General Chat

When you drive past a school it is 20 miles an hour limit, if you are faster than that you pay a fine, if you hit someone you pay a fine, if you drive in a cycle lane or bus lane and are caught you pay a fine, as far as hitting someone is concerned have they been fined for not knowing the green cross code, is a cyclist ever fined for not using cycling lane.
I'm fed up with motorists being blamed for everything when an accident is not always thier fault and involves more than one human being.

Rant over, thanks for reading it. :-)

I drove past a school last week and could not believe the amount of cars
there were there. Parked all over the place. A Zebra crossing and a Lollipop Lady separately. What I could not understand was why these parents could not pick up their children and walk them back home. This is a very sought after school and the catchment area is very small..
I won't say deliberately so but there I have said it.

I can only imagine the parents worked and had used their cars for work and then picked up the children on the way back. Do these children ever walk anywhere.

I drove very very slowly. Oh yes and there was also an Ice Cream van.


Vera

They just want your money :-P

If they wanted road safety they would introduce a strict driving test with re-tests every ten years as apposed to the one off competency test we have had for years

Roy

cyclists at night are a menace to all road users - they always wear dark clothing and have no lights - a recipe for disaster

I would only expect a driver of a car to get a fine for hitting someone if the car was over the speed limit or if the driver was proved to be driving without due care & attention.

No one wants to deliberately be hit by a car, there are lots of reasons why people get hit. Misjudgement of time & space whilst crossing a road. Lack of concentration, children running out into the road (again see misjudgement)

As for the 20mph speed limit near schools, whats wrong with that?

Drive at 30 - 40 mph theres a good chance the hit child will die, hit a child at 20mph and theres a better chance a child will live.

As for questioning whether a road accident victim been fined for not knowing the green cross code, well thats stupid. Quite often they pay with their ongoing health, or worse their life. :-(

ZZzzz is venting but we can probably see where she is coming from.

An accident is always the car driver's fault, even if it isn't. At least, it might seem that way until facts have been uncovered.

Bicycle couriers in towns can certainly be a menace, and don't necessarily think the highway code and road signs and lights apply to them. Similarly its all to easy for a vehicle driver to miss spotting them if they sneak up on his nearside in traffic queues.

I've noticed an increasing amount of pedestrians lately walking out in front of my car and expecting me to screech to a halt. Maybe they need to be taught where pedestrian crossings are and the braking distances at 30 mph....then maybe they'd think twice.

of course if i DID hit them I'd get the blame regardless...unless I was lucky enough to have witnesses or CCTV to back me up ! x

DetEcTive.

That is exactly what I meant, I do wonder sometimes if most cyclists have never driven a car, so maybe they don't know the highway code but they should be taught it before they go out on the road.

I have to cross a minor road that has quite a few cars turning off a less minor road in to it. I don't cross it where the roads join, but slightly further down. as the pavement disappears!!
In this situation, if the pedestrian has started to cross, they have the right of way.

The number of car drivers who turn into this road
a) without indicating (I'm not psychic) and
b) without slowing down or even considering they may not be the only person about - pedestrians me be crossing - lots of people work in the huge building at the top - is amazing!!

On the other hand, the number of times I've nearly been hit by a bike on the pavement, shooting out of alleyways into a pedestrianised area, or cycling against the traffic on a one way system, into the pedestrian crossing - when it's green - and the traffic lights are red, is rather alarming too!

I think that the way learning to drive is taught is too much"by the book"

it seems to me that many drivers do things without thinking, ie indicating when there is no other option........like being already in a dedicated turn lane , a driver this morning entered a roundabout without a signal, but halway round she put on the right turn........so me thinking shes going all the way round was ready to occupy the nearside, as I was already indicating left.......but no, she then decides shes going left at the same exit i had chosen.....probably texting, in her mind......
exit from sainsbury's one lane left, one lane right..........the amount of drivers that indicate right when thats all they can do in the right lane......and then cant be bothered to make any indication on the next 4 roundabouts

Bob,
Miss Indicators could easily be my youngest daughter.
OH takes her out every Saturday morning in a dual control hire car.
OH says that at 19yrs old, she has still hasn't learned her left from right either!

There also seem to be an awful lot of people who open their car doors whatever - s*d the traffic!!

When I went out in the car the other day I had two instances within a few hundred yards of people appearing in front of me, the first was a woman with a dog who crossed the road to the island in the middle (a junction just off a roundabout if you get me) and without pausing even tho I was almost in front of her, stepped out with dog pulling ahead, I slammed on my brakes and was so thankful the chap behind wasn't so close that he couldn't stop in time, would have been very unhappy to have been shunted in the boot because of woman with dog stupidity. There have been at least two people killed at the particular point, probably doing the same as her! Further up the same road I was driving at 20 miles an hr due to signage and a cyclist started to leave his route on the pavement to cycle on the road, he didn't indicate or look behind him, luckily I managed to swerve so I didn't hit him, at the same time I blasted my horn at him, he stopped and put his hand up saying sorry. He would have been sorrier still had I not been able to stop in time, stupid bloke! These almost accidents can unnerve drivers, I am always careful and observant when driving on roads through the city etc as you never know when a child will dodge away from it's parent or some other incident will occur.
I always made sure I kept my child on the inside of pavements so if anything came up the kerb I would take the brunt of the bang, so many folk just have their toddlers wandering along beside them and they can so easily slip off the kerb or run out with no chance to stop them in time.


Lots of schools now tell parents not to park within certain distances of the school gates which means it's a bit safer for the kids coming out of school, I think the parents who park so they don't have to get out of their vehicles but wait for the children to come out and find the car, are really lazy and selfish and cause problems for others. Trouble is they are teaching their children the same selfish attitude.

Lizx