Driving standards

[johnofwessex]

I dont like hanging around alongside a lorry.

 

I would have thought though that as a Garrick member you would have a chauffeur

[big jim]

Had a reply from the school regards the issues with the wagons on the zig zags 

 

he head informed me that no members staff have ever told drivers to park on the zig zags and the ‘site manager’ (caretaker) said the wagon yesterday once asked to leave site by the then parked on the residential side of the road and not on the zig zags,(see exhibit A on the previous page of the wagon parked on the zig zags!)

 

In the most bizarre of justifications he said this:

 

The reason they were asked to wait outside was in fact for the benefit of yourselves and the residents as the lorry is too large to be able to get out of the exit to our site due to the cars parked opposite and therefore needs to exit through the entrance gate During end of day collection I'm sure you can understand why this would not only be unsafe for our students and those in vehicles but it would also create unnecessary traffic backing up on the estate.

 

The highlighted part is exactly how the planning regulations and tracking maps state it should be done so I suspect he’s not actually aware of his own policies, and if he is, does not enforce them and has tried to apportion the blame to me parking completely legally outside my house

 

typically today, for the first time ever someone visiting our house to drop something off parked on the zig zags so he’s made a note of that and thrown it back at me, tbh I’m really annoyed at said person, of all the times for someone to do that! 
 

Ive told him had I been in at the time I’d and saw them I’d have got them to move straight away, and on a similar vein when his staff see one of their delivery trucks stopping and being unloaded on the zig zags then they have a duty to ask them to move and not allow them to continue to unload 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 1 by big jim

[big jim]

7 hours ago, big jim said:

the ‘site manager’ (caretaker) said the wagon yesterday once asked to leave site by the then parked on the residential side of the road and not on the zig zags

If I didn’t laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation I’d cry! 


 

 

[johnofwessex]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/04/west-midlands-police-fight-rise-of-frightening-100mph-street-car-racing

 

Now what I dont understand, and clearly its a different sort of risk and of course there is the impact  on the officers concerned as well as the potential risk to them of drivers using their cars as a weapon.

 

BUT this week Police shot & killed a man with a crossbow who had broken into a London home.

 

So given the risks that these prats pose both to the public and the Police why dont they get dealt with by armed officers and shot if they dont stop?

[big jim]

3 hours ago, johnofwessex said:

why dont they get dealt with by armed officers and shot if they dont stop?

dont think id like to be anywhere near a 100mph out of control ‘missile’ if they get shot on the move! 
 

The by-pass past small heath yard is awful for ‘street racing’ and the side streets feeding it are lawless, I don’t like driving round there, yet alone cycling like I did regularly the last few years 

[kevinlms]

2 hours ago, big jim said:

dont think id like to be anywhere near a 100mph out of control ‘missile’ if they get shot on the move! 
 

If you look on YouTube, you can find USA police pursuits where they attempt to shoot the tyres out at high speed. Now that is a recipe for trouble.

[johnofwessex]

I might suggest that the opportunity to take a pot shot at the offending vehicles might best be done at slower speeds to minimise the danger to those not involved but there are no doubt things that might stop these vehicles beyond what is currently in use.

 

Possibly some sort of 'fixed' installation at strategic points like crocodile teeth you see on some private roads

 

https://www.entryparkingposts.com/index.php/2/

[Reorte]

If the problem is mostly people in their own cars (as opposed to stolen ones) the best approach might simply be to gather the evidence of them racing and deal with them once they've stopped.

 

Any fixed barriers are quite likely to be a problem for legitimate, sensible traffic, and the racers will just move elsewhere.

[PhilJ W]

Speed bumps only seem to encourage them, they try to see who can 'fly' the furthest. A chicane would make them slow down, especially if a substantial planter was installed to stop 'cutting across'.

[johnofwessex]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Speed bumps only seem to encourage them, they try to see who can 'fly' the furthest. A chicane would make them slow down, especially if a substantial planter was installed to stop 'cutting across'.

 

I remember the look on a drivers face as he hit the planter on a chicane in Norton St Phillip having tried to push in front of my car

 

 

[johnofwessex]

4 hours ago, Reorte said:

If the problem is mostly people in their own cars (as opposed to stolen ones) the best approach might simply be to gather the evidence of them racing and deal with them once they've stopped.

 

Any fixed barriers are quite likely to be a problem for legitimate, sensible traffic, and the racers will just move elsewhere.

 

There is of course a question of the sorts of vehicles we allow on the roads and their top speeds

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, johnofwessex said:

 

There is of course a question of the sorts of vehicles we allow on the roads and their top speeds

 

No, it's the sorts of drivers we allow on the roads and their top IQ.

All cars are perfectly safe until some f*ckwit gets behind the wheel.

 

Mike.

[Grovenor]

Yes, but the top speed of cars could be regulated and enforced, at least to some degree. There is no way to regulate the IQ of potential drivers.

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 minute ago, Grovenor said:

Yes, but the top speed of cars could be regulated and enforced, at least to some degree. There is no way to regulate the IQ of potential drivers.

 

??

The vast majority of accidents don't happen at the cars top speed, I'll wager you can count them on the fingers of a Saudi shoplifters fingers.

There is a way to regulate the IQ of potential drivers, but the driving test requirements haven't moved on much from my days of the man and the red flag.

 

Mike.

[Grovenor]

Its the availability of that top speed that spurs on the racers, the topic here is not the majority of accidents its the street racing idiots.

Edited February 5 by Grovenor

[Enterprisingwestern]

34 minutes ago, Grovenor said:

Its the availability of that top speed that spurs on the racers, the topic here is not the majority of accidents its the street racing idiots.

 

Which demonstrates it's not the car that is the problem, or am I missing something?

 

Mike.

[Reorte]

The street racing idiots are more likely to be in souped up cars with a greater top speed than your average commuter car but they're a long way off the fastest road legal cars (the ones you have to be extremely wealthy to have). And in any case you can still race extremely dangerously with your bog standard commuter box.

[stewartingram]

As I've always said, driving is not the supposed 'right to drive', but a 'privilege to earn', and risk having it withdrawn (but sadly it doesn't work that way).

[TheQ]

4 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

??

The vast majority of accidents don't happen at the cars top speed, I'll wager you can count them on the fingers of a Saudi shoplifters fingers.

There is a way to regulate the IQ of potential drivers, but the driving test requirements haven't moved on much from my days of the man and the red flag.

 

Mike.

You actually have to be caught several times shop lifting in Saudi before they'll chop your hand off, bit like here for the first few times the penalty by their standards is minor.

[johnofwessex]

I do wonder if we are going to look at Driver Training / Certification it should include an interview with an appropriate professional such as a probation officer to weed out any obvious twats  

[kevinlms]

12 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Speed bumps only seem to encourage them, they try to see who can 'fly' the furthest. A chicane would make them slow down, especially if a substantial planter was installed to stop 'cutting across'.

No chicane types are worse, because not only do they try to see how fast they can go through, but when something goes amiss, the angle of the vehicle is towards parked vehicles, fences and houses.

[big jim]

Went shopping earlier, came out to this clown in a mini…

 

note how empty the rest of the car park is!

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

8 hours ago, big jim said:

Went shopping earlier, came out to this clown in a mini…

 

note how empty the rest of the car park is!

 

 

Don't you just hate drivers who can't park straight and straddle white lines, hardly the biggest car in the world, but then again, hardly a mini!

 

Mike.

[MrWolf]

3 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Don't you just hate drivers who can't park straight and straddle white lines, hardly the biggest car in the world, but then again, hardly a mini!

 

Mike.

 

About the size of an old FX4 London taxi...

 

Unfortunately, parking spaces are still marked out to a set of parameters designed for MK1 Fiesta's and Austin Allegro's, BUT, people have become lazy and self absorbed, their lard barge "compact cars" have power steering and parking cameras, so there's little excuse.

 

I used to manage to squeeze a 1969 Vauxhall Viscount into a regular parking space, putting my fingers round the door edge as I exited to protect my paint and my neighbour's.

 

I had to laugh the other day at a Fiat 500 it's owner had parked at the sort of angle American airmen used to wear their caps, it absolutely towered over our Triumph Herald. 

 

I remember one of my art teachers had an original 500, for a prank we picked it up by its rear bumper and and moved it around the corner like a wheelbarrow.

[Pete the Elaner]

6 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

Unfortunately, parking spaces are still marked out to a set of parameters designed for MK1 Fiesta's and Austin Allegro's, BUT, people have become lazy and self absorbed, their lard barge "compact cars" have power steering and parking cameras, so there's little excuse.

 

 

I don't understand the obsession with bigger cars. Ok, so they have to pass more stringent crash tests so need more strength therefore size & weight, but things have gone very OTT. SUVs for example have almost replaced estates. Have you seen how they react in a motorway incident with heavy braking & a little steering? They topple over. How can that be safe? The traditional saloon/hatch/estate stays upright.

It may be news to some, but heavier cars also take more fuel to move, so as engines get more efficient, they also get worked harder.

Ironically, the car in the photo is a Mini. Minis used to be among the smallest cars available. The newer ones are enormous compared to my old Calibra & that was not marketed as a small car.