Driving standards

[PhilJ W]

The speed limit on that bit of road is 50 MPH. A heavy truck would not be able to swerve to avoid him. Heavy truck at 50 MPH meets motorbike at 50 + MPH = SPLAT!

[johnofwessex]

While I understand the impact on those who have to clear up the mess, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that on some occasions fatality is a positive outcome in certain circumstances

[Hobby]

As long as it's the toerag who is the fatality...

[Reorte]

2 hours ago, johnofwessex said:

While I understand the impact on those who have to clear up the mess, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that on some occasions fatality is a positive outcome in certain circumstances

 

If only others would learn from it, but to them it's "Yeah, well, he clearly wasn't any good at driving fast, I'm much better than that so that wouldn't happen to me."

[eastglosmog]

We have been having fun this week.  Roadworks have closed to exit road from the top of our road.  The only possible diversion is several miles round.  The need to divert is advertised at the necessary road junctions, but they are (naturally a long way before the road closure.  Consequence a number of drivers ignore the diversion signs and arrive at top of the hill an find (surprise) there is no legal way out.  A quick census this morning showed 3 out of 4 of them ignoring the no entry signs on the other road and driving the wrong way down the one way street, to the considerable alarm of drivers coming the other way.

[PhilJ W]

Notify the local plod, that should stop it.

[leopardml2341]

20 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Notify the local plod, that should stop it.

Are you sure?

 

That'd probably be seen by some as an infringement of the perpetrator's human right to break the law.

 

Cynical? Moi?

Edited May 2, 2021 by leopardml2341

[Jonboy]

We have the opposite at the moment, one of the bridges over the Thames on a popular commuter/school run routes has been closed for three days so far.
 

The advance warning was some standard 3’x2’ road works sign with about 20 lines of text in .5” High font that cannot be read whilst moving, I did go through at a quiet moment and it explains that there are a random set of closures and traffic lights over three potential routes, over 2 miles, over a three week period for fibre optic cable upgrade.

 

The actual bridge closure is signed about 10’ in from the junctions meaning motorists only see them after starting to turn in from the main route and then try and swerve back out again.

 

This is not unusual round here at the moment...

[Michael Hodgson]

34 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

Are you sure?

 

That'd probably be seen by some as an infringement of the perpetrator's human right to break the law.

 

Cynical? Moi?

It's PC Plod's that would see his human rights being infringed. 

He'd have to put down his bacon butty and get out of his comfy cop car.

 

Cynical?  You're only a beginner!

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, Jonboy said:

We have the opposite at the moment, one of the bridges over the Thames on a popular commuter/school run routes has been closed for three days so far.
 

The advance warning was some standard 3’x2’ road works sign with about 20 lines of text in .5” High font that cannot be read whilst moving, I did go through at a quiet moment and it explains that there are a random set of closures and traffic lights over three potential routes, over 2 miles, over a three week period for fibre optic cable upgrade.

 

The actual bridge closure is signed about 10’ in from the junctions meaning motorists only see them after starting to turn in from the main route and then try and swerve back out again.

 

This is not unusual round here at the moment...

Thats a problem with many temporary traffic lights. Being temporary the signage is not checked for visibility. Even some permanent signs are not always well placed.

[Enterprisingwestern]

3 hours ago, Jonboy said:

there are a random set of closures and traffic lights over three potential routes, over 2 miles, over a three week period for fibre optic cable upgrade.

 

Presumably the fibre optic company is adequately compensating all the motorists inconvenienced by this?

Yeah, right!

 

Mike.

[PhilJ W]

When the fibre optic cables were laid in my street about twenty years ago the council were putting in new pavements. The cable company were asked if they could bring forward the installation to before the pavement refurbishment but they said they couldn't. The pavement refurbishment had just been completed when the cable company dug it all up again to install the cables. They could have saved themselves thousands by doing it before.

[raymw]

Quote

They could have saved themselves thousands by doing it before.

It looks that way to a casual observer, but if they have a limited number of guys doing the work, and cable supplies are more or less 'just in time', then they have to reschedule a whole line of jobs, maybe delaying installation of a bigger scheme elsewhere. Anyway, the cost is passed on to the customer.

[kevinlms]

3 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Presumably the fibre optic company is adequately compensating all the motorists inconvenienced by this?

Yeah, right!

 

Mike.

Funny you should say about the cost of inconvenience.

 

In Melbourne, it has long been tradition for when a new building is going up in the CBD, for the developers to apply for lane closures, basically FoC.

When it was announced that builders would be billed for lane closures at $X per day. Suddenly the developers found that instead of restricting the road for maybe 100 days, as a block.

Now amazingly the lane closures, can in fact be limited to less than 10 days overall at odd intervals!

 

Incredible what can happen, when the bean counters get involved!

[kevinlms]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

When the fibre optic cables were laid in my street about twenty years ago the council were putting in new pavements. The cable company were asked if they could bring forward the installation to before the pavement refurbishment but they said they couldn't. The pavement refurbishment had just been completed when the cable company dug it all up again to install the cables. They could have saved themselves thousands by doing it before.

Or the council could have delayed putting in new pavement, with exactly the same 'do it once, do it right', result.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, kevinlms said:

Or the council could have delayed putting in new pavement, with exactly the same 'do it once, do it right', result.

The council work was by a contractor and had been planned by about two years. 

[kevinlms]

21 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The council work was by a contractor and had been planned by about two years. 

The cabling company had probably planned their work well in advance too. Both parties sound equally guilty to me.

If the council had stalled the project, they would have had the work done for free. Give their contractor a significant payment for NOT doing the work.

Everyone happy?

[PhilJ W]

If the cabling company had put the cable in first they wouldn't have had to pay for the reinstatement of the footpath.

[petethemole]

"Reinstatement" is not always what you'd expect.  Cabling parts of the medieval town area in Southampton included areas where expensive York stone paving had recently been laid.  The trench digging team came along and removed the stone slabs onto their lorry.  No way that load ever went to a tip.  Cabling team did their stuff and backfilled with chippings.    Reinstatement team came along and topped off with tarmac, their standard finish for highways and footways.  There was a fuss both from the public and the City Heritage people who'd commissioned the stone paving.  It took ages but eventually the cable contractors conceded that they'd failed to instruct the sub contractors properly, and paid for replacement of the paving.  Elsewhere, where they had done the same with concrete slab paving, it was left for ages until the Council repaired it.

[PhilJ W]

In our case the paving was tarmac. The cable company made a proper job if it with proper tarred joints etc., they can't be faulted. Within a few months though both water and gas companies had dug up the pavement leaving it looking like a patchwork quilt.

[Guest]

Openreach dug a trench on front of my drive and then finished it off with cold-fill. I've spent the last six months jumping up and down on the pavement tamping it back down after parking.

They've redone it with tarmac now but it's still breaking up a bit.

[Reorte]

A surprising one on the way home yesterday. Car in front of me covered in stickers, loud exhaust, guy driving it looks the stereotype too. Ended up in front of me and carried on driving along in front of me within the speed limit, properly stopping at lights, and generally driving perfectly sensibly. So much for stereotypes!

 

[Quarryscapes]

Gwynedd Council actually published notices a few years back saying they were going to be resurfacing (proper asphalt job) a large stretch of the B4413 and that if any company wanted to do anything to anything they had buried under it, they were to do it NOW as they would not be allowed to dig it up again for x number of years (5 IIRC) excepting emergencies. 

 

Seems a sensible approach. 

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, Reorte said:

A surprising one on the way home yesterday. Car in front of me covered in stickers, loud exhaust, guy driving it looks the stereotype too. Ended up in front of me and carried on driving along in front of me within the speed limit, properly stopping at lights, and generally driving perfectly sensibly. So much for stereotypes!

 

Maybe he already has quite a few points and is trying to avoid going over the ban-limit...

[kevinlms]

3 hours ago, Quarryscapes said:

Gwynedd Council actually published notices a few years back saying they were going to be resurfacing (proper asphalt job) a large stretch of the B4413 and that if any company wanted to do anything to anything they had buried under it, they were to do it NOW as they would not be allowed to dig it up again for x number of years (5 IIRC) excepting emergencies. 

 

Seems a sensible approach. 

They won't get far with that attitude!