Safe Speed Forums

I'm in a hurry!



If I'm not in a hurry, that's what I do do.



I do if I'm not in a hurry. It's a trade-off. If I am in a hurry I drive at 65 or even (gasp) more. Once, at at gig in Liverpool, the drummer forgot his symbols (!) and the other giutarist and I managed to get from downtown Liverpool to North Wales and back inside an hour, and that was through the tunnel. That's shifting, chum, but the show must go on.

The trick is not to be in a hurry by scheduling time well.

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Gobserver

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I stole this .sig

Not bad in the heckling stakes but otherwise rather ... inadequate.

Absolutely classic guys!

I'd just like to say earlier today I typed "Basingberk" entirely by accident, and was lucky to correct it before I sent it.

I hope no one's offended, and if this level of light hearted insult continues I won't intervene without a specific request. Seconds out...

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

When Observer asked basingwerk/brunstrom to use the other half of his brain, he left out the word 'cell'!

IG, this is a bit off-topic, but, speaking of roadworks, I'd like to run something past you.
On the M5 there are roadworks, although the only 'roadworks' are a few spots on the hard shoulder, where they've installed concrete barriers behind which the workers do their stuff. All three lanes are open, but they've seen fit to restrict several miles of motorway to 50mph, even though, as I've said, there are only a few places, spaced a couple of miles apart, where there's any roadworks going on - and they don't work at night or over the weekends.
They say that this 50mph limit is there to 'protect the workforce', but I can't see how. A car losing control at 70mph would probably simply bounce off the concrete barriers they have in place, but a HGV doing 50mph (only 6mph lower than their limited speed) will not be stopped by a few pieces of concrete. Additionally, the 50mph limit has the effect of bunching the traffic up, which makes an accident - and possible injury to the workforce - far more likely.
That's my take on it, but I'd value your opinion.



Reminds me of a couple of years back - I was driving through roadworks, down to 2 lanes, 50 limit, when I saw blues and twos coming up behind me - fast. The left lane was nose-to-tail lorries so I couldn't pull over anytime soon, and my only option was to floor it - which I did. I got to 100mph+ before I spotted a space to pull into. As the copper passed me, he gave me a friendly wave - good thing he was one of the good guys



Tell me something else: what would you probably do if you saw someone on the motorway going well in excess of the limit but, in your opinion, driving perfectly safely for conditions?

Regards
Peter

You SCOUNDREL you! Then!

Nail on head!

And it depreciates to zero immediately as well - another way I think they hide their ill gotten gains in their financial statements.

If the aim is to reduce casualties - then the investment is definitely not giving a return for the expenditure....

However, if the money is spent on education incentives, then one would see a return for the investment in better driving standards - from which a reduced accident rate would ensue.

Do you get the point Bustingwaterworks?

As a matter of fact they are

My colleagues tell me a lot......

You would be amazed at how dangerous a Black & Decker workmate can be...... Someone arrived in casualty with a broken thumb from one of those ....

Another hammered a nail through his hand.....

Someone else broke all his fingers fitting a kitchen ......

Another appeared after scalding himself when his soup boiled over....

Burns from cooking the family meal

Mouth burns from shovelling hot family meal into gob whilst watching Corrie

Colleague treated someone with scalded feet after getting into bath without running some cold water......

Not to mention the deep cuts form use of stanley knives, burns from concrete, superglue problems, broken limbs from falling off step ladders, ordinary ladders, electric shocks from fixing wiring, using electric lawn mowers....and this is just the tip of the iceberg of cost to NHS from carelessness around the home.

Far in excess of RTA/C incidents........ which are not reducing in number at all - despite all the hype form the scamerati

I am sure Basingwerk and no-one else will not be offended by any of this gentle banter and leg pulling on nicknames. So long as it does not degenerate into sort of thing my wife experienced elsewhere. After all - we are gentlemen on this site

I suspect the vast majority of us are serious drivers who are interested in getting from A to B quickly and safely. We are not "speed kids" - in fact that's not a meaningful term. Your average Saxo-driving chav is totally at a loss once out of the urban environment. Driving is a serious subject that is worth taking an interest in and developing one's ability.

Our motivation is not being "put out by restrictions" but being concerned that current trends in safety policy actually make the roads more dangerous.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

My dad dropped an oven door on his foot whilst he was working in the kitchen...broke his toe The nurse in AE reception guffawed out loud when he told her what had happened. She made a new entry in her "Book of Silly Domestic Incidents" afterwards.

HEY!! My wife drives a Saxo. And it's a VTS..., with chrome bits......

BW



Poor planning was it?




So if you're not in a hurry you drive at say, 50?




There are no "tricks" to driving safely.

Slip stream from fast moving traffic can be dangerous to them - especially if they are using drills - even behind the concrete barrier. Also - cranes, diggers, tippers would be somewhere around ....which is probably why the 50 mph stretches beyond the actual roadworks.

Bunching --- two second rule Gradual slow down to "correct" speed without slamming on anchors and keeping reasonable distance usually helps flow and prevents bunching - but again part of need for constant input into driver development - which can be done by series of decent tips on the telly.

But agree - Gatso could be switched off when risk is nil. But I would still be inclined to drive past the concrete slabs cautiously - especially if lanes had narrowed there a a result.




Good job the PC Gatso was not there either But then - that is difference between proper policing and this sort of thing where your only option is to appeal and pray common sense prevails




ooh! That's a tough one!

Depends - how much above limit. Have been known to give acid lecture at 99 mph (was more - but what's a couple of mph bewteen pals) - chap was almost pickling himself in back of the car - he drove well - but fast.... Was at ca 5 a.m. on summer morning - no traffic apart from us at time..... guy hurtled past the sliproad where we were larking about - so we followed - as you do He was in right old panic as he thought he was looking at instant ban .... pointed out dangers of someone who might still be half asleep in front of him and so on .... and let him go on basis that it was new toy and he simply succumbed to temptation .....not a habitual speeder and certainly every indication was "safe" driver normally.

Lot of comments seen on other fora about tonning it at night....

Well.... reason why I would stop and probably issue proceedings against a "tonner" is ... night driving -= poor visibility = danger to self and others.

Basically Pete - I try to be as fair and as professional as I possibly can at all times. I do not rub salt in wounds nor try to make people feel small when I stop them either. That is not professional.

Thanks for your comments, IG



But several miles past? And I seldom see workers at these sites, let alone cranes etc. I'm also a bit doubtful that a 70mph car in lane 2 or 3 would create as much slipstream as an artic in lane 1.



By bunching, I don't necessarily mean not observing the two-second rule, as much as vehicles being alongside one another for long periods of time. One of them just has to drift a metre or two over and you've got a nasty.



You're professional, decent and fair-minded - just how it should be (Brundstrom, take note)

I can't describe what a weird sensation it was for me to be doing 120mph, while being passed by a big Merc going much faster - all in full view of a patrol car, whose driver didn't bat an eyelid.
This, of course, happened in Germany.

Regards
Peter

Shortly after we married - my wife was hanging up curtains in the smallest room in the house.... only she forgot to put lid down on the toilet..



Yup - you guessed - she slipped and her foot went right down the bend ....

Arrived home - she had been stuck there for hours by then

Tried soap, and all sorts of things to get her out of there.... eventually called both a plumber and the fire brigade - well - did not know what else to do .....

They arrived - took one look - and fell about laughing....

We got her out of the toilet eventually ..... but we had to remove the toilet to do so ....

Was one expensive accident ...

ROTFL - tell her that's supposed to be us men.

Yeah, my dad did something similar when fixing a louvre window behind the loo. To his credit he did remeber to put the seat down. 10 out of 10 for that. Minus about five hundred points for forgetting that he weighed about 15 stone and the toilet seat was one of those thin plastic efforts that bend when the cat sits on it. Similar results, but didn't get stuck. And he's still living it down nearly 20 years later. (We're a mean lot).

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

Same thing happened to my mate in Paris - he was fixing a loo window behind the Louvre.

Sorry, couldn't resist...

50 is a good speed sometimes. If I'm in a real hurry, I drive at the maximum speed I can safely, within the limit. If I'm in no hurry at all, I don't go anywhere! And if it is in between, I drive at somewhere less than or equal to the maximum speed I can safely, within the limit, but higher than the speed where I would annoy people! Whether that is 20, 30,40,50, or 60 or even (gasp) 70, depends on those conditions.

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