We subscribe to the CSMA ( Civil Service Motoring Association ) and receive several benefits and a monthly mag........but just listen to this month's 'Star letter'.
To quote.....
" family of four........on the A42.........northbound.......lot of traffic, heavy rain, at night, strong winds.....looking out for the M1. In the distance I could see what appeared to be a lorry travelling with barely visible hazard warning lights. My speed was 70mph. I then noticed that the lorry appeared to be slowing dramatically although it showed no brake lights. It was stationary ! I had no time to brake. I glanced in my rear view mirror and pulled out intio a stream of vehicles all of which were travelling at 80 mph or so. I made it ( just ). I've no idea what happened to the vehicles following me."
The article goes on to blame bad stretches of road with no hard shoulder, warning lights too low on lorries obscured by spray and lots of other excuses as why this brain dead moron didn't think it was necessary to perhaps back off a bit until he became more aware of the hazard which he DID see some while ago.
STAR LETTER stuff, eh !
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My wife gets this mag too and I had to read that letter twice to make sure I'd got it right.
Sadly, the mag is a slick production but written with very little credibility given its very commercial inclinations. Look at the editorial and then consider the advertising which is placed fairly close by. But then, like the RAC and the AA, the CSMA is a commercial organisation which has to make money and has decided the best way to do so is to appeal to dullards.
Why bother with it; like everything else and the curate's egg there are some good parts to CSMA membership and for the moment its breakdown service (never used) is competitive and SWMBO gets a good rate from its associated insurer.
David
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"lot of traffic, heavy rain, at night, strong winds..."
Says it all, doesn't it.
Speed limit is 70 mph.
"I am doing 70, therefore I am legal (and therefore safe). SO: If something goes wrong it must be someone else's fault."
If there was no limit, or it was something like 120, he would probably have been only doing 50! (Unless he really is brain dead)
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Customs 'n exercise (no error in the spelling) are all Civil servants - what do you expect..........no wonder all the illegal fags & booze boys are running rings round them. Doubt they could find their way round to the M1 in clear weather!
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But you have to understand the thinking.
Accidents are usually to blamed on someone or something else.
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I read a letter in a CSMA mag once. Some guy was defending
the fact that he stayed in the middle lane of the motorway,
even when the inside lane was clear, by quoting a reference
which stated that most accidents on motorways occured when
you changed lane; therefore it must be safer for him to stick
in the middle.Of course he selfishly (and isn't that the problem
with these people) ignored the risk everyone else had to take
to overtake him.
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Winter approaches here, and today was the first foggy one of the season.
Visibility varied from 50 to 150m.
But the speed limits (60, 70 or 80 km/h) were ignored, like they normally are on a sunny day...
Lovely rear-end smash at one point, with the-bloke-behind having a rare old go at the woman in front... Obviously can't have been his fault, could it?
(This clown had come blasting past me a mile back, when I was driving at 45-50 in a 60 zone, through a nasty bit of fog ...)
Oh, and guess how many people had their lights off?
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