To all drivers!

[MySeN]

you know what i really HATE, people who dont stick to there lanes on roundabouts. the lanes are there for a fu*king reason so fu*king use them. (breath)
If you are one of these drivers then i have something to say to you. FU*K YOU! and learn how to FU*KING drive!

i think i feel better now

[Frag-O-Byte]

i second that :)

[Say_Ten]

More than middle lane drivers?

[Skillet]

More than middle lane drivers?

Defo - Middle lane assh*les are selfish and annoying but not necessarily dangerous. Idiots that cut across lanes on a roundabout are selfish, dangerous, ignorant, pathetic w@nkers!

[Say_Ten]

I agree, people that do it deliberatly to queue jump are dangerous on the road. However, some roundabouts are just poorly marked to :/

[Tsung]

O heck there are roundabouts in east anglia which you would need the full schematics of the roundabout to know which lane to go in and stay in. I dont think drivers cut across roundabout lanes on purpose it's caused by confusion by non-locals meeting aggressive local drivers.

Middle lane drivers are bad, but where I live there are no motorways, so I have to endure even worse.. Rightlane drivers.. On Dual carrage ways, these morons stay in the right hand lane regardless. Generally you can spot these idiots as they have a long queue of traffic sitting behind them. They are a menance to road safety because people who are driving properly (eg. staying on the left and using the right hand lane to pass) end up getting trapped in the left hand lane by the moron and the band of followers.

Why dont they have right hand lane cameras, which issue fines to these idiots I'll never know?

[Say_Ten]

Lived in East Anglia but where there's no dual carraigeways, it's always Somerfield lorries when I go to visit the folks now. Poorly marked roundabout and lacking the spiral lines can make it very hard not to have to "drift across".

[Joey]

there's several roundsbouts that i have issues with where the lanes are clearly marked and yet people still cut across because they think they know better than the white lines and the signage.

newsflash: you don't

however i really want someone to cause an accident like that because if my car gets written off i get the full purchase price back (£5k) instead of the £1500 it's currently worth...

[KingDaveRa]

I quite agree about following lanes. My problem with them is:

1. The standard rules of 'left lane for left and straight on, right lane for right and around, unless marked otherwise' don't always apply, so I've often gotten into the correct lane (as far as I was concerned) and ended up having to get across to rectify it, mostly because the lanes aren't clearly marked. There's a roundabout in Oxford that confused the hell out of me!

2. The spiral lines on roundabouts are a sod - if I followed them I'd end up in the wrong lane and have to change anyway, so I just do it coming off the roundabout. As long as I check my mirrors, and don't cut anybody up, it's OK.

But yes, I agree. Better signposting and markings would make things sooo much better IMHO!

[MySeN]

I quite agree about following lanes. My problem with them is:

There's a roundabout in Oxford that confused the hell out of me!



well work it out, its not hard! left lane to go left right lane to go right!

at Jct 6 on the M4 people always go in the left lane to turn right onto the motorway. and i just dont understand the logic in this!

learn to effing drive noobsticks!

[KingDaveRa]

I did!!!!! It was two lanes all the way up to the thing, which splayed out into three (I think) about 5 metres from the roundabout. The traffic was barely moving, so it was hard to cross into the middle lane (which I then thought I needed) and then the lines on the roundabout went all over the shop as there were wierd exits which threw things out even more!

It wasn't fun.

[Rich]

I hate any driver in front of me going slower than I want to go in any situation :D That about sums it up

[Zenith]

I had it happen at my local main junction this evening.

There are 5 exits.
Exits 1 and 2 are to the left or straight on.
Exits 3-5 are to the right.

Since I wanted to go to exit 3, I was in the right-hand lane of my road indicating right.
A car zooms up the left lane and starts on the roundabout the same time as me.
I go past exits 1 and 2 in the right lane, keeping pace with this eejit who is in the left lane.
As I pass exit 2, I start indicating left and go into the left lane. Eejit is still in front of me.
I turn off at exit 3 and eejit is STILL in the left lane. He then pulls into exit 4... WITHOUT indicating. Eejit almost caused an accident in the process.


Middle lane drivers on the motorways are my personal bugbear, followed by right lane hoggers on dual-carriageways. I have noticed an increase in it happening in the last 2 years as well. When I started my job (driving around) it happened sometimes, but not often. These days, it seems to be every day I'm on a dual-carriageway. It is almost as if people are not respecting other drivers on the road as much as they used to.
It leads to dangerous driving and bad feeling, and inevitably road-rage.

I hold with the idea of retesting everyone every 3-5 years. That would separate the bad drivers from the ordinary drivers in one fell swoop.

[her0n]

Lorries who decide it's time to overtake another lorry on a dual carriageway when the road starts to go uphill...

[Guigsy]

people can easily learn how to drive properly for a test... then convieniently forget it again.

[zhardoum]

Dont drive in Spain, for gods sake..

In the uk for example, you have a 2 lane joining a roundabout, you would using english rules expect the left hand lane to be left or straight on, and the right lane as straight on or right..

in Spain, youy are supposed to use the left lane at all time, and that when on a roundabout to stick to the left until your junction comes, and indicating isnt compulsory.

Ok we drive on the other side of the road but the spanish are taught this as part of the highway code here, the numbers of accidents i see on a daily basis where the driver in the left hand lane (actually its my right but i converted it to uk roads) goes round the roundabout and without indicating crosses directly infornt of the car in the passing lane is just not funny.

Its bad in winter, in summer its a question of, ooh, a roundabout lets see how many banged hire cars are on the verge and mind the glass...

The real fun starts when spanish drivers goto the uk, and try the same trick and get wiped out by a HGV or other and then look dumb as to say, but im on the left, im allowed to go to the right without indicating..

Oh boys the fun, any of you coming to spain this summer and planning on driving, be VERY WARY OF ROUNDABOUTS..

[Panic]

I agree. people who cannot understand roundabout lanes should not be on the road. (its not rocket science!) WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE UNDERTAKE ON ROUNDABOUTS AND DO NOT GIVE WAY TO THE CAR ON THE RIGHT - PEOPLE ARE SO THICK! IT DRIVES ME MENTAL.

OH YES AND ONE LAST THING....indicate someone PLEEEEEEEEEEZE






THANKS ( i may be able to survive another day...fingers crossed)

[andyf]

I suspect people act like cocks on roundabouts for the same reason they act like cocks on the motorways...

1) They don't know the rules of the road
2) They think they have the right to ignore lane discipline to 'get to destination quicker'

Not that I'm condoning or have done this in the past, but it seems if you briefly make eye-contact with someone else on the roundabout and 'fake' a swerve at them, they immediately stop trying to **** you about and give you plenty of space. I heard it on the radio or something. I think they said bearing your teeth helps too.

[Silk75]

Paris, Roundabouts, Nuff said

[her0n]

In Delhi, right of way on a roundabout is held by those JOINING it.. not by those already on it! People actually speed up when they approach one :o

[MySeN]

im glad that everyone agrees with me on this matter, shame about my other posting session going on about girls at lans lol!

[Steadders]

I can't directly reply, because i don't talk to people who haven't been registered at least a year, but whatever the last guy said, yeah, i agree.

As Zenith said, i know a friend like that, real rude boy and recently passed his test. He said "well i don't really bother indicating or anything, i just burn it off the line and get ahead"

[VonFaceless]

I can't directly reply, because i don't talk to people who haven't been registered at least a year, but whatever the last guy said, yeah, i agree.

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/9826/mysen1ub.jpg

isnt that over a year already?

[Say_Ten]

Of course, all roundabout are easy to understand, obviously there's no poorly marked roundabouts out there, not at all. Of course there is, one by me you have three lanes going into two with no floor markings, the left is supposed to be left only to get you out the way but unless you live round here it's not obivous. Then in Solihull there's two lanes into three with no indication of which is supposed to go into the middle lane, experience now tells me it's the right hand line that gets that one, again if you didn't know the roundabout you could easily mess it up. Or the one on the way to Dreamlan where the floor signs say one road but really it leads onto another.

[Zatoichi.uK]

Another pet hate,

Scenario:

Its busy. You're sitting first in the queue at a roundabout. It's been 2 mins and you can't pull out because everyone from the right of you is going straight over the roundabout.

A car from the right turns left without indicating. You've missed your chance to pull out and sit in another 2 mins of traffic because someone was too lazy to move their hand a couple of inches.

****s!!!

[Skillet]

Not so dangerous but what bugs me on the roads is a real lack of manners!

Like when you let someone out, and they completely ignor you

[Woogie]

the lack of manners on the road really pisses me off..... im so polite when im out driving... i let people in i say thank you... and bla bla bla but when you let someone in whos blatently been sitting there for ages or if you stop to let someone in when you really didnt have to... and they do say thank you.... really riles me...

but yeah was on the way home up the A34 in birmingham when 3 cars drove along the pavement to avoid traffic then literally pushed into the queue.... the lead car of the 3 then held all the traffic up so the other 2 cars could get in the queue and they persisted to jump from lane to lane holding the traffic up so they could all try and jump the queues.... sometimes while driving half on the road and half on the path... or down bus lanes to get home faster...

its stupid... never a traffic cop when you need one...

[Swyft]

I get more annoyed at mini-roundabouts.

why does it seem that no-one understands them?!"!?!¬!?!?!?!?C
R ?hNDv.n
z

*breath*

[Murray-Mint]

My pet hate is sections of road in front of a junction marked "Keep Clear". WHY? WHY? WHY? If you don't want people to stop in that section of the road, put a box junction in.

[Lucifa]

My pet hate is sections of road in front of a junction marked "Keep Clear". WHY? WHY? WHY? If you don't want people to stop in that section of the road, put a box junction in.

Land mines are the key.

[andyf]

Roundabout Dori! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhR2leV0B60)

[MySeN]

my car is getting old now and i know im not going to get much for it and i want to get a new one, so since starting this thred, i am thinking.. the next time some one cuts me up im just not going to break :)

[andyf]

Going into the back of someone usually means the claim goes in favour of the guy you hit.

You are meant to leave a clear gap between yourself and the car in front. If someone pulls in front of your two-second gap, you should slow down to bring the gap back.

[MySeN]

no i mean if they cut me up on a roundabout then i will go into the side of them

[andyf]

Having a crash ON the roundabout is a pretty bad thing to happen. Without witnesses, it can be down to your word v. other driver who is to blame. Which invariably means your respective insurance companies will piss about as much as they can.

Oh and there's the potential that one of you, or both of you, get done for driving without due care / attention. Which rules out the whole point of 'fun crashing' your car into someone that doesn't understand the highway code :(

[catbeef]

My pet hate is sections of road in front of a junction marked "Keep Clear". WHY? WHY? WHY? If you don't want people to stop in that section of the road, put a box junction in.
people stop on box junctions.

hopefuly they all get fined £100...

roundabouts are awful when they have get into the three lanes.. sure it's bad on two.. but four is even worse .-.

it makes me angry and i am not even a driver.

another thing that pisses me off is people who complain about speed cameras.

stick to the ****ing speed limit and stop breaking the law and you will have nothing to worry about. ktx

[Say_Ten]

stick to the ****ing speed limit and stop breaking the law and you will have nothing to worry about. ktx

When you drive you'll have a different attitude :)

And the speed cameras we complain about are the ones that are only there to raise revenue and cause more accidents than they prevent. i.e. ones hidden behind bridges that are too soon for the oncoming junction, as in you have time to speed up again, and can't be seen until you would have to do hard breaking. It only takes one person to react with breaking without checking their mirror and the car behind being a little too close to cause an accident. This is not a safety camera.

[Belfar]

Hate - Roundabouts or traffic lights that have 3 lanes on one side then only two/one on the other side. People allways try to get ahead.

[pos]

I miss roundabouts... although we did see one on the way to Pheonix - we were like OMFG!
Tell you what is scary though... red light runners!:eek:

[Tsung]

stick to the ****ing speed limit and stop breaking the law and you will have nothing to worry about. ktx

I want to get rid of all speed camera's and replace them with real policemen/woman. Even if everybody is "not speeding" the camera's cannot tell the difference between a truck, bus, car, car pulling a caravan / trailier. Look at the speed limits (http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/09.htm)they are all different for the different vehicles. But the speed camera cannot tell what vehicle is going past and thus cannot apply the correct speed limit to that vehicle. The result ...

There are more vehicles are breaking the speed limit... These vehicles are usually pulling a trailer. Before speed cameras (yes I can remember that) you would rarely see acciedents involving cars and trailers. Now it is a common sight on the road. Big 4x4 drivers (usually) pulling a trailer or caravan at 80mph is just an accident waiting to happen.

[Woogie]

nearly had an accident last night.... pootling up a hill by my house and some stupid chav in a KA comes flying across the road infront of me oblivious to the fact hes just gone straight over a give way without actually GIVING WAY..... i slammed my break on and managed to stop about a nats penis away from his car...... scared the living ****e out of me......

luckily it was one of the rare occasions where i was actually doing 30 in a 30 zone.... otherwise there would have been a rather nasty accident.....

[Say_Ten]

GRRR. Two things that annoy the hell outta me and are kinda related:

1) People speeding in built up areas, children have no concept of how fast that car's going.

2) People you do 40-50 everywhere, sitting on a 60 limit, they're doing 45, go into a 30 limit, they're doing 45!

[Brains-Lans]

Say_Ten seconded. I speed on ocasions, but never in 30 zones or the like, and the ammount of pensioners covered by point number 2 is unreal!

[Afty]

Studies have shown time and time again that the safest speed limit is approximately at the 85th percentile of all traffic on a given stretch of road - the safest speed is CERTAINLY not an arbitrary limit dreamt up by someone in planning. No-one questions why we have a system for assigning speed limits in an UNSAFE manner, it is just accepted that motorways are 70mph etc.

On the subject of lane hogs I used to get angry, wait etc. Now I will employ one of two methods depending on the road/conditions etc...
1] Pull up a reasonable (close, but not tailgating) behind them, swing out to the extreme right of the lane so the right hand side of my car is outside theirs, and flash my full beams at the approximate speed cycle of police cars. Works most of the time, and sometimes with an amusing "omfg" reaction on their part.
2] Indicate and cross to the inner lane, match my speed to theirs + a few mph then crawl up inside them (with a low speed differential if the idiot decides to pull left without looking I can always slam the anchors on).

[catbeef]

you know, if you wern't speeding you wouldn't have to break hard for the hidden camera and you wouldn't get crashed in to .-.

30mph isn't slow at all. go back 100 years and travel by hros and cart! everyone just wants bigger faster better ;-;

[Say_Ten]

you know, if you weren't speeding you wouldn't have to break hard for the hidden camera and you wouldn't get crashed in to .-.

If the camera was doing it's alleged purpose of slowing people down for the merging on traffic then this wouldn't happen at all. Hidden cameras have ONE purpose, revenue creation and it's this that I object to. Hidden cameras cause accidents not the speeding in the first place. In fact, stats from last year showed roads where more speed cameras had been installed have had more accidents, whereas roads where no speed cameras were installed have remained the same or reduced. Many motorway cameras aren't set that near the speed limit anyway, just proving that the police think the speed limits are antiquated as well :)

[Afty]

30mph isn't slow at all. go back 100 years and travel by hros and cart! everyone just wants bigger faster better ;-;Wow, what an enlightened argument.

Just so you know, our current speed limits (70 motorways, 30 urban and the sliding scale in between) are based on studies and research carried out in the 1930s and adjuged to be sufficiently "safe" back then. Since then the following has changed to make cars safer, and to make a higher safe speed limit possible:
1] Power assisted breaking has improved greatly.
2] Tyres are made of better material, with better grip patterns and are generally wider (more surface area).
3] Suspension has improved.
4] Road Surfaces have, on average, improved massively.
5] Anti Lock Braking systems are now standard. This is a huge difference to breaking distances.
6] Software Stability Protection schemes exist in many cars reducing skids, and making braking more stable and efficient.
7] Due to better construction techniques, cars are far, FAR safer to crash in, and into - by getting on for an order of magnitude in terms of fatilities/serious injuries.

Despite these (and numerous other more minor changes) our high speed limits are dictated by research over half a century out of date... and on top of that average speed limits have been DECREASING over time - in the last 15 years most rapidly.

[Afty]

you know, if you wern't speeding you wouldn't have to break hard for the hidden cameraIf the speed limits were reasonable and set at a safe limit for the road and conditions, then people wouldn't feel compelled to speed - but they are often set at a limit below what is safe (increasing the likelihood of accidents) and often deliberately so. Further many police forces have placed cameras on stretches of road where the speed limit has recently been decreased - sometimes by REMOVING signs and simply not replacing them, so a 50mph stretch becomes 30mph by default, which means drivers used to a 50mph stretch DO NOT KNOW what speed they should be doing when they see the camera and do not have time to think what it should be, so they slam on...

Regardless of what people "should" be doing, our legislators and police have an obligation to ensure our roads are as safe as possible in the real world not in some fantasy world where everyone behaves like they're told.

Finally, have you seen how the "safety camera partnerships" are setup? Do you know what they are and who makes the money? Do you understand market forces and WHY this setup compels police forces to place cameras as obscurely as possible, as opposed to in plain view where they act as a serious deterrent?

[her0n]

2) People you do 40-50 everywhere, sitting on a 60 limit, they're doing 45, go into a 30 limit, they're doing 45!

Oh good lord my mum is like that.. except she does slow down in 30 zones. But still, going along in a national speed limit area (non motorway) she rarely gets above 50ish, makes me so mad but I don't say anything as it just winds her up. I know I should do though :/ I think her argument is that her diesel car doesn't have a lot of power.. but I think if she waited longer until a higher rev before changing gear she'd find that power.. *shrug*

Oh and her lane discipline on roundabouts is usually a bit suspect.. she gets in the correct lane to start off but then usually encroaches on the other lane when going around the roundabout.

/me dies of embarrassment

[Tsung]

Anyone who believes the safety camera team are there to make the roads safer are seriously mislead by hype. In Norwich whilst there were roadworks setup on the A11 (a main trunk road) there was a speed limit of 30mph. It was signposted (30mph) at least 2 miles away from ANY roadworks... So as you approached norwich you would see 30mph signs but no cones or roadworks at all... Almost made to look like they had been left there and forgotton about. I gurantee you the safety camera team was setup in the nearby layby at least twice a week hoping to catch all the motorist who passed the 30mph sign but could not see any roadworks or potential danger.
Once the roadworks at the roundabout had gone, the signs were finally removed the safty camera team has not been seen since on that stretch of the road.

I never understand it, why are safety camera teams and speed camera on main roads? if they really cared about our safety they would be setup near schools and in towns/cities where there known rat runs.

[Habz]

you know what i really HATE, people who dont stick to there lanes on roundabouts. the lanes are there for a fu*king reason so fu*king use them. (breath)
If you are one of these drivers then i have something to say to you. FU*K YOU! and learn how to FU*KING drive!If you're on a busy roundabout, then fairplay to you, but if it's an empty roundabout, or it's safe, then I will cut across the lanes. Racing line and all that...

Heresy always does it when he can. Rear wheel drive + sharp turn on roundabout = kick. It's safer to cut across...

[Woogie]

it depends where i am to if ill stick to the speed limit but i never ever go more than 10mph over the limit in urban areas....

if im near a school i do 30mph... same as if im near shops or a playground but if its a duel carriageway or a long road ill do more.....

sticking to the speed limits doesnt make you a good driver but judging when you can speed and when not to speed makes you a far better driver....

take for instance..... if your doing 30 on a long stretch of road thats a 30 and theres no traffic infront of you at all... its a clear day.... but theres a massive stretch of traffic behind you.... you could easily speed up to say 40 and it would still be safe... possibly even 50......

but its the people that drive at 30/40 in all weathers and conditions that are dangerous.... people that do 40 down a road in nice weather then continue to do so in the snow.... thats dangerous......

and besides its usually the ones that drive at 30mph that are the dangerous drivers.... take for instance i was driving up the pershore road in birmingham 2 days ago.....

behind a car that was doing 30 on a empty road.... so i decided to over take her.... as i did so (admitedly this made me laugh as well) she hung out of her window and started screaming "its a ****ing 30 you stupid bastard" and tried to grab my car.... she literally hung out of her window trying to grab my car door.....

people like THAT are the dangerous drivers....

[Afty]

I never understand it, why are safety camera teams and speed camera on main roads?
Profit :)

If one car in 10 speeds sufficiently to be caught near a school on a road that gets 2 cars a minute that means about £2,000 + in NOIPs or FPNs....

The same policement sat on a main road where fewer people proportionally speed (say half the number, one car in 20) that is a 50 mph busy primary route with approx 25 cars per minute will make around £30,000

The numbers are an approximately, but as people speed everywhere the main influence on the level of profit per officer is the volume of traffic.

It's worth noticing that per passenger mile, Motorways and Dual Carriageways are by far the safest type of route, but I see speed camers on motorways about 75% of the time, and on other roads only 25% of the time... and my driving habits are proprotionally the opposite.

Finally a massive 1990s study into the causes of accidents on the A1M found that speed was the primary causative factor in only 3% of accidents, and a secondary contributing factor in about 30% more... (this means it may have been a cause, but most likely those 30% would still have happened even if the driver was not speeding) but I believe over 80% of the police budget for enforcement is spent on speeding, and less than 20% on all other factors combined.

For record, the biggest primary causative factors were Errors In Maneuvre, Fatigue and Incorrect/No Signalling. Food for thought.

[Afty]

people like THAT are the dangerous drivers....Indeed, studies have shown that travelling at a constant speed in a flow of traffic with an average (or desired average) speed significantly higher is actually MUCH more dangerous than simply speeding up to match the (desired) speed.

If you join from a sliproad onto a moderately busy 3 lane motorway where EVERYONE is doing 85mph, do you think you are more or less likely to be involved in a serious accident if you travel at 50mph? And your answer for 85mph?

Sometimes I despair of the people who lap up the spoonfed information soup from the tabloids and the dimbox (your TV) and believe that 40mph is a safe speed limit for a dual carriageway with barriers and woods surrounding it "because someone in authority said so" and that anyone doing 80mph on an empty motorway at 3am should be prosecuted.

[catbeef]

i spoke to a traffic warden about this, motorway cameras don't go off unless you do over 94mph. unless the main office sets it to congestion mode

[Frag-O-Byte]

tbh to save me all this hastle i just buy a 1.1ltr it dosent have the power to gove over 80 and at 60 it starts to push to its limits.. so i dont wana bust my car.. so i stick to the speed limit as i also have worked hard in earning my licence and i cant wait untill these new camras come out where they take pictures of the driver too so nobody can pass on their points to other people.

[andyf]

catbeef, what would a frickin' traffic warden know about motorway speed cameras?

It's up to the area's constabulary what the trigger speed for a camera is. They are mostly set to give a small degree of leniancy for people that don't religiously eyeball their speedo's.

[Afty]

i spoke to a traffic warden about this, motorway cameras don't go off unless you do over 94mph. unless the main office sets it to congestion modeThis is not true, as has been stated already. Trigger levels are set by individual police forces and vary wildly depending on where you are driving.

[andyf]

For a small fee(*), the Eff Consultancy Service can be hired to find your regions' trigger speed.


* Couple of cold beers

[MySeN]

If you're on a busy roundabout, then fairplay to you, but if it's an empty roundabout, or it's safe, then I will cut across the lanes. Racing line and all that...

Heresy always does it when he can. Rear wheel drive + sharp turn on roundabout = kick. It's safer to cut across...

oh yeah i totaly agree, but i do most of my driving in the rush hour so you can see why i get mad, but yeah if its like 4 in the morning then you can reverse around a roundabout for all i care :)

on the speed camera issue i think they are **** and the people who make them are **** too. for example round here where i live there is some national speed limit roads with cameras on. and there is school roads that dont ?!?!
i say carpet the school roads with cameras for all i care, thats totaly cool but not national speed limmits, because it just slows people down even more who dont know its 60!

[Frag-O-Byte]

you will be supprised MySeN

Also like people think the motorway is..

60mph outsidelane
70mph middle lane
80mph+ inside lane..

[Zenith]

This is not true, as has been stated already. Trigger levels are set by individual police forces and vary wildly depending on where you are driving.Indeed they are set by individual forces, but they generally follow the ACPO guidelines of speed limit + 10% + 2mph.

e.g. 30 limit + 3mph (10%) + 2mph = 35mph.

If you were clicked at 34mph, you'd be left alone. At 35mph, you'd be getting a NIP.

This is by no means gospel as some forces have the enforcement level at speed limit + 10% + 5mph. Do you really want to take that chance though?

[Say_Ten]

it depends where i am to if ill stick to the speed limit but i never ever go more than 10mph over the limit in urban areas....

You're living up to your forum title then. She's a dangerous driver and so are you. The 30 limit is more to do with reducing the damage you do to pedestrians when you hit them than if you'll have time to notice. There's some lovely long single carraige roads in Birmingham where the houses have 1.8m hedges up to the road. Give you all of 0.5s to react to a child running out from behind the hedge and in front of your car. I don't know how true the advert is but they say 30 is 1/20 die, 40 is 1/20 live and 50 is pancake. Personally I'd rather it just never happened.

[Habz]

Give you all of 0.5s to react to a child running out from behind the hedge and in front of your car. I don't know how true the advert is but they say 30 is 1/20 die, 40 is 1/20 live and 50 is pancake. Personally I'd rather it just never happened.If people are allowed to have kids, then let them play by the roads in Birmingham, then sorry, it's not nice, but it's their fault.

I live in a culdesac in Rugby, and I work in Knowle just outside Brum. It's quiet, and the only people who drive down it frequently are me and Heresy. Still, our kids (when we have 'em) will be playing in the back garden, or in the park down the road. They will also be supervised! I will NEVER leave them in a situation where they can run out into a main road. That's just irresponsible, and while I sympathise with people who do lose their children, I can understand them feeling like it's their fault, because I would.

WRT speed cameras, if you ever get caught, ask them to provide all the details of the speed camera calibration. All of them have to be calibrated to certain guidelines, and you can guarantee you're unlikely to hear from them afterwards...

...Having said that, I've never been stopped, and I've never been caught speeding. Dave used my car for a while. Low and behold, he gets stopped... go figure ¬_¬

[MySeN]

im sorry but you cannot have 100% concentration on your kids 100% of the time, although saying that im not actually a dad, so if there is any dads here then back me up ;)

also just on the funny side, i have been pulled over many a time and the last time must be the funnyist.

i got done for
3pts - hub cap falling off
3pts - no break lights
3pts - for speeding, apperently i was going an averege of 73mph in a 40mph
and an arrest for having a sticker on the back of my car saying "caution driver just dosent give a ****"

and the police bloke let me off with all that, probably coulnt be arsed with the paper work lol!

[porsche]

The 30 limit is more to do with reducing the damage you do to pedestrians when you hit them than if you'll have time to notice.

Still, Afty's point does still stand, the speed limits were drawn up some time ago and although reaction times could be argued to be the same, cars sure as hell can brake faster these days than they could in the 1930s.

-Porsche-

[Say_Ten]

Still, Afty's point does still stand, the speed limits were drawn up some time ago and although reaction times could be argued to be the same, cars sure as hell can brake faster these days than they could in the 1930s.

-Porsche-

A child will run out in front of you when you have no chance to stop, regardless of breaking distance. They simply don't have any concept of being brained by a car or how fast it's going. The fact remains, they're far more likely to survive a 30mph hit than a 40mph hit.

Your kids are going to have one very boring and overbearing life then. "No you can't play when walking down the road to your friends, you've got to hold my hand." "No you can't go to that friends house they don't have a back garden." And not all Birmingham is uber urban either, there's some nice country like areas with 30 limits where it'd be nice to raise children. The fact is, do you want to face the fact YOU killed one when they bounce off your bonnet?

[Eagle-NmF-]

dON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY,if the speed limit says 30 and its a fine day or not i'll do 30!!!!
Had my licence 15 yrs and never had an accident nuff said,i never speed and never will,just ask pinny lol when i bring him to Newbury from doncaster,it takes longer but i get there safe and intact,wanna speed go to a race track, otherwise stick to the limits,even if there out of date!
Only thing that beefs me on motorways and i use them everyday for work is the lorry drivers who feel the need to try and overtake each other even though they can barely get above 60 each so takes ages to do it :confused:

[butlershouse]

If people are allowed to have kids, then let them play by the roads in Birmingham, then sorry, it's not nice, but it's their fault.



Habz.

I find the above quote from you possibly one of THE most insulting comments Ive read all week.

My little girl is two years old and we live on a street where despite the road and parked cars there are at least two young ( i say young I put them in their early twenties ) drivers who cant seem to do anything but speed up and down from their house to the junction. But back to having a small child. We have only the one so far and honestly at two years old being the parent its like running a emotional and physical endurance course every day. There are highs and lows. Whilst you do all that you can to look after them it is simply not possible to overwatch and oversee them for every moment they are out of their beds. I cannot imaging a parent saying the above quote.

Now when I drive to work I stick to the limits and when im on the motorway if its busy , ill stick to the limits. Of course if its empty i cant see why speeding should be an issue .. but i digress.

Speed has absolotuely nothing to do with safety or careful driving your all quite correct.

But Mass plus inertia will always result in kinetic energy that needs to disapate. So less inertia equals less energy. I cant be responsible for the other muppets whom have the potential to sideswipe me or rear end me. But I can be responsible for ensuring that my own actions enable me to have an appropriate reaction for the cirumstances.

This includes knowing that if my little girl breaks free from my hand and runs to towards the road ( they will do that you know, its just a child thing to make parents have small heartattacks ) I can move quickly to block and grab her. However If I was driving and I could see a child enter the road. Id like to think my speed enabled me to safely halt the vehicle or reduce the risk of injury. So as a parent im keen to see other drivers consider the potential results of their own descions.

now .. .goto bed its clearly past your bed time !

[Habz]

now .. .go to bed its clearly past your bed time !Ha! You're the one getting offended over my opinion, and then react extremely immaturely by trying to offend me. Very good. Maybe it's past your bedtime?

With regards to your kinetic energy comments, I have a degree in physics. It's not something I need to be taught thanks. I quite understand about velocities and the like, and I also know that stopping distances are affected greatly by the car, road conditions and the reactions of the person driving.

Now I'm not a parent as you have already grasped, but I am still entitled to my own thoughts and opinions. One of those is that I will not let my young children play in roads or near busy roads because it's dangerous, and yes, I think letting kids roam free near roads is irresponsible. I'm not going to let my kids run about willy nilly, and I will be giving up work to raise them. I never played near the road when I was that age as my parents raised me to know it was dangerous, and that's the way I intend to raise my kids.

[MySeN]

you both have a good point tbh, please carry on :)