SM42

Cake will have to wait till a week on Thursday when we will be inundated. Well with doughnuts at least. Half term will be quite fattening. Andy

Well that's nice ennit Andy

Cake is unfortunately in rather short supply at SM42 Towers. Andy

Yep. Cake is pretty universal and its appeal. Andy

Salutations to @Winslow Boy Only the best people are born in February you know. To celebrate this auspicious occasion I shall be going out tonight. To work Pah! Andy

I like Polish girls I don't know though. There are a lot of grunts creeping in. Perhaps HH is turning native after years of exposure. He really needs to cut down on the exposure, especially at this time of year Andy

Well that's another 584 million miles round the sun completed Andy

Measuring fuel litres or whatever unit of volume you prefer will give a different result at different temperatures There are more molecules in a litre at 0c than at 25c The mass is thus a better measure than volume. Andy

Round here the street lights have developed a habit of coming on as you drive along. The problem is they tend to come on behind you for about 1 second. It's like a drive through disco Andy

He would struggle anyway as a bicycle is not a mechanically propelled vehicle and thus not regulated by speed limits Andy

As I understand it, David Beckham's speeding ticket was thrown out as the leasing company that was the registered keeper of the car and to whom the first RTA section 172 notice was sent, stamped all correspondence with the date received. They could therefore prove it was not delivered within 14 days of the offence as required by law and thus was invalid and thus any further notices failed. It is presumed that any notice is delivered 2 working days after posting unless the contrary can be proved. In that case it was. Interestingly ( or not as the case may be) if DB had not responded to the notice he received within 28 days having been nominated as the driver, he could have been convicted of a separate offence carrying 6 points and a hefty fine, regardless of whether the first step in the chain had failed in law. Andy

Red circles are mandatory prohibitions Red triangles are warnings Rectangles are for information Blue circles give mandatory instructions Yellow rectangles are temporary signs The stop sign is the odd one out. As far as C& U regs goes, how do all those trucks festooned in blue lights get on? White to front, red to rear, orange down the sides The same regs are also why the number plates are different colours front and rear. Can't show white to rear. Reversing lamps are the exception. Andy

I was taught that for dazzling lights, look towards the kerb or whatever marks the left edge of the road ( right if you are of a continentally located location, but not down under etc etc) It probably works as you are looking slightly off to the side so the bright light does not hit the back of the eye at full pupil concentrations. You can also see something to guide you along on your way whilst your peripheral will monitor the other vehicle Andy

Have you got it set for shortest or fastest route. Shortest will take you off piste on a regular basis. For fun night driving, try Poland. Not only is it hard to tell how many of those headlights coming the other way are on your side of the road, the wildlife can have suicidal tendencies too. Andy

Depends on which way you tear it I suppose Andy

Amazingly we had a telephone directory delivered last week. Makes a change. Last time I was at the tip, the paper skip was full of new copies. When we moved into SM42 Towers the loft contained 250 1989 editions. They surprised the dustman when he tried to move the recycling bin . Andy

Indeed it is a non motorway special road. I chose Rhyl as it was the first place that came to mind along the A55 that I could spell May we remind you who invented the USA. Andy

Tony S' s links also show an anomaly that occurred in Wobrn Sands) that just goes to show how these things can get mixed up. ( go from traffic light signals link back to signs and signals and then signs that give orders)) A 20 mph limit was imposed and the local authority specified to the contractor which sign should be used to indicate the limit, referring to an illustration in the regs. Hence the contractor created the sign as requested and Beesworth was put on the map. 😁 https://www.roads.org.uk/blog/theres-no-such-thing-beesworth That's also a fascinating website that you could lose hours in Andy

I am confident the red circle with a numeral on a black background is covered in the legislation.( TSRGD 2016) It's in the detail rather than a picture AIUI but I believe it is covered. The orange disc crossed out isn't as far as I can see, however it could be argued that it is in the spirit rather than strict observance of the law. The A55 in North Wales is about the only road in the UK I can think of where you will see 70 on a speed limit sign. A national speed limit sign would mean some very rapid progress could be made out of Rhyl Andy

Well I've just looked at the latest online version on gov.uk and no mention. Perhaps the government aren't showing the latest version online Seems odd that the government hasn't sent me an updated version either. They've got my address after all. However the Highway Code is not the law Road signs are covered by the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Diections and the only " national speed limit applies " sign in there is black on white ( diagram 671). I haven't found an amendment to that yet and no mention made under signs for motorways . If anyone can point it out I'd be grateful The intricacies of traffic law are many and varied and I doubt anyone knows it all ( The Highway Code gives a good workaday guide) and even those who should know or check ( Highways authorities) when signing the roads get caught out. Hours of fun to be had in the RTA, TSRGD and Construction and Use regs. Andy

But the legally recognised sign is black on white Not black on orange or lemony yellow. The look and size of signs is legally defined. Of course this relies on drivers reading all the local papers from the last month for their journey. The limit should be adequately signed. It is a basic principle that information should be conveyed to allow drivers to know what restrictions apply at any given moment. A squiggle of grey paint over a sign doesn't remove the possibly vandalised sign from not applying ( otherwise any vandalised sign would cease to apply or we could indeed do 80 in the 30) and hence the conflict between a temporary and seemingly vandalised sign creates confusion. I wonder if it's a defence that would fly? Probably not, but you never know. The Germans turn their signs through 90 degrees on the post and add a enough temporary signs to avoid any doubt. Non motorway special roads are also quite interesting when it comes to posting speed limits. It's not for that It's to differentiate the signal from the identically numbered, save for the BR, main aspect. If a person trackside says they are by a signal, quoting a number, then the BR immediately identifies the correct signal. It also assists in identifying the asset correctly for both maintenance and fault finding and on wiring plans and control tables. Andy

That's where a dashcam is useful, if you remember to download any footage before it overwrites just in case you get a letter a few days later. I'm always intrigued as to what the limit is with temporary signs and the permanent ones covered in grey spray piant. Now is that graffiti and hence the sign is still valid ( we don't believe the 30 changed to 80 do we?) Or do we accept that bit of spray paint negates the sign. There doesn't seem to be a legal route to do this other than remove the signs so a cheap bodge is used it seems. Andy

No it's not the little yellow square, circle etc signs. It's a woppin great orange circle on an overhead matrix sign with a black diagonal strip across it. Just one. Midway between junctions. Andy

Oh it gets worse. Round here they put some new cats eyes in, on what was a two lane dual carriageway and is now single lane in each direction by the use of copious amounts of white paint What colour cats eyes did they install along the solid white line marking the right side of the running lane? White. 🤔 Now on motorways with those gantry speeds limits, AIUI no limit posted means national limit applies as this is what is written in the regulations. So is it 70, or still 40. The sign says 70 by not saying anything but the last said 40. No wonder people get confused. I'm also still trying to find out what an orange circle with a black diagonal strip means on an overhead sign There is one on the M20 at least. I've seen another elsewhere but the location escapes me. ( the M3 possibly) I can't find that sign in any official publication Andy

I suspect that geography has something to do with that too. The USA and mainland Europe I valve some significant mileages forcteight making a train viable for many more products than in the UK market. The net result is the UK freight scene is concentrated on bulk and containers where road traffic finds it hard to compete. . Europe is similar, but smaller loads are potentially viable so that a raft of a few wagons makes economic sense in a train of similar loads. Andy