roads

Do they care ? ? ?

/ Tony / 1 Comment

Over the past couple of years, I have realised that many car, van, lorry and even bus drivers need to learn the basics of numbers. It seems to me that the most challenging number to grasp is the number 20. We are seeing increasing use of the number 20 on our roads in the form of a maximum speed sign. All the roads within the boundary of our village have a maximum speed of 20mph. However, many drivers seem to be of the opinion that this limit doesn’t apply to them.

A couple of the roads have another sign. This has been given the nickname, SID. Apparently, this is an acronym for its real name of “Speed Indicator Device”. In our village, if you are travelling at the speed limit of below, then the sign alternates between a Green Smiley face and your actual speed. Go 1mph over the limit and the face turns to a Red Angry face.

This red face is supposedly designed to make you instantly change your speed down to the limit or below.

It doesn’t work.

The reason it doesn’t work is simple. Enforcement! Without anybody enforcing the limit, the limit is pointless.

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In another motoring gripe, I must ask this question. Why does the driver behind me think that ‘tail-gating me will make the line of cars in front of me go faster? It seems to happen whatever road I’m on. I was, at one point beginning to think it was just me, but other people have said the same.

And it’s not just small vehicles. Thursday was a good example. The speed limit on the particular stretch was 40mph, and I was travelling at, and I must be honest at around 42mph. But behind me was one of those tipper wagons that was returning to a local quarry. It was so close, that I could not see the driver’s cab and could only make out the make from the front grill. If I had to make an emergency brake, the impetus from the wagon would have carried me quite a long way. Is there any need?

Road Bullies

/ Tony / Leave a comment

This is going to be a bit of a rant, so if you’re not interested then look away now!

I have a small car. It’s a Hyundai i10 Classic. It has a small engine (1000cc) but it is ideal for short to medium journeys, which is all I do these days. Top speed is 85 miles an hour and that is with the wind behind me. I tend to mostly not exceed the speed limits when driving, but sometimes  I drift over slightly. So it really annoys me when big cars pass me by exceeding the limit. Today was no exception. The road was a single carriage way, with the National Speed Limit (60mph for those not familiar with UK speed limits) and I was motoring along at around 50 – 53 mph. The reason being was that it was a mainly twisty road with many sharp bends. Now I remember my driving instructor telling me that I “… must drive to the conditions of the road …” which basically means that on roads like the one I was on, the 60mph limit is an aspiration not a mandatory fact.

To get to the point, still driving at around 50mph, I had in my rear mirror a large passenger vehicle. A discovery I think, but he was that close to me, that if I had to brake hard he would have completely written my small machine off. He was that close, that I could tell where the sandwich he had on his dashboard, was purchased. He kept pulling towards the centre of the lane as if to pass, then dropping back as he realised there was not enough room. Eventually, he did pass and pull in front of me, only to maintain the same speed as before due to the vehicles in front do the same speed I was doing.

What he was basically trying to tell me and anyone else is that, as he had a bigger, more expensive car then he ought to be in front of the cheaper, smaller car(s). I call that a form of Bullying. It is the same as when you were in the dinner queue at school and the bigger, older kids pushed in front of you. Bullying!

Rant over.

Saturday and all is well

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   A good day, all in all. Youngest has been in a great mood all day. No problems and no medication. It is strange, because the weekend before he went on respite, he could not have done without it. Now was that because he knew he was going, and that was his way of rebelling ? The reports we get back, always tell us how he has been, and they don’t mince words. If he has had any bad days, they let us know. Interesting though.

   Went to the supermarket today. Just me. Youngest would not go, so Mrs H stopped at home. The main roads were snow free, and the car-park was not too bad, just a bit slushy. What annoys me are the other shoppers. They just seem to get in the way. Many of them seem to think that they are the only ones in the store !!! An example: I wanted to get a couple of light bulbs. I found the aisle where they were kept, but I could not get near them. There was a couple, and what seemed like 8 or 9 kids, all stood there, checking out the bulbs. Why does it take so many of the same family to look at items on a shelf. It was not as if they were young kids, no they must have been between 10 and 18 !!!

   Mrs H wants to decorate the house !!!!! We have started today, in the kitchen. We have a wallpaper border running around the top and middle of the kitchen wall. Problem is, that Mrs H wants the border to come off, and the border is washable paper !!!! See where I am going here ? It took 3 hours of scraping and wetting, and there is only half done !!! Not fun at all.

Better than I expected

/ Tony / 2 Comments

   I got home in good time tonight. The roads were a lot quieter than was anticipated. I had visions of 10 miles queues Leeds Festival 2009 on the A1, after the problems last year. This morning was quiet too, although going north, the A1 was very slow and crowded. The Leeds Festival gates opened at 3am this morning, and as I understand it, there was a steady flow from about that time. S**** was dropped of at his friends house, around noon, and they were going from there. Although the whole thing does not get going until tomorrow, there seems to be some music playing this evening. It will be a bit of a test tomorrow afternoon. I need some petrol, and both the petrol stations that I use are on the A64. Not a road I want to go on, as part of it will be still be closed. I also need a haircut, and the hairdresser’s is also on the same route.

   Never got around to installing the new RAM this evening. It looks like it might be over the weekend sometime. I also need to work out when I should download the Office 2007 software. I think it may be a good idea to try on Sunday night, before the Bank Holiday. Still cannot get over the price. I hope that it downloads at a reasonable speed. I have an idea that download speeds sometimes depend on the site they are being downloaded from. It can take ages sometimes to grab a YouTube video.

   My new phone seems to have a lot better signal in the office. I have only noticed a signal loss a couple of times, and considering where I sit, and the amount of metal cupboards and electrical kit around me, I’m surprised I get a signal at all. Talking of electrical stuff, we have the Portable Appliance Tester (PAT) with us this week. And before anyone asks ‘Portable Appliance’ refers to desktop electrical equipment such as computers, desk fans etc, not ………although I do not know how portable a three drawer laser printer is. Well, it has to be the most boring job an electrician can be asked to do. As far as I can see, it is only the cables that get tested anyway. But it takes the guy forever. It’s my desk tomorrow. The last time, it took the tester nearly an hour to get through all my stuff, and he’d been doing it for years. The man we have today, has only been on this since last week !!!!

   Done for today.