Driving standards

[Guest]

I came across a similar video of another speed bump in a narrow residential street where you definitely shouldn't be going fast enough to catch some air.

https://fb.watch/p1gTb5YWbU/

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, Reorte said:

No it's not, the key question is whether or not there's overall a problem at a location. It's not much use if I comply but hardly anyone else does. Road designers and planners need to understand how people behave in the real world, and whether we like it or not "in accordance with the rules" isn't how they behave. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it is not, and it's necessary to understand why that's the case in some places and not others if you want the desired effect.

 

You'll always get the highest level of compliance when things are arranged such that the majority wouldn't behave much differently even if there were no rules (still need the rules to deal with those who'll go out of their way to be a problem).

And also take into account the individual circumstances rather than blanket policies - there's a stretch of A road near here that had a blanket 50 limit applied (with a patch of 40 in the middle), because of the high number of accidents - but most of those accidents were caused by motorbikes using it as a racetrack, and comparing a collision between a bike doing 100 and a car doing 60, vs a bike doing 100 and a car doing 50, I doubt there's going to be much difference in outcome - Proper enforcement of the existing limit would have a much bigger effect on reducing the accident rate.

[Compound2632]

2 minutes ago, Nick C said:

Proper enforcement of the existing limit would have a much bigger effect on reducing the accident rate.

 

But, pace @Reorte, that is primarily a case of individual responsibility. 

 

(If you're driving at the speed limit, the fellow behind can't exceed it, unless there's a good stretch for overtaking.)

[Nick C]

1 minute ago, Compound2632 said:

 

But, pace @Reorte, that is primarily a case of individual responsibility. 

 

(If you're driving at the speed limit, the fellow behind can't exceed it, unless there's a good stretch for overtaking.)

As I said, commonly motorbikes, who can overtake somewhat more easily than cars! Though last time I drove along there I was overtaken by a hot hatch on a corner with double whites...

[Reorte]

20 minutes ago, Nick C said:

As I said, commonly motorbikes, who can overtake somewhat more easily than cars! Though last time I drove along there I was overtaken by a hot hatch on a corner with double whites...

And those are the people who cause most of the problems, and whose behaviour cannot be changed by a change in the law - if they're already ignoring the law it seems unlikely they'll start obeying a new one.

[johnofwessex]

I am often of the opinion that we should reinstate the office of 'Inspector of Lunatics' who could be employed along with his or her staff patrolling the roads.

 

Either that or hand over responsibility for traffic policing to The Army Air Corps who are trained to blow up vehicles at a distance.

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, johnofwessex said:

Either that or hand over responsibility for traffic policing to The Army Air Corps who are trained to blow up vehicles at a distance.

@MrWolf has opinions on that - particularly buses on bridges 😉

[peanuts]

Shock horror saw an amazon van today with every single panel arch and bumper in pristine condition and it wasnt brand new .

[jbqfc]

A very lucky woman and child 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-67762440

 

John 

[MrWolf]

58 minutes ago, Nick C said:

@MrWolf has opinions on that - particularly buses on bridges 😉

 

You rang? 

 

Buses on bridges in the real world is rarely a problem as they don't intentionally park there.

Much more of a model railway cliché issue at which one may hear an approaching squadron of dive bombers followed by the wail of "Jericho trumpets"....

 

But I digress.

 

As a lifelong motorcyclist, I'm quite used to being blanket demonised by folks who haven't ridden one, but I'll be the first to admit that there's some idiots riding them.

Generally the idiots fall into two categories. 

Those riding illegal / stolen machines sans helmet and up to no good and what we call the weekend wobblers.

The latter category are often middle aged with higher disposable income who go out and buy the latest sports bikes and are convinced that they're invincible. 

Fortunately they often only cover about 200 miles a year on dry days.

People who see my friends and I on our ancient bikes tend to assume that we're a bunch of scruffy Herberts stuck in 1963, but we're well aware that we have machines capable of something around the magic ton, fitted with 1930s brakes and ride accordingly. Even the back patch mobs ride properly, they just look and sound menacing when riding.

 

I get around a lot and see all kinds of "interesting" driving which comes from various groups such as:

 

Aggressive driving from people in Chelsea tractors with black tinted everything who want people to believe that they're gangsters and of course, some are.

 

Those women who we call "footballer's wives" who also drive Chelsea tractors and park outside schools, cash points and on the pavement outside shops.

 

Middle aged boy racers in tuned up but clapped out Audi's BMW's and Mercedes.

 

Idiots in a variety of bangers with clouds of stinky weed smoke coming out of the windows.

 

People stuck in traffic queues who see you filtering through and deliberately ease across to block your path.

 

Drivers in Tesla's who appreciate how nippy their electric car is but forget that it's not a moped and block two lanes of traffic.

 

It's by no means an exhaustive list....

 

My biggest bête noir though is delivery cyclists with no regard for anything whatsoever and the wannabe Bradley Wiggins on racers who "know their rights" but never once take a lifesaver glance over their shoulders before pulling out, or checking to see if there's a line of traffic behind them and allowing them to proceed simply by easing across a little.

 

Before anyone decides to go all Jeremy Vine on my a**, I'd like to point out that I do live in a city, I have five road bikes and a racer, Miss R has two road bikes and we use them for just about anything within a three mile radius. We've not had any problems with car drivers, all the near misses have been cyclists of the aforementioned type and a few yappy little dogs on stretch leads.

 

As for speed humps, no real problems, although those red pyramid types are at precisely the correct angle to compress the forks on a motorcycle, making them bottom out even at 20mph or less, which if the weather is bad can make for a wobble.

At least at that low speed you can dodge between them.

 

[johnofwessex]

52 minutes ago, jbqfc said:

A very lucky woman and child 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-67762440

 

John 

 

How on earth did that happen in a 30mph zone?

 

The Driver needs to be in Broadmoor asap

[Grovenor]

The pedestrians should be thankful that the car caught the belisha beacon, a near miss a foot to the right things would have been far worse.

[johnofwessex]

1 hour ago, Grovenor said:

The pedestrians should be thankful that the car caught the belisha beacon, a near miss a foot to the right things would have been far worse.

 

Its a great pity that roadside street furniture is designed to deflect, clearly if it was Boiler Plate it might discourage foolhardy behaviour

[MrWolf]

1 hour ago, johnofwessex said:

 

Its a great pity that roadside street furniture is designed to deflect, clearly if it was Boiler Plate it might discourage foolhardy behaviour

 

By that line of thinking, if the front of cars still looked like this, idiots might be less likely to wander across the road whilst not so much as glancing up from their phones.

 

Or at least they'd only do it once.

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

7 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

By that line of thinking, if the front of cars still looked like this, idiots might be less likely to wander across the road whilst not so much as glancing up from their phones.

 

Or at least they'd only do it once.

 

 

Or this;

 

 

Mike.

[TheQ]

At RAF Leeming they built a new road hump on the road to the Airman's married quarters, there were numerous complaints of damage to cars, the only action was notices to drive slowly, airmen were driving too fast.

 

 

Then a senior officer damaged his car...

The road hump was rebuilt lower within a week...

[Reorte]

6 minutes ago, TheQ said:

At RAF Leeming they built a new road hump on the road to the Airman's married quarters, there were numerous complaints of damage to cars, the only action was notices to drive slowly, airmen were driving too fast.

 

 

Then a senior officer damaged his car...

The road hump was rebuilt lower within a week...

At least they should know what to do if the car leaves the ground!

[big jim]

12 hours ago, Grovenor said:

The pedestrians should be thankful that the car caught the belisha beacon, a near miss a foot to the right things would have been far worse.

there’s quite a bit of anger on Twitter that this incident made it to the ‘and finally’ part of the news yesterday, normally reserved for lighter events, saying how things like this happening are now normalised whereas it should be taken far more seriously 

[Nick C]

16 hours ago, MrWolf said:

The latter category are often middle aged with higher disposable income who go out and buy the latest sports bikes and are convinced that they're invincible. 

Fortunately they often only cover about 200 miles a year on dry days.

 

 

16 hours ago, MrWolf said:

wannabe Bradley Wiggins on racers who "know their rights" but never once take a lifesaver glance over their shoulders before pulling out, or checking to see if there's a line of traffic behind them and allowing them to proceed simply by easing across a little.

 

Plenty of both groups around here, unfortunately, especially on Sunday mornings! 

[craneman]

Perhaps Gordon Tullock had the right idea when he suggested what has become known as the "Tullock spike".

[MrWolf]

7 minutes ago, craneman said:

Perhaps Gordon Tullock had the right idea when he suggested what has become known as the "Tullock spike".

 

Again, go back to 1955 style cars and add a sticker on the dashboard which says:

 

"DRIVE SAFELY, OR DIE HORRIBLY..."

 

Car & classic

 

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by MrWolf

[geoffers]

On 19/12/2023 at 14:07, johnofwessex said:

Either that or hand over responsibility for traffic policing to The Army Air Corps who are trained to blow up vehicles at a distance.

This would be interesting. Having worked on an operational Apache base, and given their Taliban nickname of "the mosquito" because you can't see it but you can feel its sting, there would no doubt be calls from various quarters that this would be unfair and that there should be warnings that they are operating, and they should have a police car livery.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, geoffers said:

This would be interesting. Having worked on an operational Apache base, and given their Taliban nickname of "the mosquito" because you can't see it but you can feel its sting, there would no doubt be calls from various quarters that this would be unfair and that there should be warnings that they are operating, and they should have a police car livery.

Basically the premise of Saturday tea time telly series Blue Thunder.

[jcredfer]

13 hours ago, Reorte said:

At least they should know what to do if the car leaves the ground!

 

Unlikely, since the great majority of senior officers haven't qualified to wear Wings.....  possibly best not to refer to other lack of experiences, "some" choose to pontificate on.....

 

 

[Ian Smeeton]

16 hours ago, jcredfer said:

 

Unlikely, since the great majority of senior officers haven't qualified to wear Wings.....  possibly best not to refer to other lack of experiences, "some" choose to pontificate on.....

 

 

I thought that the whole point of the RAF was that you were safer as an 'other ranks' staying at home while the officers and some NCOs went out to fight.

 

As opposed to the Army where the officers led from the front with others behind in case anyone tried to run away, and the Navy, where officers, enlisted men and NCOs were all in the same boat, so to speak.

 

Regards

 

Ian