sh!t about you, they've got size on their side.

 

Mike.

 

Which is why there is a sensible question to be asked about should they be allowed on the road at all, and if so who can drive one

[Flying Pig]

3 hours ago, 30801 said:

Nothing quite like driving along on winter tyres with a two tonne Chelsea tractor up your bum on summer tyres who needs about four times distance to stop as you do.

 

It's all right, they'll overtake on the next blind bend and be out of your hair. 

[Reorte]

8 hours ago, Flying Pig said:

 

Also the speed limit appears to be 20mph.

Hadn't noticed that. Wonder what her "normal speed" was.

[boxbrownie]

10 minutes ago, Reorte said:

Hadn't noticed that. Wonder what her "normal speed" was.

Had to get home before that bottle of white wine she opened and drunk half before going to pick the kids up warms up to much to finish on her return.

[Sidecar Racer]

 And if she was a local resident she should of been aware of the area .

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, Flying Pig said:

 

It's all right, they'll overtake on the next blind bend and be out of your hair. 

 

It was a Vauxhall Insignia today and he was very nearly in a tractor's hair.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

But you are missing the point, the average chelsea tractor driver doesn't give a sh!t about you, they've got size on their side.

 

Yeah but have you seen how much new bumpers for them are?

[kevinlms]

32 minutes ago, 30801 said:

 

Yeah but have you seen how much new bumpers for them are?

Which is why they blame YOU, for being in their way!