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Driving standards

hayfield

By hayfield,
in Wheeltappers

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johnofwessex

johnofwessex

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What annoys me is that we dont take dangerous driving seriously.

 

A pedestrian on the pavement is 5 times more likley to be killed by a vehicle than a terrorist, and there are about three times as many road deaths as homicides but you dont see the local boy racers dragged out of their cars by PC Iva Twitchyfinger with his trusty 357 Magnum 

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Nick C

Nick C

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17 hours ago, Kris said:

That said there are some lights that are dangerous by design. There are 2 sets of traffic lights in Redruth that are very close together https://www.google.com/maps/@50.2361559,-5.2388965,3a,75y,188.75h,90.18t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSDd7ofLFW2o-rXCONCkYyw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

These are separate sets of lights and the further set normally turns green before the near set. This is to allow traffic joining from the right to go through. The number of vehicles that you see going through the first set of lights when they are red is scary. In the last week I have seen it happen at least 8 times (including twice today). Cornwall Council however say there is nothing wrong with the lights! 

You can see why, very bad design. We've got a similar, but less dangerous one here - they've just re-done one of the roundabouts and added lights and spiralling lanes - but one of the lane signs for traffic already on the roundabout is clearly visible to joining traffic - and I've seen several people get confused as to which sign applies to them and get in the wrong lane, leading to a couple of close calls - especially in the wet when you can't clearly see the road markings. It doesn't help that there's no advanced lane signs on that particular entrance, so traffic taking the 2nd exit straight across doesn't know that it needs lane 3 (1&2 being 1st exit only, and the usual mistake being people in lane 2 wanting to go straight)

 

Another one they've done on a couple of these traffic-light-roundabouts is signing each exit as a separate junction - so you see a sign with lanes marked left, straight, straight when really it should be left, straight, right, taking the roundabout as a whole - you don't want people changing lane mid-roundabout.

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Compound2632

Compound2632

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M4 Junction 8/9, coming from the A404(M) and turning onto the eastbound M4, has caught me out twice - I suppose I'm a slow learner. One dutifully follows the lane markings for M4(E), only to find at the last moment that you've been fed into the lane for A404(N), the lane to one's left having without warning become the lane you want to be in.

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johnlambert

johnlambert

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I saw a very strange piece of driving on my way home tonight.

 

Joining the A46 Warwick bypass going south towards the M40; a line of cars moving down the entrance ramp with a learner driver at the head of the queue.  It's about 5:30 so there's plenty of traffic moving fairly quickly on the A46 itself (National Speed Limit dual carriageway).  The car second behind the learner tried some sort of overtake by joining the dual carriageway before the cars in front and I swear there was a moment where the cars were three abreast in two lanes.

 

I'm sure some people see "L" plates and feel like they have to get past, no matter what.

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F-UnitMad

F-UnitMad

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39 minutes ago, johnlambert said:

I'm sure some people see "L" plates and feel like they have to get past, no matter what.

They certainly see "L" plates and forget that they, too, were once learners themselves.

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boxbrownie

boxbrownie

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12 hours ago, johnlambert said:

 

 

I'm sure some people see "L" plates and feel like they have to get past, no matter what.

If they had any sense at all (which they clearly don’t) they would see the foolishness in wanting to be in front of someone who might be on their first lesson! :unsure:

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Coldgunner

Coldgunner

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My driving instructer thought of 'L' plates like a red rag to a bull. People seem to get worse around a learner, which is counter-productive really. I give them a few yards extra space, if they stall at the lights then I just chill for a moment, give them space to recover. I still stall occassionally, often when I've shifted into 3rd by mistake, and tried to pull away.

 

Ashley Neal on Youtube has highlighted the poor behaviour around learners, its a bit of an eye opener. I don't always 100% agree with him though.

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MarkC

MarkC

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3 hours ago, peanuts said:

Having been stopped and weighed at 4500kg the dvsa unloaded thiscthen re weighed it shocking 

20210527_213035.jpg

Huh? There's something VERY wrong there then...

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PatB

PatB

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3 hours ago, peanuts said:

Having been stopped and weighed at 4500kg the dvsa unloaded thiscthen re weighed it shocking 

20210527_213035.jpg

This sort of thing is relatively common in Oz. Because a car licence allows you to drive up to 4.5T gross weight, there is a thriving industry in "derating" heavier vehicles. Basically it's an administrative exercise with the registration authorities. The only physical change to the vehicle is amending the data plate. The result is that there are a lot of light trucks around with laughable "on paper" load capacities, particularly those with heavier bodywork, like refrigerators. Put in a driver, passenger and one pallet and they're over their legal GVM. Very popular with hire companies though. 

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Enterprisingwestern

Enterprisingwestern

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17 hours ago, Adam88 said:

Have we had this crime yet?

 

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/crime/north-yorkshire-police-video-captures-stunning-moment-nine-people-emerge-from-boot-of-stopped-skoda-near-malton-3251663

 

16 hours ago, 30801 said:

 

Crime? In the 70's that would just be the school run.

 

They should have caught them before they dropped the 11 kids off!

 

Mike.

Edited by Enterprisingwestern
Missing word.
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boxbrownie

boxbrownie

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9 hours ago, MarkC said:

Huh? There's something VERY wrong there then...

As PatB says, that looks like a refrigerated conversion which alone could bring it up to close GVW (seemed it did), really down to the conversion company, I bet the owner/driver thought it perfectly legal if it was all bought legitimately and cost a fortune, after all how many of us go to the weighbridge when our car is loaded with family, roof box and boot full of luggage going on holiday...we take it for granted the manufacturer knows what they are doing. 

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MarkC

MarkC

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1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

As PatB says, that looks like a refrigerated conversion which alone could bring it up to close GVW (seemed it did), really down to the conversion company, I bet the owner/driver thought it perfectly legal if it was all bought legitimately and cost a fortune, after all how many of us go to the weighbridge when our car is loaded with family, roof box and boot full of luggage going on holiday...we take it for granted the manufacturer knows what they are doing. 

That is truly scary then...

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PhilJ W

PhilJ W

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Back in the 70's/80's my employer had three or four armoured Transit vans used for wages distribution. They only lasted a couple of years each as the armour put them at or even above the GVW. 

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boxbrownie

boxbrownie

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7 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Back in the 70's/80's my employer had three or four armoured Transit vans used for wages distribution. They only lasted a couple of years each as the armour put them at or even above the GVW. 

Easy done, the problem is the original conversion company tend to buy the cheapest version of a chassis cab and then load it up with their conversion without thought to (OK the better, or more expensive companies will) the eventual loading on the chassis, It’s a bit short sighted because the cost difference in chassis cabs is minimal compared to the on the road cost of converted van, like a refrigerated conversion.

 

Hey Ho it’s all a lost cost not quality nowadays anyway......

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Jonboy

Jonboy

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One of the national first aid charities had custom ambulances that only allow you 5kg or so of personal belongings (lunch, water, handbag etc) to stay within rated weights.

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