As I was tootling along, tailgating and entering corners too fast and in the wrong gear this weekend I pondered on hazards that I treat with paticular respect.
I decided that my top two most respected junction hazards were a) Pub Car Parks (Obvious) b) Garden Centres. (Old People)
Discuss.
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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May I throw in side-roads with schools on them? I don't think I need to elaborate.
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Small roads that cross over a dual-carriageway. There's a few near here and every now and again someone misjudges how long they need to get across.
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Ice cream vans (as per the old government information films)
This really sunk in when I once saw a car with ice cream smeared over its windscreen, a deeply shocked driver and a pathetic little bundle on the ground, covered by a blanket. This was one of the most shocking things I have ever seen.
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Another one - mobile phones texters...
I was working in Dublin all last week and saw a very sobering advert on the TV.
Keeps switching between camera on young teenage lad coming out of school sending a text message to a young girl doing the same thing. They're clearly sending these "flirty but nice" messages to each other and being ribbed about it by their respective mates. Very "joyful" and happy music - all quite relaxing and easy on the eye.
Ho hum - another boring mobile phone advert I think. At least they're being honest with the fact they're aiming it at kids.
Few more of these camera switchings and we see young boyo wave good by to his mates and round the corner onto same road young lassy is on - they're clearly meeting up.
Just as he starts reading her latest message he steps into the road.
The instant he does this the camera instantly switches back several yards and you see him hit full on by a car travelling on the road, already braking.
Horrific and graphic clip - It shocked me so much I spent 5 minutes choking on a piece of pizza I happened to be eating at the time when this lovely little advert turned into this. The advert was made by the Irish traffic safety authority or something similar. If you want a comparison then click on the link below. A similar ad from Australia which only played a few times and was deemed too graphic for TV viewing - **** BE WARNED **** It is stomach churning but I think okay for me to link to as it's a) an "official" add and b) it demonstrates how much this advert in Ireland affected me, though I can honestly say the Irish one was worse. Mark, if it does offend you which I hope not, please remove link but leave posting...
Why can't we have adverts like this in the UK? The onus in this country seems to be blame or point the finger at the motorist for everything. It'd be nice if people saw these kind of ads a few times and thought (and preferably looked) twice before stepping out into the road!
Apologies for going off thread...
* Please read warning above before watching this link *
www.punchbaby.com/media/gitfakt/clips/sick/roadpiz...g
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Mark
Are you thinking of the A445/A45 crossing at Ryton on Dunsmore by any chance?
Has been lethal for years and nothing gets done about it.
Charles
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Same on the A24. They advertise 22 deaths caused by 'speed'.
All of them where single carriageway roads cross all 4 lanes dual carriageway and the central reservation at 90 degrees.
Disgrace. Assume 150k national loss for each death it would be cheap as you like to put roundabouts in.
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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I think the actual figure is more like £750k.
So that works out at £16.5m financial loss, never mind the human cost.
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I thought they'd added speed cameras here, as obviously somebody misjuding speed is the fault of the misjudged
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I don't know if it is the A445, but I was certainly thinking of the A45 in that area.
There's also some really nasty ones on the A43 between Towcester and Northampton.
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Mark Are you thinking of the A445/A45 crossing at Ryton on Dunsmore by any chance? Has been lethal for years and nothing gets done about it. Charles
Wasn't lethal in the 60's (!!) when I used to pass thataway en route to stock car racing at Brandon Stadium. Incidentally, is that still on the go ?
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Country lanes during any daylight hours.
Never know when that next sharp blind left on that bit of road you can only just get two cars to pass is going to have a horse+rider on it.
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ND: Too right! Little b*stards will have your hub caps!
Are you under the impression that the letter \"a\" is particularily obscene and that the word therefore becomes less so on the removal of the \"a\"? Or is your command of the english language a little limited and so you are unable to find an alternative method of expressing yourself ? Or is this, in fact, some kind of social comment on their parenthood ? Probably just easier for us both if you don\'t. Mark.
have a horse rider on it.
Been there. Rounded a corner at pace behind a mate on a GPZ900. [1]
Confronted by a thoroughbred sideways in the centre of the road. His forks dived at the same moment as mine and we both pulled up in about 30ft.
Quite safe in hindsight. Quite frightening at the time!
[1] Now keeping up with a bloke who with almost twice your BHP - that\'s when you need to be fast out of corners!
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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Are you under the impression that the letter \"a\" is particularily obscene and that the word therefore becomes less so on the removal of the \"a\"? Or is your command of the english language a little limited and so you are unable to find an alternative method of expressing yourself ? Or is this, in fact, some kind of social comment on their parenthood ? Probably just easier for us both if you don\'t. Mark.
I made one slip of the tounge [1]. Your user name includes a profanity.
[1] Which is rare for me.
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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It is rare for you. That\'s why it didn\'t get deleted and why I put in a semi t-i-c comment instead.
But as a general point, and not aimed at you, I have always wondered why people consider a word less offensive with a vowel missing.
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But as a general point, and not aimed at you, I have always wondered why people consider a word less offensive with a vowel missing.
Should we perhaps opt for deleting consonants? *a**a** is going to be wholly inoffensive unless you want to go through the linguistic linguini required to make it rude.
Personally, I prefer pink fluffy dice every time.
:o)
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Who the #~*& are you calling a rampart?
To the others below. Exactly. You can identify a word clearly as long as you don't use it.
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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It is rare for you. That\'s why it didn\'t get deleted and why I put in a semi t-i-c comment instead.
Sorry, thought it was serious.
But as a general point, and not aimed at you, I have always wondered why people consider a word less offensive with a vowel missing.
The whole area of swearing confuses me.
Why do we as a culture taboo words to describe things that we arbitrarily deem offence when the actions they describe can be accurately described in a way that is not offensive?
My theory? I reckon it was once (rightly?) unacceptable to mention the things these words described. As discussing them became more acceptable the words remained unacceptable and we simply invented new words.
In my view if there are topics of conversation that should never be raised. The specific vocab is irrelevent.
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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Along similar lines, as Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) discussed - Why is it we view it as acceptable to "hint" at swear words when we know exactly what is being insinuated.
I have no link to the original but one Dilbert cartoon SA ends with the phrase "shift happens" in relation to time shift. But from the strip, we all knew what it meant.
Anyway chaps, we're *seriously* digressing here so let's cool off, cut the brown stuff and get back to good ol' motoring :)
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Another junction hazard is the exit from a multi-storey carpark. I often see drivers emerge, blinking owl-like into the bright sun [1] before pulling out directly towards a pedestrian heading back to their own car[2].
[1] but then this is Poole, one of the UK's sunnier spots, [2] having more than its fair share of myopic elderly drivers.
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Another junction hazard is the exit from a multi-storey carpark. I often see drivers emerge, blinking owl-like into the bright sun [1] before pulling out directly towards a pedestrian heading back to their own car[2]. [1] but then this is Poole, one of the UK's sunnier spots, [2] having more than its fair share of myopic elderly drivers.
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Ah yes No Dosh and the entrance just inside is just as dangerous with drivers wearling shades etc etc.
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Mark,
This also shows that you are not anti-semi t-i-c!
Matt35
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Wet or damp manhole covers on bends. Bad enough for bikes, but can easily unsettle a car as well.
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Non-skid surfaces which have got wet in rain and then frozen, thus becoming instant skid surfaces.
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I decided that my top two most respected junction hazards were .................Garden Centres. (Old People) Discuss. -- These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
If there's one thing I hate, it's ageist toads !
This is my own opinion, and not necessarily that of all snails.
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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If there's one thing I hate, it's ageist toads ! This is my own opinion, and not necessarily that of all snails.
Sorry L'Escargpt. Stereotypes work! At the begining of our lives we wear baseball caps and drive like morons. At the end we wear cloth caps and drive like morons.
In between we just drive like morons!
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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Recently created green cyclist only areas at traffic lights.
Almost dropped the bike a few times when stopping on the loose stuff thats left after the jobs done. Why don't they hoover it up (or something!)?
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Recently created green cyclist only areas at traffic lights. Almost dropped the bike a few times when stopping on the loose stuff thats left after the jobs done. Why don't they hoover it up (or something!)?
The green areas are put there as a safety feature but I wonder how many extra accidents they cause. I wouldn't feel safe on one of those knowing that the cars behind may want to pull away quicker or undertake, making it difficult to pull back in to the left.
There is a busy roundabout near me that is soon to be converted to a traffic light junction. The footpaths are marked as shared between pedestrians and cyclists, and the crossings at the lights will be for both. They are still going to paint the green areas at the front of the traffic queues, even though I see hardly any cyclists on the dual carriageway.
James
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Just been to see this guy talk:
www.globebusters.com/
His hazards included Elk, Emus and Road trains. Apparently fuel is so cheap in the middle east it litter s the roads causing much slipperyness. Hell of a bloke, and totally unremarkable until you find out what he's done. This guy literally pops over to Madrid for a beer. (From Cambridge) One of lifes good guys.
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Hazards are *everything* external to your vehicle.
Nearly trashed a biker this week as I pulled out of the drive. Yes I was pulling out so it would have been my fault.
The biker would have been faced with a small group of houses after two miles of open country road. The milk float was stopped on one side, a builders van was unloading materials at the road edge, I was pulling out from my drive, the chap across the road was also at the road edge in his van waiting to go after me. There are also two turnings to agricultural engineers in the middle of this lot where you can expect to see tractors with implements appear at any moment. There were also cars travelling at 50mph both ways.
To me there were so many hazards that I crept across the road in two sections, giving me a second chance to stop if anything appeared from the most blind direction.
Suddenly a flash of silver as this bike appears from between two of the obstacles. He'd merely eased down from perhaps 80mph plus to 60 and flicked through the hazards like a video game.
All the alarm bells should have been ringing in his head to haul down to about 30mph and see which of the vehicles was going to "bite" him.
Not picking on bikers, just this chap. Last time something like that happened a young Nova driver in almost the same spot swerved to miss a parked car, clipped the verge, spun, flew and rolled....all from over 60mph.
When will they look more than two feet ahead?
MM
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>When will they look more than two feet ahead?
Maybe in the afterlife when the 3inch view from inside the coffin
makes the point.
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As I keep saying, the key to safety is observation.
If the biker had been observing, he'd have seen the potential hazards and slowed.
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And yet people have knocked the new Hazard awareness part of the driving test. It may not be perfect, but it's a start.
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If you just repeatedly hit the button you can get a very good score!
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Is there anything about London cabbies with no passengers in this Hazzard awareness thing?
There is nothing more dangerous than an empty cab tooling around. As soon as they see a fare, no matter which side of the road, they're off. Don't even look, never mind indicate.
If you're on a bike, keep your eyes peeled!!
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