Drivers and their problems

"I love Jennifer Eccles."...Not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVpF9D3ipzI

Worth persevering with the video to see Graham Nash impersonating the Prince of Darkness.

Or brydon does the driving
Pathetic, spineless.

David9694 wrote:

No sale. 

Feathers fly as zoo ranger runs half marathon in ostrich attire

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/feathers-fly-zoo-range...

That's just cheating!

He's just sat there and letting the ostrich do all the running.

David9694 wrote:

brooksby wrote:

David9694 wrote:

“You see people watching out of their windows and spying to see when cars leave in Albert Street and Victoria Street then rushing out and calling their friends to say: ‘I have got a space.’

Is Whitstable too big to cycle around, then?

I just wondered where the car was parked before the other person drove off. 

It wasn't - people are circling for days, just waiting for their 'spotter' to call them with the good news.

If I may...

Ep 4. "The Resurfacing".... the road is closed so it can be resurface...but one car remains. Where is the owner of the car.... the hunt is on.

Ep 5. "A cycle lane....!" The resurfacing done and what's this.... some of the parking spaces have been removed so a cycle lane and a bike storage unit can be installed. The local Green Party Councillor is cornered in the artisan bakery.....

Ep 6. "Walk to school day."  The local first school decides that as none of its students live more than half a mile away, they won't allow people to be driven to school. Questions are asked in the Common's when a parent from the local US Army base disobeys the instruction... 

Ep 7. "Police strike." The Road's Police unit go on strike. People in the area are confused as they didn't know such a unit existed. 

It's actually not too bad at the moment. I suspect the shared sections will become a nightmare in summer though. It stops before it gets into the town center prefering to link with an existing shared route which ends up at the out of town railway sation. There are drain covers in the cycle path one of which is set pretty deep and even the others are uncomfortable to ride over if you don't avoid them, not to mention slippy. There is a concrete HT cable marker which is set about 6 inches in from the edge at one point.  Someone will hit it sooner or later.

I still use it in preference to the road. It's so much more relaxing than that tensed up feeling I get every time a car comes up behind me on the roads. Drivers seem to be getting the hang of giving way to cyclists where instructed to but there are no markings at the two drive ways in the article as well as one of the road junctions so you have to be aware at those.

The first time I went to use it, just after it was completed, the races were on and the cycle path was closed. Forced on to the road with drivers wondering why I wasn't on the cycle path, they wouldn't have seen the cycle path closed sign. Next races are on new years day, we'll see what the score is for that one. The next time I used it a delivery van was parked in one lane of the cycle path at the next house to the one in the article and a car was pulled across the other lane trying to get out. I and the cyclist coming the other way had to stop.

I can certainly see why some cyclists would use the road.

David9694 wrote:

It's probably "too dangerous" or "too busy" to cycle around, which is a shame.  I do sometimes wish a place that this would have the courage to "do a Paris". It's a bit like at Hebden Bridge, you aren't going there on your day out to be surrounded by cars.  

For 60-70 years councils have created off street parking and one ways to try to maintain the illusion that cars, free-flowing roads and a sense of local amenity are all possible at once, but in many places, that no longer works.

Exactly this.  In the UK the dial is turned so far to "drive" that the solution to most problems is a four-wheeled one.  Your town is really rich?  You'll be keeping those parking spaces if you want to keep your post!  You're unlikely to persuade the rich to "reduce their status" / convenience.

Your town is really poor?  The working people you've got need to be able to get out to earn money with their vehicles, the carers / emergency services need to get in etc.

Your town relies on tourism?  Keep 'em driving - the money comes in with the swanky vehicles / large coaches...

Congestion?  We need to clear the streets / make more space to get the traffic flowing again.

Curiously where things have been rebalanced (e.g. NL) the same issues can lead to the conclusion that fewer motor vehicles and more provision for cycling and other modes is the way forward.

Capacity issues?  More cycling (and public transport).

To paraphrase Field of Dreams, "Build it right and they will come: and use it!"

Over 20 years, so a start.

"Please take my licence away as I am not capable of driving".

Jogle wrote:

Steve Coogan avoids driving ban after plea to save new TV show The Trip with Rob Brydon

A (not so) novel principal is in operation here!  So ...

Defence: "in mitigation, if my client is given sufficient points to disqualify him from driving, that will mean he may not be able to legally drive."

Judge: "Ah - that is a very reasonable point.  It cannot be proportionate in this case to prevent someone from driving merely because they have passed some arbitrary threshold for offenses committed showing that they cannot drive safely.  It's not as if he's killed someone.  Let the penalty be 5 points."

ktache wrote:

Over 20 years, so a start.

If I'm getting it right, according to this, his ban will be extended by half his prison term. That works out to a tick over 30 years until he can apply to drive again. He'll be 68 years old.

Sadly I don't think a driving ban of any length will stop a nutter like this from driving.

Somehow I don't think he'll be bothering with the paperwork

I think this statement sums up the attitude of the judicial system towards RTAs

Quote:

Anderson showed a shocking disregard for his actions, with a police bodycam capturing him saying: "I've drove into the back of another car [sic]. Sometimes mistakes happen, but I'm not a bad person."

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/29048971/driver-killed-baby-aunt-crash-cou...

Else where the family are calling for a lifetime driving ban.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cnk4q7p8jnpo

There was case locally, still awaiting sentencing, where a driver, speeding at twice the speed limit, killed a cyclist, ran off was found hiding later in a shed claimed pretty much the same excuse. They felt they'd just been careless with their driving, not dangerous, also tried the cyclist came out of nowhere, didnt see them excuse, props to the jury for not believing that one.

Do we know if the guilty plea acted as a discount to the sentence?

Even 17 years doesn't feel long enough as will be released in 7 probably

ktache wrote:

Look at the angry man.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/06/bournemouth-road...

Christ, just what the fuck is it with these angry old men. I'm old now and more mellow that I've ever been.

stonojnr wrote:

Long grass causing concern https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/24325384.concerns-long-grass-kesgrave...

Suffolk Highways wrote:

“We ask road users to take caution and drive to the conditions of the highway.”

Grrr - don't you be comin' on 'ere acting like you're an 'expert'! 

https://road.cc/content/news/155056-cyclist-jailed-after-fatal-collision...

'Surely every driver that parks on a kerb in Southampton can expect the same letter as I received?'

If only.

We were quoted £5000 to drop our kerb so we decided not to do it. Our neighbours on the corner built a driveway without planning permission and use the pedestrian dropped kerb to drive onto their driveway. The council don't care.

Pub bike wrote:

Steve Coogan avoids driving ban.

Very disappointing.  Ironically, his excuse was because he was allegedly planning to make a show based on driving, which the judge accepted despite it being in doubt.  Surely all the more reason to ban him out of public interest, otherwise it will continue to show that the courts don't take speeding seriously.

Surely also be a case to charge with perjury if the series isn't made?

Hopefully this letter is a piss take from a pro-cycling person?

Attending that New York board meeting? Do you want to arrive 3 months late, sweaty and with your clothes soaked after cycling across the Atlantic? Non, nein,nada! Give me an A-380 or Boeing 777 any time!

Need to transport 23 tonnes of wheat to a flour mill? Would you use a bike? No me neither! Give me a HGV any time!

Planing a manned expedition to Mars? Would you use a bike? Get out of here! A spaceship is better by far!

Meeting a Tinder contact for mind blowing sex, after snorting cocaine from her cleavage? Will cleated shoes and a cycling helmet make your partner tingle with sexual anticipation? Is the pope a giraffe? Use a Ferrari!

Serious tools for serious jobs!

J Martin,
Knob End,
Southampton.

Hirsute wrote:

Dump your swasticar

Whilst I agree with the sentiment, there's a lot of people who bought swasticars before it become known that Musk is a Nazi. It seems unfair that they're now being targetted and they can barely sell their car without making a big loss.

Eton Rifle wrote:

Christ, just what the fuck is it with these angry old men. I'm old now and more mellow that I've ever been.

HRT?

(hormone replacement therapy / legal-ish testosterone)