Driving standards

[chris p bacon]

The story went that it was the reply received when something was sent to be translated. Personally I don't think that stacks up, there's no point in sending an out of office reply in the language you're there to translate to, since that would suggest the people emailing you don't need your services.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7702913.stm

[PatB]

A favourite here for those illuminated, temporary road signs is "Insert Memory Card".

[30801]

The story went that it was the reply received when something was sent to be translated. Personally I don't think that stacks up, there's no point in sending an out of office reply in the language you're there to translate to, since that would suggest the people emailing you don't need your services.

Everything Welsh is bi-lingual so it's reasonable the that out of office reply would be too.

Not much of a leap to believe that someone wouldn't read the reply properly and just copy & paste the big block of Welsh...

[Reorte]

Everything Welsh is bi-lingual so it's reasonable the that out of office reply would be too.

Not much of a leap to believe that someone wouldn't read the reply properly and just copy & paste the big block of Welsh...

Hmm, yes, I could imagine that happening

[Coryton]

Everything Welsh is bi-lingual so it's reasonable the that out of office reply would be too.

Not much of a leap to believe that someone wouldn't read the reply properly and just copy & paste the big block of Welsh...

 

Quite.

 

I'm sure I'm not the only person here to have had colleagues who don't give their job as much attention as they might, leaving other people to pick up the pieces when it all goes wrong.

 

Of course it's also possible that the English was missing from the reply, because someone though it would be funny, or was trying to make a point, or by mistake...

[NorthBrit]

Having unsuccessfully being unable to buy a car without indicators,  I have one whereby the indicators come on AFTER turning.

 

Revenge will be sweet.

[Baby Deltic]

I would love to see one of those electronic signs saying 'No Excuse For Poor Driving' hacked and 'Rich Drivers Only' added underneath.

[kevinlms]

This reminder should not be necessary as everyone in Australia, ought to know this advice. As the article stated, it reached 38 degrees today (or 100.4 F, if you insist).

 

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/18-kids-left-in-hot-cars-as-minister-begs-do-the-right-thing-by-kids-20181207-p50kya.html

[SM42]

Well that's another week of driving in Birmingham finished. Just got to survive the week-end now.

 

It truly is the wild west out there. Bus drivers seem to have forgotten what bus stops are for and just  leave the back hanging out blocking the road (They'd probably never get out again otherwise and are just as fed up as the rest of us)

 

Road markings are there to make the road look pretty, indicators are Christmas decorations, headlights optional  and a new procedure of manouevre, signal, what's a mirror? has been introduced to the Highway Code

 

The city council seem intent on stopping any moving traffic (I suspect an attempt to justify their clean air zone they set traffic lights to stop anything that is moving and cause unnecessary  pollution so they can point to some really bad numbers) and are installing more traffic lights where none are necessary.

 

It's so bad that people regularly ignore red lights. I encounter 48 sets in an 18 mile drive into the city. I get stopped every time by the majority.

 

A measure of the problem now is that when you stop at a Pelican crossing the pedestrians put a hand up to say thank you.

 

Any adrenaline junkies out there come to Brum by car. Scarier than a scary thing. Birmingham Grand Prix? See it every day.

 

It truly is a look right, left, right and left before passing over a set of lights on green.

 

Rant over. I feel better now.

 

Andy

 

(a nervous wreck)

[kevinlms]

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/warning-to-dog-owners-after-near-miss-on-melbourne-tollway-20181208-p50l34.html

[Hobby]

Andy if you think Brum is bad try Bradford...

 

I've been driving into Birmingham for the last 30 years and haven't noticed if being any better or worse than other major UK cities... Until I went to see relations in Leeds and went to Bradford to see the film museum. Whole different world!

Edited December 8, 2018 by Hobby

[Wolseley]

This reminder should not be necessary as everyone in Australia, ought to know this advice. As the article stated, it reached 38 degrees today (or 100.4 F, if you insist).

 

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/18-kids-left-in-hot-cars-as-minister-begs-do-the-right-thing-by-kids-20181207-p50kya.html

 

 

 

And please, every single parent, do not leave your child in the car. You have only moments in which you may lose a loved one. Do the right thing by your kids.

 

I would have thought that the warning would have included married parents as well......

[MarkC]

There are areas of the UK now where there is no way I would drive without well positioned, working, front and rear dashcams.

 

Birmingham, Bradford, Burnley, Leicester, Blackburn and Luton are right up there...

 

As well as terrible drivers, there's the 'cash for crash' bandits still active

 

I drive thousands of miles when home on leave, so it's not that I'm a nervous driver - 30 years next year since I passed my IAM Test, and now 41 years since passing my Driving Test...

[JDW]

Talking of dashcams, I was watching one of those dashcam compilations on YouTube the other day, and it never ceases to amaze me how many of the clips there are where I've seen the situation, started to think about how to avoid it, and Dashcam Driver still hasn't reacted to the situation, then finds himself in a situation where he feels a need to post it on YouTube as a way of demonstrating how bad others are.  In at least half the clips I see, I'd not even have got into the situation in the first place. 

[PhilJ W]

Talking of dashcams, I was watching one of those dashcam compilations on YouTube the other day, and it never ceases to amaze me how many of the clips there are where I've seen the situation, started to think about how to avoid it, and Dashcam Driver still hasn't reacted to the situation, then finds himself in a situation where he feels a need to post it on YouTube as a way of demonstrating how bad others are.  In at least half the clips I see, I'd not even have got into the situation in the first place. 

And quite a few where dashcam driver is at fault and no other vehicle is involved.

[JDW]

And quite a few where dashcam driver is at fault and no other vehicle is involved.

 

Yeah, why you'd openly put that online I have no idea - both the ones where they are at fault, and the ones where they (directly or indirectly) instigate acts of road rage etc.  Welcome to the internet... :-/

[4630]

Andy if you think Brum is bad try Bradford...

I've been driving into Birmingham for the last 30 years and haven't noticed if being any better or worse than other major UK cities... Until I went to see relations in Leeds and went to Bradford to see the film museum. Whole different world!

Until a few years ago I had a daily car commute to my then place of work in Bradford; BD3 postcode along Barkerend Road for any RMwebbers who may be familiar with the city. I counted myself very lucky that my no claims bonus survived the daily ordeal.

[PhilJ W]

Until a few years ago I had a daily car commute to my then place of work in Bradford; BD3 postcode along Barkerend Road for any RMwebbers who may be familiar with the city. I counted myself very lucky that my no claims bonus survived the daily ordeal.

I commuted by car for about 20 years. My usual practice was to buy an 'old banger' with a long MoT and when that was near to expiry trade it in for another old banger (with long MoT). Fortunately I never had to claim on insurance or had a claim against me. I had a couple of accidents that were not my fault, the most serious was when someone opened their car door without checking, my car only suffered a few scratches.

[polybear]

Yeah, why you'd openly put that online I have no idea - both the ones where they are at fault, and the ones where they (directly or indirectly) instigate acts of road rage etc.  Welcome to the internet... :-/

 

Especially as once it's out on the web, that's it.  If it could in any way be traceable back to the OP then potentially it could be used against them in any future incident  (e.g.  Prosecution:  "look what this kn*b gets up to, and is even stupid enough to post it on the net - is this a sign of a careful, considerate driver"?)

[Hobby]

TBH it does rather depend on where you are driving. We've all been guilty in recent posts of sweeping generalisations but if you look closer you'll find that Birmingham, Bradford, Oldham and Manchester make up the top ten of "cash for crash" claims, but with one caveat, only a small number of postcodes in those areas are known for it. I've now lived just outside Brum for over 30 years and commuted into the city centre for that period and not seen the things mentioned by Andy earlier, however looking up the post code areas they are in parts of Brum that I don't usually drive in so that's probably why. Birmingham covers a very large area so it's worth noting that most of it is fine, including the centre, which is probably the same as most large towns and cities, but there's always bad bits and if you know them it's easy enough to avoid them!

 

https://www.admiral.com/magazine/news-and-current-affairs/car-crash-hotspots-revealed

[SM42]

Hobby

 

Here are couple of examples of Brum that I see everyday. Same location for both.

 

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.4753209,-1.9005829,3a,75y,141.23h,78.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sEozphYgYEMiNoC-b2xxc6w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

If the above link has worked, note the road markings where the Google car enters the roundabout. Note the Megabus on the roundabout. That bus is doing a right at the roundabout. Go back a bit to see how it approached the roundabout. The full 360 on the same line is  a regular Megabus occurrence too

 

Also note the camera car is going for it on the amber. 

 

Now proceed forward as if going straight across the roundabout. We go into a Google timewarp here. Look behind the camera car and note the dark Audi rag top coming from the straight ahead lane  and follow its path around the roundabout. Another 360 move. 

 

This is also the location of a new set of lights that just clog up the roundabout which backs up onto the A38. No need for them. Traffic moved freely enough without them. 

 

This is the  kind of roundabout Russian Roulette that is common around the city

 

Andy 

Edited December 9, 2018 by SM42

[Hobby]

They've changed the markings there very recently I use it several times a week. Three lanes in. Left one up smallbrook queensway. Middle straight on. Right to turn right. Perfectly logical. The lights have made little difference to traffic flow though the new merging lane on the other side has helped a lot.

 

Trouble is people sometimes deliberately use the wrong lane.

 

However that is not unique to Birmingham, you see it everywhere. Try central Leeds. That junction is a doddle compared with that.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Hobby

[Jenny Emily]

I notice a few junctions where the lane markings invite vehicles to collide. The roundabout above the M6 at junction 2 is particularly bad with conflicting lane destinations painted on the road which are plain wrong and direct one lane of traffic to attempt to cross an adjacent lane at one point on the roundabout which means two adjacent vehicles will collide if both follow the lane directions. The roundabouts at the junctions of the M62 J20 and J21 also try and direct traffic in conflicting lane changes.

 

The worst place I've ever driven outside of the M25 ring was Leeds, as the poor roadsigns made it possible to leave the ring road without noticing. Bradford's ring road isn't much better. For a high adrenaline drive try Coventry's inner ring road in rush hour traffic.

[Hobby]

Most multi lane roundabouts these days seem to have been given new markings whereby if you get in the right lane and follow it it will take you smoothly round. Trouble is many people just don't bother and that's why you get the "lottery" mentioned by Andy.

 

The point I was making is that it's not unique to certain areas and central Birmingham is no better or worse than many other places. I mentioned Leeds which I found far harder to negotiate than Brum though that could just be down to the fact I don't know it as well.

 

Trouble is all main roads and city centres are, quite frankly, overrun with traffic these days and can't cope. It would be interesting to have a survey but from what i can see most of the car traffic in the centre seems to be black cabs or minicabs. It will be interesting to see if Birmingham's proposed congestion charging makes any difference.

[Hobby]

For a high adrenaline drive try Coventry's inner ring road in rush hour traffic.

It's a gem isn't it! It would make a good banger track!! I think it dates from the 1960s. I suppose it was quieter and traffic slower back then. The local paper has a video how to use it.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Hobby