Drivers and their problems

Burnham Market is one of those weird posh coastal town places overrun with 2nd home owners from the Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. So those vehicles probably belong to "residents" who are on their jollies this week, and think they're roughing it in the countryside.

RE: Running Horse Roundabout - Probably just the newspaper but it seems we can't use the word "Dutch" / "NL" without saying something incorrect in the same sentence.  "Colour-coded routes"?  Here's a real one...  Here's a page with some more about them (halfway down - maybe they just googled this page and saw the diagram and thought "that's how it works"?).

Turbo roundabouts are inherently "bicycle exclusive" infra - almost as much as motorways.  You have to provide separate safe cycling and walking infra (if you need a turbo roundabout automotive flows are going to be incompatible with traffic lights).

Looking at this roundabout on the map it looks like there would be no cycling there unless you were insane (basically part of motorway support infra) and indeed no need for cycling.

But... streetview even shows a cyclist, and there are some footways (!) repurposed as "cycle infra".  There is a "cycle route" parallel to it which exits onto it although again it's not entirely clear why you want to.

Anyway, just "UK".  Meanwhile, in the real NL, building major roads doesn't have to be a barrier to access for non-motorised transport...

Sounds like he had more money than sense. And still has, apparently.

brooksby wrote:

One of the tabloids recently ran a story on some bloke getting fined for outstaying the parking restriction limits in a cinema car park, after going to watch Dune part 2 

Lucky they weren't watching Sátántangó

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111341

chrisonabike wrote:

With this kind of thing some might say "their own misfortune is their punishment".  I hope they face further sanction.

On balance I think it's reasonable for society to pick up the tab for some behaviours of others we find objectionable - even if they're damaging to the people themselves.  That would be under principles like "freedom" and "providing care for the injured / those in danger regardless of how they got to that point".  But at some point we do have to consider the cost as these can conflict and we have finite resources.

I think with mass motoring the harms that people cause through carelessness / stupidity / "ain't gonna do what they tell me" can be so magnified that this merits a modified approach.

With motoring, society has chosen to use insurance companies to cover the costs of driver mistakes, but the companies are going to try to avoid the costs, especially if the driver isn't following their rules and I'd guess that deliberately driving on a closed road would invalidate their insurance. From the limited info, it seems like it was just the car that got damaged, so at least that's a reasonable burden for the driver.

Running Horse Roundabout - welcome to the "cycle path"!

World-beating.  It's just because UK cyclists are entitled types and ingrates - plus "but no-one actually wants to cycle" - that this isn't like Groningen already.  It's even got separate pedestrian and cycling infra according to the sign, all in about a metre of overgrown space!

hawkinspeter wrote:

[...]if the driver isn't following their rules and I'd guess that deliberately driving on a closed road would invalidate their insurance. From the limited info, it seems like it was just the car that got damaged, so at least that's a reasonable burden for the driver.

I know it's a separate issue, but not a few don't have insurance anyway.  The cost of recovering money from people (especially if "I don't have the money") is non-zero.

Perhaps only the car got damaged but I imagine they'll still need a safety inspection, plus of course the cost of retrieving the driver (during hazardous conditions...), patching up the driver, retrieving the car and clearing up debris.  The latter and the safety inspection may have to take place when the road would be otherwise safe to drive on thus open so there's presumably an economic cost to everyone from that.  Perhaps some people don't get to hear about that before they arrive to cross, so a queue builds up, leading to congestion...

BUT I PAY ROAD TAX...

brooksby wrote:

Jogle wrote:

Dinas Powys man loses home after spending thousands on novelty private number plate This might be more "Non-Driver and his Problem" but I'd summarise it as "man thought a numberplate was worth a lot more than other people and so now wants his money back as his investment wasn't an investment". https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2024-03-24/man-loses-home-after-spending-...

Who would spend £30,000 on a numberplate 'as an investment'?  When you throw in the bit where apparently he doesn't even use the numberplate - its in a storage unit with the rest of his possessions after he lost his house, apparently - it certainly seems that he needs some lessons in fiscal management…

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-12234361/Personalised-n...

Jon Kirkbright, 45, founder of Plate Hunter, says the value of private plates have rocketed in recent years

I refer to Mandy Rice-Davies for the reply to this.

Steve K wrote:

brooksby wrote:

Jogle wrote:

Dinas Powys man loses home after spending thousands on novelty private number plate This might be more "Non-Driver and his Problem" but I'd summarise it as "man thought a numberplate was worth a lot more than other people and so now wants his money back as his investment wasn't an investment". https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2024-03-24/man-loses-home-after-spending-...

Who would spend £30,000 on a numberplate 'as an investment'?  When you throw in the bit where apparently he doesn't even use the numberplate - its in a storage unit with the rest of his possessions after he lost his house, apparently - it certainly seems that he needs some lessons in fiscal management…

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-12234361/Personalised-n...

This is Money - part of the Daily Fail family....not sure I'd believe anything for them

When I read the article I thought at least there won't be any comments about cyclists. Silly me.

Hirsute wrote:

Judge criticises CPS

A driver who was twice the alcohol limit and deliberately ran over a pedestrian “used his car as a weapon” a judge has said. Also driving whilst banned.

“I question why the Crown accepted this plea – ‘surprising’ is the most diplomatically way I can put it."

“I cannot sentence him on the basis that he used the car as a weapon because of what the prosecution have done.”

CPS had accepted a plea of causing serious injury from careless driving, instead of causing serious injury from dangerous driving.

Just what do you have to do for it to be dangerous ?

https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/24220146.essex-man-ran-victim-argume...

Why does it have to be one or the other - would it be possible to charge for both careless and dangerous driving as a matter of course when someone is seriously injured?

David9694 wrote:

Tourists vow 'never to set foot in Wales again' over 20mph row

"I spent so much time checking my speedo I am sure I was a danger to pedestrians and errant drivers. My wife was glued to the satnav reminding me whenever I was approaching 20 and couldn't appreciate the view."

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/tourists-vow-never-set-foot-2...

hwyl wedyn
 

Apparently it affects the locals more than the tourists, because "we get held up behind tourists" - presumably those tourists who are scared of getting a fine vs the locals, who aren't?

Hirsute wrote:

This cycle lane has had a massive impact on the high st shops.

"It was so bad that all the shops closed down and were replaced with 1950s semi-detached houses."

https://twitter.com/LauraEvansTeam/status/1773316930360717783

It can be quite nice during the week in the winter when there are less literal Chelsea tractors parked up outside thier second homes.

Why was it not wounding with intent/gbh ? this guy got 18 years in jail for "using a car as a weapon" https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/22021396.driver-used-car-weapon-reven...

hawkinspeter wrote:

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/driver-ignores-bridge-closure-signs-9196105

A car crashed on the M48 Severn Bridge this afternoon after a driver foolishly ignored signs indicating that the bridge was closed. High wind speeds forced officials to close the bridge between Bristol and Wales this afternoon, Thursday, March 28, but that one driver decided that the closure did not apply to them and attempted to make the crossing anyway.

Meanwhile, in Baltimore...

Baltimore officials are in a frenzy as the Francis Scott Key Bridge has collapsed after being hit by a cargo ship. Search and rescue efforts are underway to locate people who might have fallen into the water during the collapse, and a key thoroughfare to the second busiest port on the eastern seaboard has been severed. But none of this has stopped people in cars who just need to get where they’re trying to go, no matter what.