smart motorways - now the real reason

[Robin Evans]

I really am a proper sh it driver

[gingerjon]

Just now, Robin Evans said:

I really am a proper sh it driver

You can't be as bad as me.

[Robin Evans]

4 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

You can't be as bad as me.

In 2003 I went the wrong way down a motorway in France with our friends in the back....

My sphincter became quite relaxed!!!

Then later the same day I did it again in town..... in front of Les gendarmes 

Last time I drove my mate in my car he stated "if this was a ride at Alton Towers there'd be a 4 mile soddin queue"!

[Shadow]

I'm delighted to say I have no points on my licence.
 

It has not always been that way although since I've been regularly back on two wheels (around 8 years now) my observation and general awareness of what's going on around me has improved (I think) and the nearest I have come to grief was a speed awareness course last year.

Each time I have been caught I've taken a fairly fatalistic view , I know what the limit is and was doing more than the limit so I believe the code of villainy says If you can't do the time don't do the crime. 

[Robin Evans]

1 minute ago, Shadow said:

 I believe the code of villainy says If you can't do the time don't do the crime. 

Eggs Exactly!! ?

[Saint Toppy]

17 hours ago, Trojan said:

The only smart thing about this motorways, is the motorist who's been done by one, he'll be smarting all right.

Actually there's an ongoing joke within the industry in that we can build as many smart motorways as we like but we'll always have some dumb drivers using them.

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, Robin Evans said:

In 2003 I went the wrong way down a motorway in France with our friends in the back....

My sphincter became quite relaxed!!!

Then later the same day I did it again in town..... in front of Les gendarmes 

Last time I drove my mate in my car he stated "if this was a ride at Alton Towers there'd be a 4 mile soddin queue"!

Okay, you probably win.

[Northern Eel]

8 hours ago, Griff9of13 said:

Speeding fines = tax on the stupid/incompetent. Keep up the good work. 

Meanwhile the docile/incontinent may need to drive slightly quicker...

[JohnM]

Been driving since i passed my test in 1967. More than a million miles in UK and on the continent.  Banned for one month in 1971, then three speeding convictions in 50 years. 1989 M6, 90 mph, cop wrote it up as  a lower speed cos it was night, quiet, and i was driving in inside lane.   80 mph on the M180 in 2006, 3 points, camera.  A  year later 35 mph on A34 in Staffs at Butt Lane lights - flashed by weĺl known speed camera. Since then, nothing.  

Got flashed several times a couple of years ago near Frankfurt, in several of Germany's numerous 19 mph zones. Never heard a word, though now, given the UK will now send your details to the authorities in France, Germany etc if they ask, if they've flashed you.

In all cases , only myself to blame. I'm not a saint on  my motorbike, though i scrupulously observe the 20, 30, 40 snd 50 limits because well, its the law and in towns you are at risk  and you put others at risk, too, if you exceed them.

My argument,  which us why I broke my self imposed ban on posting in aob, is this nonsense about the persecution of the motorist, about speeding fines just being s money making scam etc etc etc.  

[GUBRATS]

On 4 February 2018 at 12:09 AM, Lounge Room Lizard said:

Speeding often has little to do with crashes. I drive often at 130 to 140 mph and never been in a Crash. And many others in Germany do far more than that and yet the Crash statistischen are not much different to the UK or elsewhere!

Often the cause of a Crash is down to poor diving skills and lack of concentration. I am concentrate more diving fast than at 20 mph. 

Naturally a high speeding Crash will have bigger impact. But people die crashing at 70mph. Passing your test in Germany requires far more than in the UK. Maybe Driving test standards and what you learn should be looked at more than speeding.

You drive an Audi dont you ? 

[JohnM]

UK roads second safest. http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-3650973/Britain-second-safest-roads-Europe-European-Safety-Transport-Council-reveals.html

[GUBRATS]

No matter how good a driver you believe yourself to be , speed reduces the time you have to make the right decisions when a problem occurs , be that a pallet lying in the middle lane , or a 2 wheeled truck , a spare wheel , all items I've seen on motorways , we currently have pot holes everywhere , you hit one at speed and you will lose control 

Idiots drive fast , idiots believe they are indestructible because of the vehicle they are sat in , they aren't , and neither are other law abiding road users who get in their way 

[Lounge Room Lizard]

10 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

You drive an Audi dont you ? 

No a 6 yr old VW actually. 

[Oxford]

On 2/2/2018 at 6:18 PM, graveyard johnny said:

my point is its all been done so underhand and sneakily - I think ckn would be ready to blame the torys for the leaves falling off the trees roundabout September time, truth is its successive underhand ingrained highway robbery by govts of whom none can be trusted for a second

 

Tax by subterfuge like paying for hospitals through car parking needs to be examined and discussed!

[Griff9of13]

3 hours ago, Oxford said:

Tax by subterfuge like paying for hospitals through car parking needs to be examined and discussed!

But it's not a tax is it? Don't break the law, don't pay the fine. It really is very simple.  

[JohnM]

On 02/02/2018 at 6:18 PM, graveyard johnny said:

my point is its all been done so underhand and sneakily -

I dont agree. Its all in the public domain. What examples have you of this underhandedness and sneakiness?

[Spidey]

50 minutes ago, JohnM said:

I dont agree. Its all in the public domain. What examples have you of this underhandedness and sneakiness?

Quite. The guilty ones are quite happily “sneakily” breaking speed limits.

[gingerjon]

4 hours ago, Oxford said:

Tax by subterfuge like paying for hospitals through car parking needs to be examined and discussed!

We never seem to talk about free buses to hospitals, only free parking. Odd that.

[RP London]

13 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

No matter how good a driver you believe yourself to be , speed reduces the time you have to make the right decisions when a problem occurs , be that a pallet lying in the middle lane , or a 2 wheeled truck , a spare wheel , all items I've seen on motorways , we currently have pot holes everywhere , you hit one at speed and you will lose control 

Idiots drive fast , idiots believe they are indestructible because of the vehicle they are sat in , they aren't , and neither are other law abiding road users who get in their way 

I wrote a car off because I was going too fast on a dual carriageway and lost control... swerved, span straight into the central reservation and back across both lanes to the hard shoulder ending up as if I had parked the bloody thing.. I nearly sh*t myself, somehow, and I still dont know how, I didnt get hit by people coming up the road as I span across it... If i had been going at the speed limit of 40 at that point I am 100% sure I would not have nearly ###### killed myself.. 

I'm also sitting waiting for the last 3 of 6 points to disappear off my licence.. got caught once in a variable that I am 99% sure was not saying 60 when it flashed me at 70 (I certainly didnt see it) but to be fair I wasnt going to argue the case mainly because the amount of times I have been speeding and not got caught on a motorway I deserved it.. The next car I bought I made sure had cruise control as I know I have a heavy right foot.. Dont really speed now, it was normally a motorway thing anyway as I hate people breaking speed limits in built up areas as it is dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists etc. (my other 3 points was from a craftily placed camera as the road was changing its speed limit.. harsh but again the amount you dont get caught on you have to take the punishment when they do catch you). I dont get bullied on motorways anymore as having 6 points and knowing that another 3 and I cant hire a car on holidays or when visiting families etc made me not give a monkeys what speed other people want to go at on the motorways, as long as I am in the correct lane for what I am doing (overtaking or not) then I dont care if you want to go at 90 and I am in the outside lane doing 70 but passing the slower traffic inside.. 

[BD92]

Two speeding convictions in 40 years driving then 3 in 8 months.

I'm just a criminal I know this now, 2 x 46 on a smart variable having passed through 2 x 50, 1 x30, 1 x 50,1 x 40 the next overhead had a bright white disc with a black stripe on it. one @02:00 and one @01:00.

The other was at 01:05 on an a road in  Worcester a static 35 in a 30. As a professional vocational driver I am totally embarrassed by this, they were all my fault, I was in charge of the vehicle no amount of excuses will make it better.

I do however feel extraordinarily angry when people  a flying past me at 80 mph when the overheads are showing 50/60 mph and there isn't a flash insight. Yet Junctions 10 -13 on the M1 is very like driving through a disco up until 01:00 in the morning.

[graveyard johnny]

1 hour ago, BD92 said:

Two speeding convictions in 40 years driving then 3 in 8 months.

I'm just a criminal I know this now, 2 x 46 on a smart variable having passed through 2 x 50, 1 x30, 1 x 50,1 x 40 the next overhead had a bright white disc with a black stripe on it. one @02:00 and one @01:00.

The other was at 01:05 on an a road in  Worcester a static 35 in a 30. As a professional vocational driver I am totally embarrassed by this, they were all my fault, I was in charge of the vehicle no amount of excuses will make it better.

I do however feel extraordinarily angry when people  a flying past me at 80 mph when the overheads are showing 50/60 mph and there isn't a flash insight. Yet Junctions 10 -13 on the M1 is very like driving through a disco up until 01:00 in the morning.

how much have they had out of you so far?

[Oxford]

19 hours ago, Griff9of13 said:

But it's not a tax is it?

Not as such no! But still taken with more than a suspicion of propping up a system that isn't funded sufficiently.

[Oxford]

18 hours ago, gingerjon said:

We never seem to talk about free buses to hospitals, only free parking. Odd that.

We never seem to talk about those who have to visit hospitals regularly at all, funny that!

[JohnM]

21 hours ago, gingerjon said:

We never seem to talk about free buses to hospitals, only free parking. Odd that.

Lots of eay off-topic posts.Free buses to hosptals for many people round here, typically up to 30 or miles awsy.

However, i see this topic has been hijacked by the AOB political mafia. 

[Wiltshire Rhino]

On 05/02/2018 at 11:11 AM, gingerjon said:

Okay, you probably win.

Don't give up so easily! With a bit of effort you too could be as "good" as Robin