Lamborghinis Are For Racing Round Knightsbridge At 2:35 In The Morning
Jeremy Clarkson said this tonight on Top Gear.
I found it funny, as the only time, I saw a Lamborghini P400 Miura, was making a tremendous amount of noise on a Sunday morning in Oxford Street in about 1968!
This Won’t Happen To Me!
This story is one of those, where you wonder how the driver managed to wreck the house opposite. As usual they seem to be claiming the automatic transmission malfunctioned. They rarely do! But as the old joke says, the nut behind the steering wheel is the most dangerous part of a car.
I doubt it’ll happen to me on either side, as I don’t drive and there is no house with a sloping driveway opposite. To make it even more difficult for a kamikaze driver, my kitchen is at the back on the first floor. I suppose they could go down the mews and jump the car over the house at the back of my garden.
It doesn’t give in the article, any details on the driver, but it does seem to me, that whatever happens, they should be made to take a thorough test before driving again. Next time their automatic transmission mulfunctions, a child could be the victim.
The Royston Crow gives more detyails here. Isn’t that a wonderful name for a local paper!
Towards The Paperless Society
On the BBC’s News web site today, these are two of their top ten stories; the scrapping of the car tax disc and driving licence records going on-line.
Obviously, these don’t affect me as I don’t have a driving licence or own a car.
But they do show the way that society is going. After all, for many of us, the only contact with our bank or credit card provider is through the Internet.
The one area, where we don’t seem to be going on-line and paperless is healthcare.
The two stories today claim that this paperless route may save us money on car insurance.
So why is healthcare not following the same route?
It doesn’t necessarily mean a loss of privacy and the need to carry a health card, as we do when we travel in Europe, so I’d put it down to a lack of vision of those who run healthcare and the NHS in particular.
Just Keep Driving, No-One Will Bother!
This story is terrible, as it details how many drivers have more than twelve penalty points and are still driving.
Almost 7,300 motorists with 12 points or more on their licences have not been banned from driving, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has claimed.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) latest figures show a man from Liverpool is driving with 45 penalty points on his licence, the IAM said.
I suspect that none of these drivers have committed a serious motoring offence like dangerous, drink or careless driving, as then they would probably have been banned. But who knows, as surely some of these drivers didn’t get banned because of various underhand means. Nudge! Nudge Wink! Wink!
But even if these drivers are just persistent speeders, do they moderate their speed in towns and cities, where there are some not very alert pedestrians and cyclists, who might misjudge a speeding vehicle? And do their insurance companies know of their points, which if they don’t would surely invalidate their insurance.
I suspect now, that with a persuasive medical report from the right consultant, I could get my licence back. But I have made the decision after my stroke not to drive again, as if I was involved in a serious road accident, I’d be the one to blame.
Except for cases like my abortive trip to Doncaster, it is no inconvenience to not have a car.
One thing that does worry me though, is that I’ve been in a couple of cars lately, where I think that my eyesight was better than the driver.
There are masses of drivers out there who should be banned from driving for various reasons.
But politicians don’t want the law properly enforced as it would be a vote loser.
Scrapping The Car Tax Disc
It has been reported that the government is going to scrap the car tax disc.
It won’t affect me, but I think there will be an alliance of those, who want to keep it.
There will be those, who will object solely on the basis, that the only way to check will be to look it up on a database and this is an infringement on their liberties.
It will also make it difficult for busybodies to report neighbours, who constantly park outside their house, for not having a tax disc.
If the DVLA did the system properly, you would only be able to pay road tax on-line, so that would annoy the Internet refuseniks.
And then there’s the unions, who may complain about the job loses at Swansea and in the Royal Mail.
I’ll be surprised, if they are abandoned it, without a fight from a very odd alliance of troublemakers.
Is Banning Hands-Free Mobile Phones In Vehicles A Good Idea?
The BBC is reporting that there has been a call to ban hands-free mobile phones in vehicles. they also had a lively phone-in about the subject, with high emotions on both sides of the argument.
As a non-driver, I’m not that bothered, except that I’d like to see the current law enforced, as I constantly see bad or selfish driving, where the driver has his phone clamped to his ear. A couple of times, I’ve been waiting at a zebra crossing and instead of stopping as the Highway Code says, they’ve sped across in front of me, hoping that I can’t see their phone on the opposite side of the car.
But this is a problem that will sort itself out, one way or another.
In the next few years, one country, state or city, will ban the use of hands-free mobile phones whilst driving and we will have some reliable data to enable us to make a sensible decision.
One of the biggest objectors today, are probably professional drivers, who drive hire cars, taxis, trucks and vans.
A few months there was a documentary on the BBC about London’s buses. The instructions for the driver are relayed by computer, so that if the driver is to change route, it’s all there in front of them on a screen. These sort of systems are obviously designed not to distract the driver and will come increasingly common, reducing the need for the use of mobile phones in vehicles.
It should probably be the law, that all taxis, hire-cars and delivery vehicles should be controlled by such an approved system.
Keeping Cyclists And Pedestrians Safe
There is a big row at the moment over safety on London’s cycling superhighways.
I wemt to Islington twice today in the morning and to Walthamstow in the afternoon. I saw several instances of bad behaviour, by drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, but the most dangerous ones, were when drivers were turning left and ignoring Rule 170 of the Highway Code and not giving way to pedestrians. In one instance the driver braked hard to avoid pedestrians and a cyclist ran into the back of his car.
So perhaps the best way to cut deaths and injuries to cyclists and pedestrians, is for all road users to obey the law as best they can.
As I said in this post, the Scots have some of the worst pedestrian death rates in Europe and it appeared to me, when I visited, that Scots are much more impatient, than modt of the pedestrians in my part of London.
After my experiences in Croydon yesterday, I would think that signposts showing the shortest and most convenient routes for pedestrians would help too. In a lot of places, cyclists already have these.
Is Any Ipswich Town Fan Going To Doncaster On Boxing Day?
I am trying to see every Ipswich Town match this season. The problem is Boxing Day, when we play at Doncaster.
As the trains and coaches aren’t running and to make things worse the Underground in London could be on strike, it would appear that the only way to go is to hire a car and driver, a helicopter and pilot or just hitch.
Unless of course, someone who’s going from London, can fit a small Ipswich fan in the boot of their car!
Any sensible ideas will be welcome!
Germany Thinks About Charging Foreign Drivers To Use The Roads
I saw this story in the Sunday Times, but it is also discussed in detail here, in The Local, which is German news in English. Quite a few countries now use vignettes to enforce tools.
I feel we should do the same, as being a non-driver, why should I subsidise foreigners, who drive on the roads of the UK.
I suppose the advantage of driving in Germany, is that you don’t have to put up with their crowded and often late trains.
Chaos In The Balls Pond Road
The roadworks that caused all the problems with the buses, last week are still ongoing. There are no open bus stops and just one narrow lane for the traffic.
One Narrow Lane In The Balls Pond Road
When I left home this lunchtime, I walked to the next stop, where there was an angry crowd and even angrier drivers trying to get onto the Balls Pond Road.
The diversion on Dove Road was congested and totally inadequate, especially as they were running extra buses as the Overground was closed, so putting a large number of extra passengers on the buses. When I returned later in the afternoon, the problems were made worse, by everybody trying to get to the Emirates to see Arsenal at home to Liverpool.
If they’d wanted to organise chaos, they’d created it, in the best way possible.
I was talking to a bus driver and he blamed Boris, which was a bit unfair.
As my background is project planning and management, I believe this chaos was all down to no co-ordination between the parties involved. The Arsenal match has been in the calendar for months, so surely to do the necessary resurfacing work, on a match day was a bad decision. It was probably costly too, as it meant that all of the chaos, meant that not as much progress as had been hoped was made.
Surely too, the Overground should have been kept open, whilst the road was effectively closed, as this closure imposes extra strains on the road network.
The only good thing about the roadworks, was that I could cross Southgate Road with ease.
A Closed Southgate Road
But crossing the Balls Pond Road is difficult for pedestrains, as there are no lights and we’ve been left to our own devices and wits.
No-one seems to have any idea, how long this chaos will go on. Although this notice mentions that Phase 5 ends on the first of December.
I can’t help feeling, that traffic problems in the area would be helped on match days, if the Northern City line was open between Finsbury Park and Moorgate. Perhaps, when Thameslink is fully established this line will get some long-needed improvement.
The Anonymous Widower 