Drivers and their problems

Patients react after Royal Stoke lodges overflow car park plan

As you say with your cartoon: I demand to be able to drive and park where I like, when I like- it's all those other drivers and the lack of roads, and the bloody cyclists, that are the problem

Yet another thug committing a severe unprovoked violent attack on a cyclist and receiving only a joke suspended prison sentence- why aren't we surprised?

David9694 wrote:

It just seems ironic that the proposed new coach drop off site next to the care home is pretty much on site of the old train station.

  I think there could be a whole other thread there... per your post on the funnies of the US vs. Switzerland.  (Or possibly a report to government - you'd think they'd be keen on saving cash right now e.g. "efficiencies"!  You'd think...)

Meanwhile:

Switzerland
Local transit hub in NL
Door-to-door service with train and "public transport bike" (OV Fiets)

It's standard to have a suspended sentence due to full prisons.

Although exceptions are made for hardened criminals such as Gaie Delap who is a clear and present threat to society.

You can tell by the eyes.

Okay, but one attacked a single cyclist, the other delayed multiple drivers!

David9694 wrote:

Lord Montagu issues climate change warning at estate dinner

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/24696530.lord-montagu-issues-climate-ch...

Maybe he's about to dump the 2025 programme of car-fests.

Given I took this picture Beaulieu House, I wouldn't expect any consistency.

David9694 wrote:

Please can you tell me the way to the secret staircase? 

I could, but then I'd have to push you down it.

If you visit his motor museum it's got a little section celebrating all his family's victories in 'the war on motorists'.

David9694 wrote:

New parking rules in England (that would be nice, but it's Sheffield) from Monday and drivers fear 'being fined for breathing'

The new rules will come into effect across Sheffield from Monday, May 20, with £70 fines for drivers - reduced to £35 if paid within 14 days.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/new-parking-rules-en...

Birmingham Mail wrote:

Under the new rules, motorists could be issued a penalty charge if they park across dropped kerbs, in cycle lanes, or if they park too far from the kerb, it has been confirmed. The council said new enforcement rules had been introduced following a recent consultation.

In what way is this unreasonable?

(and note only that they COULD be issued a penalty charge)

HLaB wrote:

It's what pedestrian walkways are designed for ain't it https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/24435787.oxford-bmw-car-stuck-botley-r...

It's ridiculous that they put pedestrian walkways where cars need to go

HLaB wrote:

(Speed limit for safety reasons)

No Sh1t Sherlock!

Well it could be there as part of the war on drivers, or because the Local Authority "have been invaded by the woke", or as part of a plan to bring road laws into disrepute...

What a shoddy excuse. I've been driving for 40 years too and have no issues figuring out give way triangles and dashed lines. 

M27 I think.

An excellent example of complaintese there:

Quote:

I witnessed first hand the dire consequences of inadequate exit solutions

Looks like complaints about car headlights are on the increase

Something we have all had to live with for years- the lighting arms race and the SUV mentality: I'm in a higher, bigger, heavier vehicle than you and I have higher and more powerful lights, so I win and sod the rest of you. However, the increasing problem for us is the alacrity with which excuses for driving into a cyclist are accepted by police, judges and juries: CoaB reminded us yesterday of the tragic Mason case which demonstrates that you can get away with killing a cyclist simply by saying you didn't see them, whatever the circumstances. We're all familiar with the 'the sun was in my eyes [so I had to put my foot down]' defence for killing a cyclist, and now we have 'I was dazzled by oncoming vehicle headlights [so I had to put my foot down]'

David9694 wrote:

Furious drivers claim it would be quicker to walk around a “gridlocked” Kent town after several long-term roadwork projects began this week.

Then go for it! 

wtjs wrote:

Looks like complaints about car headlights are on the increase

Something we have all had to live with for years- the lighting arms race and the SUV mentality: I'm in a higher, bigger, heavier vehicle than you and I have higher and more powerful lights, so I win and sod the rest of you.

Indeed - and no doubt this will apply due to norms of increasingly powerful lights on bikes also (because "we can" and because "this one goes up to 11, though" and "brighter must mean safer").

My default (now on all my bikes) is between 2.4 - 3 W (via the power of my legs and hub generators, and clever German lights)!  That's covering both front and rear ... so no doubt if I am run over in anything other than bright daylight having potentially "always on" lights will not count in my favour - "It's clear that the deceased would have been practically invisible to anyone else on the road due to the other lights in use.  And by choosing to rely solely on such an ineffective system he sadly demonstrated a wanton disregard for his own safety...".

Bonus: the more you do it, the quicker you'll get!

wtjs wrote:

… now we have 'I was dazzled by oncoming vehicle headlights [so I had to put my foot down]'

Anecdote for you: over Xmas, I'd picked my teenage daughter up (in my car) quite late one night.  Cold but clear, no rain or fog, etc.

Coming back along a 50 mph speed limit long and straight road with no street lighting, I could see flashing blue lights ahead.  I slowed down, as I was having trouble seeing beyond the lights.  There were two police cars, an ambulance, and a civilian motorbike all stopped by the other side of the road; blue lights flashing on all the emergency vehicles.  I slowed down even further, then as we passed them and I could see again, I started to accelerate away.

My daughter said, "Did you see that cyclist?". "What cyclist?", says I.  "As we were going past all those police cars there was a cyclist on our side of the road, you passed him." "Did they have a rear light?" "Yes."

Reader, I had not seen them at all 

Non-anecdote for you:

https://upride.cc/incident/st23fhf_audi_closepass/

We need a new feature 'Predict the Anti-Cyclist Excuse 2025', and this could be the first entry- open for comments. I could get them effort-free by putting it on YT, or even just asking the b*****d police- here they wouldn't respond, just like their policy with the reports

wtjs wrote:

Non-anecdote for you:

https://upride.cc/incident/st23fhf_audi_closepass/

We need a new feature 'Predict the Anti-Cyclist Excuse 2025', and this could be the first entry- open for comments. I could get them effort-free by putting it on YT, or even just asking the b*****d police- here they wouldn't respond, just like their policy with the reports

My own anecdote was not an excuse.  Or wasn't intended as such.  I was horrified that I had completely failed to see the cyclist in my case: I'm glad that I had slowed right down anyway, but somewhere out there is a cyclist complaining to all their friends (possibly on this very site, though I haven't seen them) about a b*****d in a Beetle close passing them… 

I wasn't 'getting at you' at all