Drivers and their problems

A failsafe system?

Running out of power when parked on a hill?

Similar I guess to the application of brakes when there is a loss of pressure on artic trailers and train carriages.

But the Tesla incident is just amusing, because it probably delayed emergency vehicles and prevented people getting to vital hospital appointments and funerals shouldn't we just ban the things...

David9694 wrote:

The Bath parking charges? 

Yep. Sorry I could have been clearer in my reply. 

And thanks for taking the time to post these links. (add thumbs up icon here).

ktache wrote:

A failsafe system?

Running out of power when parked on a hill?

Similar I guess to the application of brakes when there is a loss of pressure on artic trailers and train carriages.

But the Tesla incident is just amusing, because it probably delayed emergency vehicles and prevented people getting to vital hospital appointments and funerals shouldn't we just ban the things...

Supposedly, the handbrake should be run off a separate 12v battery, so there's some strange failure that took out main power and that system too. It's a strange failsafe as the main brakes are hydraulic, so even without power on a hill, you can have the driver keep the car still while someone puts bricks under the wheels to act as a handbrake.

I was thinking more power drain when left, there must be some.

Or proper ejit territory, letting the main battery run down, but still putting the heatin/AC on before getting backnto the car.

essexian]</p>

<p>[quote=David9694 wrote:

 

it boils my er, liquid when people think that they can part anywhere for free: this is what this lady was trying to do for the five minutes free parking she tried to steak.

Is it 5 minutes free parking? If the charge is £4 for "all day", then whether I pay that one minute, ten minutes or even two hours after entering the car park, the same payment is made.

If someone is paying for one hour and pays 10 minutes after entering the car park, then arguably they have gained free minutes, but all day is all day

Its £4 for 12 hours, not all day. There is a higher charge for all day (in other words, 24 hour) parking.

Hence my point. 

From the name of the car park given in the article, I believe this might be the one:

https://ecpparkbuddy.com/locationDetail/?id=4403

A horse on a bus.... that's nothing, in the Good Old US of A, they go one bigger...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIR3NU3P_bU

David9694 wrote:

Residents' fury as council installs 'eyesore' bollards blocking parking to 'protect pedestrians'

Shame, especially as this resident has so carefully removed all greenery from the front of their house to create such a lovely 'carden'

CyclingGardener wrote:

The entitlement in evidence here . . . https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-66687817 So depressing to discover it's nothing new! And I had no idea the M1 had no speed restriction when first opened.

The white circle with a diagonal black slash sign which currently means "national speed limit applies" originally meant "Deristricted" and applied to many normal roads as well as motorways.

David9694 wrote:

When questioned, a passenger said they were "just in the process of applying for insurance", according to Wiltshire Police. 

That happens a lot on Police Interceptor Motorway Traffic Cops - the police will stop someone for having no insurance, and then actually give them maybe ten minutes to sort it out... Which has always seemed weird, since it doesn't solve things retrospectively AFAIK.

That looks like a series 2 disco, they stopped making them in 2003! I suspect the model year is 2002, not 2022 as quoted in the news article!

This is exactly the sort of vehicle that should not be used for short, single occupancy, journeys in a built up area. The entitlement of these people who think they are somehow a special case. 

Is there any requirement for the cyclist to have remained at the scene? The normal legislation for "hit and run" offences is S170 of the RTA which only applies to the drivers of mechanically propelled vehicles.

It seems likely not to include non-electric bicycles.

Less official source.

David9694 wrote:

Residents' fury as council installs 'eyesore' bollards blocking parking to 'protect pedestrians'

Hull Daily Mail wrote:

Abbey Grove, which forms part of the same street as Well Lane, boasts a particularly wide pavement, which, according to residents, has long been the subject of debate as to whether it is a path or a road. Many had taken to parking their vehicles on the pavement, owing to the shortage of on-street parking and the lack of driveways cut into the steep verge that runs adjacent to the street.

My emphasis.  So sounds like mostly "this will change parking - and even if I have a drive what if several people want to park?  And if not I'll have to walk an extra 5 metres to my house!"

Sadly this chap has inadvertently scored "house" but perhaps this is worth noting as "what the man in the street (road?) thinks" - as he lists them:

Not necessary - there's been no accidents from cars (like the UK's "our roads are safe" we're missing "...because we've discouraged use by everyone but drivers")
It's going to lower the house prices
It's more dangerous because er... young toddlers ... have to beware of every single driveway (how is this different from before?) whereas before the footway "was just a straight road" (my emphasis).  Presumably people with young toddlers might now be tempted to let their kids play or cycle - so that's the problem as we can't expect drivers to watch out for them?
The council may then decide to put in double yellows (to ... er ... allow motor vehicles to keep moving efficiently on the road?)
Whatabout delivery drivers, disabled people, the elderly?
So it's a waste of money.

Quote:

Three times a week Ms Amos travels to a walled garden in Havering-atte-Bower, where she volunteers her skills as a retired lecturer in horticulture at Capel Manor College.She also goes to hospital and doctor's appointments, local shops in Collier Row, banks in Hornchurch, Romford, and Upminster, and Newbury Park to do her ‘big shops'. This totals, she says, around 40 miles a week.

Collier Row to Havering-atte-Bower is less than a kilometre; the two nearest hospitals are 2 km and 4 km away respectively. An 8mph electric mobility scooter can be had for around £1200 new or less than half of that good condition secondhand, a lot less than the scrappage price for her motor. Bank online, keep shopping locally and get the "big shop" delivered free, stop paying for petrol, MOT, servicing and insurance and get around for bobbins in terms of electricity required. It would also mean she could get into the hospital and GP surgery under power without having to walk from a parking space. You're welcome Ms A!

On the "but delivery drivers":

a) how about we put some pressure on delivery companies to stop their drivers PLAC already?  (Because commercial pressures will be in the opposite direction!)  Picture below from today but you'll encounter this kind of thing around Edinburgh every trip.  (Note also the driver on the near right, also parked on double yellows right in a junction - I watched someone in a large standard vehicle dithering for a bit as to whether they could even get through here).

Few of these "unsympathetic parking" incidents are the end of the world (nor indeed illegal or would certainly be defensible because "loading") but this seems to be "normal" and every one is an additional barriers to walking and cycling for the benefit of commerce / driving - in this case in a rare "there's actually a decent footway AND separate cycle path" location...

b) The genie is truly out of the bottle now but the massive increase in deliveries is recent-ish.  So what to do?  Better "local facilities" (like you might find in NL) or more deliveries in smaller vehicles ("last mile" from hubs) do provide a partial answer to this one (it's rare that Amazon are delivering sofas).  But yeah, that's a generational-time change.  Plus fighting against local capitalism, people's wants / expectations etc.

But they wouldn't completely block a "traffic" lane for a few minutes, would they?

ktache wrote:

But they wouldn't completely block a "traffic" lane for a few minutes, would they?

Well... maybe a few of the most bolshy / biggest bulls in the paddock might.

However I suspect those fighting the "war on the motorist" have a pretty good grasp of where the *real* threat is actually from. And it ain't those irritating cyclists. Block the road with your motor and you'd probably soon be wishing you'd been spotted by Cycling Mikey or got hit by the tyre extinguishers instead...