[David9694]

A new catch-all Tea Shop thread for those miscellaneous new stories that don’t quite fit with parking, crashing into buildings or trapped/prisoners in their homes. 

Topic

[wtjs]

Non-anecdote for you:

Non-anecdote for you:

https://upride.cc/incident/st23fhf_audi_closepass/

We need a new feature ‘Predict the Anti-Cyclist Excuse 2025’, and this could be the first entry- open for comments. I could get them effort-free by putting it on YT, or even just asking the b*****d police- here they wouldn’t respond, just like their policy with the reports

[Secret_squirrel]

How can you own a car and not

How can you own a car and not have access to regular banking services?

What a dumbass comment.

[brooksby]

wtjs wrote:

… now we have ‘I was dazzled by oncoming vehicle headlights [so I had to put my foot down]’

Anecdote for you: over Xmas, I’d picked my teenage daughter up (in my car) quite late one night.  Cold but clear, no rain or fog, etc.

Coming back along a 50 mph speed limit long and straight road with no street lighting, I could see flashing blue lights ahead.  I slowed down, as I was having trouble seeing beyond the lights.  There were two police cars, an ambulance, and a civilian motorbike all stopped by the other side of the road; blue lights flashing on all the emergency vehicles.  I slowed down even further, then as we passed them and I could see again, I started to accelerate away.

My daughter said, “Did you see that cyclist?”. “What cyclist?”, says I.  “As we were going past all those police cars there was a cyclist on our side of the road, you passed him.” “Did they have a rear light?” “Yes.”

Reader, I had not seen them at all 

[chrisonabike]

wtjs wrote:

Looks like complaints about car headlights are on the increase

Something we have all had to live with for years- the lighting arms race and the SUV mentality: I’m in a higher, bigger, heavier vehicle than you and I have higher and more powerful lights, so I win and sod the rest of you.

Indeed – and no doubt this will apply due to norms of increasingly powerful lights on bikes also (because “we can” and because “this one goes up to 11, though” and “brighter must mean safer”).

My default (now on all my bikes) is between 2.4 – 3 W (via the power of my legs and hub generators, and clever German lights)!  That’s covering both front and rear … so no doubt if I am run over in anything other than bright daylight having potentially “always on” lights will not count in my favour – “It’s clear that the deceased would have been practically invisible to anyone else on the road due to the other lights in use.  And by choosing to rely solely on such an ineffective system he sadly demonstrated a wanton disregard for his own safety…”.

[wtjs]

Looks like complaints about

Looks like complaints about car headlights are on the increase

Something we have all had to live with for years- the lighting arms race and the SUV mentality: I’m in a higher, bigger, heavier vehicle than you and I have higher and more powerful lights, so I win and sod the rest of you. However, the increasing problem for us is the alacrity with which excuses for driving into a cyclist are accepted by police, judges and juries: CoaB reminded us yesterday of the tragic Mason case which demonstrates that you can get away with killing a cyclist simply by saying you didn’t see them, whatever the circumstances. We’re all familiar with the ‘the sun was in my eyes [so I had to put my foot down]’ defence for killing a cyclist, and now we have ‘I was dazzled by oncoming vehicle headlights [so I had to put my foot down]’

[wtjs]

Patients react after Royal

Patients react after Royal Stoke lodges overflow car park plan

As you say with your cartoon: I demand to be able to drive and park where I like, when I like- it’s all those other drivers and the lack of roads, and the bloody cyclists, that are the problem

[Bungle_52]

Looks like complaints about

Looks like complaints about car headlights are on the increase.

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/motoring/urgent-investigation-headlights-after-216-9857389

From the article :

“The safety of individual drivers cannot be at the expense of other road users and pedestrians.”

If only that were true.

[David9694]

‘This place is a joke’ – Your

‘This place is a joke’ – Your Royal Stoke parking nightmares

Patients react after Royal Stoke lodges overflow car park plan

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/this-place-joke-your-royal-9769277?int_source=nba

[chrisonabike]

Hirsute wrote:

Hirsute wrote:

A learner driver and their instructor who parked on double yellow lines because the student wanted to visit a shop…

That sounds most unfair!  They’d been “pro-social” (to drivers) by blocking the footway as well as part of a lane!

Everyone knows that “justing” * is allowed on double-yellows.  It’s the drop-off / delivery exemption – they’d have been fine if they were in an Amazon or DPD or other delivery firm vehicle, surely?  And anyway it’s not a police matter – parking’s the council.  Police are only supposed to do you if they *witness* you driving on the footway.  Otherwise you can use the “prove a passing hurricane / crane didn’t carry the vehicle there” defense.

Overall  they deserved a charge though – because any driving instructor should know that you just have to deploy BOLAS in this situation!

* “I’m just popping in to the shop…” etc.

[Hirsute]

A learner driver and their
A learner driver and their instructor who parked on double yellow lines because the student wanted to visit a shop have registered a complete fail – after they were spotted by police and fined.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0jzd09d7jo

Anyone famous?!

[Hirsute]

Even more entitlement

Even more entitlement

Roads in Derbyshire’s Peak District have been closed by police over “poor parking”.

Both Winnats Pass and Rushup Edge, near Castleton, were shut by police on Sunday afternoon.

Hope Valley police teams said that 21 drivers who parked on the clearway through Winnats Pass on Saturday would be prosecuted.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crm72d22znpo

[David9694]

Frustrated Cambridgeshire bus

Frustrated Cambridgeshire bus drivers blame congested roads for delays to services

Bus drivers say they are getting increasingly frustrated over the delays

https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/frustrated-cambridgeshire-bus-drivers-blame-30759889?int_source=nba

[chrisonabike]

brooksby wrote:

brooksby wrote:

Genuine question, possibly something road.cc could look into: how do the costs of using public transport (buses, tube, hire bikes) compare with the costs of owning and driving a car in That There London?  I mean, London has arguably the best public transport system in all of England – as an occasional tourist, I honestly can’t imagine why someone would own a car when they lived there.

Seconded – not a Londoner and never lived there so have no idea. But … I used to visit and … it’s quite big. In fact, more like a series of towns / cities stuck together. And apparently public transport on the edges / just outside can be sketchy (made even worse by contrast with the centre I imagine).

[Hirsute]

“Around 200 cars” parked up

“Around 200 cars” parked up along part of the Peak District have prevented gritting taking place.

Derbyshire County Council said on Saturday morning crews could not get through due to double parking on Rushup Edge and Man Nick, near Edale.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr53n054jl6o

[ktache]

No wonder they are up in arms

No wonder they are up in arms, new cycle racks…

[Author]

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