London Roads.

[JayCeeDee]

The main roads weren’t too bad – roundabouts were too many to count, but they succeeded in keeping the weekend traffic ( + MK Dons were playing ) flowing nicely. Where it falls down is in the smaller roads off the main “grid”. Too many no through roads, and spurs off within a no through road, if that makes sense. My 4 years out of date Sat Nav coped with only a minor hiccup that was more down to losing signal and re-calibrating me temporarily “Off road” than anything else.

We nearly moved there 35 years ago, ( well one of the outlying villages )  but having seen how it turned out, glad we didn’t.

Edit – I found the TomTom Smartphone App was excellent at showing your Average Speed on the camera sections ( and flagging them as such ) and when traffic got bogged down, accurately predicted time/length of queue. It is however very heavy on the battery and I keep forgetting to plug the charger in on long journeys. 🙁 Short ones are rarely a problem.

[The Duke]

I used the Tom Tom speed camera app, across Europe and was amazed at its accuracy.

It’s a nice feature that you can overlay data on to google maps, (or silly app you wish), as I found Google maps + TomTom just brilliant.

Also liked that it asked for feedback about every camera position, so you could hit ‘not there’ if the od rouge one popped up.

I didnt notice battery drain, as I have leads in the car at all times. If you open my centre console, it looks like the Spaghetti monster is actually a thing.

I just realised it’s the 32rd you go, Mario run is released on android that day, so at least the wife won’t be board on the trip  :good:

[Anonymous]

It seems a lot of concern for speed cameras?

 

[JayCeeDee]

They’re a bit like Marmite John, they  are either irrelevant or of passing interest only, or they matter a lot. It depends on your style of driving, the amount of miles you do each year, be that for business or your own use. If you don’t do many miles and are a naturally cautious driver they are just a part of the scenery. If you have a heavy right foot or do a lot of miles for work, they are the Devil’s Spawn.

A clean license is worth its’ weight in gold, as I found out when I got a 37 in a 30 ticket from a camera van. I sped up too early for the 40mph dual carriageway!! My insurance went up from £300ish to just over £500.

 

[The Duke]

John, they are dangeous that is the issue, if you have to spend effort looking for cameras when you could be connecting on your driving. Average speed cameras are the worst, as if you dont have cruise control you spend the whole section of motorway looking at your daily instead of the road.

 

I’ve only ever had 6 points, in my 20 year stint. On was zero untill about 5 years ago. I got done by a mobile van that for some time device to take root at the bottom of the hill at the entrance to our village, almost impossible to do 30 with out really consenting on your speed, instead of the traffic. It got almost the whole village don’t about 35, mine was 34mph! Just there to make money.

Id not long clean off my first 3 points and In October 16, at 1am picking my girl up from work I went through a red light. It’s not something I do, it’s very dangerous, and I even knew that set, out side Rhyl police station is camera’d up.

So it was a totally accident and I don’t know how I managed. I first asked for proof as I didn’t recall any flash etc, but knew I was there around the time. The photo arrived and the lights had been on red for 40 seconds. Agreed to the fine and points £150 and 3 points!

Though what did worry me was its not a fixed penalty, they took me to court, total waist of alls time, considering I filled out the forms to say it was me and I accepted responsibility.

 

So I’ve again had a got 3 points. But these days if found 3 points hasn’t effected my Inc it’s still below the £300 mark, where its been for the last 15 years. Always around 280 no matter what I drive, 3 points or not. There may be a jump if I add another 3. But no plans for that.

 

 

[Bob Williams]

The law is coming to rely more and more on cameras for evidence. The Average speed ones are the ones to watch out for. Entering Grimsby along the A16, I am accompanied by trucks heading for the docks, vans, buses  and loads of cars. This all comes in along a single carriageway and through 4 sets of traffic lights, 3 of which are crossed by complex, phased junctions. As you approach each junction and lights, one lane goes into two, then filters back into one after the lights. This route was first set at 30 mph, which caused fierce bottlenecks and lots of fender-benders. Protests went on for months until the Highways suddenly installed Av. Speed cameras and changed it to 40 mph.The problem now is that you cannot get up to 40 and maintain it for more than say, 20 seconds. The distance between junctions is not long enough and the traffic so congested, that it does not work. They might as well have left it at 30, which is what everyone was doing before the first change anyway. After the junctions, there is a turn off for a massive B&Q place, with the 3rd set of lights. After that, the road dips under a flyover, then uphill to a really complicated, 7-way junction, ending in the 4th set of lights at the top of the hill: halfway up the hill it goes into 2 lanes and you had better know which one you want! :scratch:  :unsure:  😥

I know this road well know, but it does catch out anyone who doesn’t, including drivers from foreign climes who do not or cannot, read English road signs. And some British drivers who suffer the same inability… Grimsby is a real test to drive into and out of.

In one year (2011) I earned 2 lots of 3 points for breaking the limit. I was very close to losing my licence, only the 2nd and 3rd times I had been caught. (First was in ’89, driving home for lunch from work) 2nd time was an Awareness Course. 3rd was totally stupid, missed a turn at Peterborough, tried to make up the difference. By some absolute miracle, the Law had missed my 2nd offence. I just got another 3 points. It taught me a lesson and I vowed never to get caught again. If I lose my licence, not only do I lose my Motability car, but I have to keep losing the DLA payments which pay for the lease, until it ends. So I do not exceed the limit by more than 2mph. Ever.

I missed out the biggest margin that I was ever caught doing. It was in Germany in ’75, driving the Droopsnoot Magnum 2300 that I tuned up with US Buick parts. (The Vauxhall “Slant 4” OHC engine, was half a GM V8) I was apparently doing 230 kph, which equates to about 140 mph. On the Autobahn, I would have been fine, but I was on the equivalent of a UK “B” road. I was also leaving Germany for the last time as a member of HM Forces. The Polizei chased me for that, initially via the MP’s, then as I left HMF in ’76, they used the UK police. I told the upstanding member of the constabulary that I was quite prepared to go to court in Germany, all travel at the expense of the German government. He laughed, walked out and I never heard another word about it. My dad’s words at the time – “Well, that will make a change, police from another country knocking on my door!” (My two brothers and myself brought him our share of trouble at various times)

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Richard]

I was doing one of my regular runs over a bridge across the M11 the other day. The bridge has a wide concrete apron on one side, almost as though it was planned for a wider road. I often see vans parked there with the driver having some sort of break. This time there was an obvious road awareness van parked there, the sort with no real marking, but small windows at the top of the rear doors. What caught my eye was a bundles of wires coming out and going to three tripods with what looked rather like three DSLR cameras facing over the railings down toward the motorway. I assume they were speed trapping or at the very least looking for lane discipline problems, but now wonder f it might have been just counting passing traffic. Anyone  have any other ideas?

Edited, typos

[Ed P]

There are more types of speed trap than you can shake a stick at. See the drop down ‘Types of Speed Traps’ on this LINK. Beware especially of the ‘grey poles’ Truvelo’ which is shown on the link..

I personally have no issue with speed traps as such except in two cases:

a) Inappropriate speed limits. This works both ways. I’d like to see more 20mph zones around schools etc, but I also think there is a strong case for increasing motorway speeds.

b) When inappropriate speed limits are used for gathering revenue.

 

[Richard]

Ed P wrote:

There are more types of speed trap than you can shake a stick at. See the drop down ‘Types of Speed Traps’ on this LINK. Beware especially of the ‘grey poles’ Truvelo’ which is shown on the link.. I personally have no issue with speed traps as such except in two cases: a) Inappropriate speed limits. This works both ways. I’d like to see more 20mph zones around schools etc, but I also think there is a strong case for increasing motorway speeds. b) When inappropriate speed limits are used for gathering revenue.

I am not suggesting for a moment that speed limits should not be enforced, in some cases enforcement should be increased. I am well out of favour with deliberate false trails and hidden traps for no real purpose other than trapping. If the reason for a limit is clear, so also should the means of enforcing the limit to ensure adherence. There are some roadworks nearby with a ‘worker’s safety limit’ of 30 mph, however the number of mainly trucks but also a few cars that want to go well over the limit is ‘surprising’. One even crossed the double white lines to pass several cars in a batch, completely on the wrong side of a three lane road. The road is downhill on the single lane, side but double lane on the uphill stretch to allow a crawler lane for heavy vehicles. I would favour a damned big camera right there.

Sneaky cameras on a bridge are not enforcing a limit, they are tax gatherers.

Edit,

I should have added that the two lane parts of the M11 near Bishops Stortford are bing made single lane for trucks due to their habit of travelling for miles while using a 1 or 2 mph differential for one to overtake another.

[blacklion1725]

Amen to that (M11) – I drive up to Cambridge once a month and that 2 lane section after Stansted is a nightmare. I remember they trialled a single lane for lorries (at certain times) years ago then dropped it. If they are bringing it back an making it permanent than praise be. Normal practice as you say is they overtake each other at a snail’s pace, and then often – after several miles and minutes of trying – give up when they get to a hill and pull back in.

[The Duke]

There is a great bit of road design on the A55 westbound coming out of Queens ferry, it’s a 70mph stretch of 3 lanes that also has an on ramp just at the point it abruptly drops to two lanes.

It’s so simple bad and ruthlessly dangerous.  As the 3rd lane cars get surprised by the lane end out the blue,  and have to jump to the second lane, just at the same moment as the 1st lane cars have to merge to the second lane to let cars off the on ramp, which is very long so the cars entering the 1st land are already doing 70!, so that is alot of cars all ‘darting to the center lane at peak times’.

Then about 300 yards later the 70 drops to 50, so as all the chaos  is happening everyone is breaking in front just around the bend.

It is madness, also this is a new section of the road, that was all designed and built this way from scratch about 15 years ago, not something that has evolved this way. It not like there isn’t room either, so space or complexity wasn’t a limiting factor.

Cluster**+K come to mind. Such a simple bit of road but so dangerous and cause big delays!

[Anonymous]

I have been recording/watching Dom on the spot. People seem to except their mistakes (now too late) IF ONLY.

Richard I bet they were filming the next James Bond movie. Most likely not, you never know where they are, even in plain cars.

 

 

[JayCeeDee]

blacklion1725 wrote:

Amen to that (M11) – I drive up to Cambridge once a month and that 2 lane section after Stansted is a nightmare. I remember they trialled a single lane for lorries (at certain times) years ago then dropped it. If they are bringing it back an making it permanent than praise be. Normal practice as you say is they overtake each other at a snail’s pace, and then often – after several miles and minutes of trying – give up when they get to a hill and pull back in.

They are – see HERE . It was trialled in April 2010 through to September 2011 – it seems to have taken 5 1/2 years to confirm the theory and implement it!! My commonly used stretches of motorway, the M2, M20, M26 all have 2 lane sections that get screwed by lorries playing this game. It is a real nuisance and an impediment to flow, even on the flat sections, but as you say, made worse on the slightest incline.

[Richard]

JayCeeDee wrote:

it seems to have taken 5 1/2 years to confirm the theory and implement it!! .

Only 5 1/2 years? Were they taking speed or something else in the office coffee?

[Bob Williams]

“Innapropriate speed limits” – OH, YES! Places where a 30 could well be a 40, several places where a lower limit slows down traffic so much that it actually increases pollution, as queues including heavier vehicles, slow to a stop, wait and then move off slowly. You can see the fumes physically increasing in depth. It’s crazy.

But the most adrenalin-pumping motoring incident I have ever been involved in, happened right here in sleepy rural Lincs. There is a particularly bad, hairpin bend on the A157  Louth – Mablethorpe road at a small village called South Reston. It’s the road I take if going to the coast or my son’s village home. This tight, acute bend is always bad for meeting a heavy and/or long vehicle coming the other way, and there are buildings blocking sight of the road around the bend. One very cold evening 4 years ago, temperature down to -3°c and roads icy, I was right up to the bend when a (rare) local double decker bus came around the bend, sideways, taking up the whole road. I shot off left into a bridle path and managed to stop before hitting a big old Oak tree, which had probably been growing there since my great granddad was a baby. It all happened so quickly that I did not have time to think, just yanked the wheel over and went left. The bus had stopped and a local guy was out walking his dogs, he just stood there with his mouth open. I went to the driver of the bus, which had 3 passengers, all on the top deck. “Are you OK?” said the middle-aged driver, “Yeah – are you?” I asked “Oh thank God!” he said, and burst into tears! I told him to pull himself together for his passengers, he did, turned the bus back the right way and drove off. Slowly…

I don’t drive that road in icy conditions if I can help it and neither does my son, who was in the front passenger seat with me.

Both of us needed the WC when we got to his… :good:  :whistle:

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

The most dangerous parts of the country are areas high with OAPs and roundabouts. No offence to any OAPs, it’s a bit of a generalisation, but I like in an oak retirement area, or coast of one, and they just don’t get roundabouts.

It’s not just OAPs my father in law, that is not quite there yet is just as bad. I don’t you older lot was taught how to use them for your tests, and the ones round mine just pick a lane and go with it.

I never assume the lamne they are in, is the one they aptly should be, do I’ll never pass one no matter how slow they are traveling. There speed is another issue completely. I especially the really old one.

We have alot of fast B roads, nothing like being stuck behind some one doing 25mph, then the snarl at you as you pass them!

Hate to be ageist, (I’m usually on an ‘ist’ man) but at 70, you should be tested each year. Thankfully if I make 70 cars will be autonomous by then.

[Bob Williams]

I know exactly what you mean regarding my age group Steve (bet you thought I was going to snarl at you for those ageist comments, no I’m not!) :negative:  :good:

I was lucky in that I had very good Army driver training: don’t know how it is now, but I was taken out of duties for 3 weeks solid and did nothing but drive, everything from a Land Rover to HGV’s, even an aircraft transporter. Later, AFV’s and other tracked vehicles. No fitting in lessons between workdays and weekends, just compressed driving. I woke up driving and went to sleep dreaming about it. That gave me and others like me, something that takes months for civilians: correct driving is quickly grooved into the brain. Muscle and brain memory work together and driving becomes instinctive. I tell my gson, who is taking lessons atm in between work and college, not to be impatient but to think about what he did at that latest lesson, when he gets home.

I know at least 3 people in the Senior Ghetto here, who are simply not fit to drive. One old lass (actually only 4 years older than me) has terrible back problems, can hardly walk to the car, and is doped up with strong pain killers all the time. It takes her  5 or 6 manouevres just to get around a simple L- shaped turn, no buildings, just road, in a cul de sac. She is just all over the place out on the road. I have spoken to her daughter and been told it was none of my business. “So“, I said, “ whose business will it be when she causes an accident?” There are two old lads just as bad. One is only two years older than me, the other is in his 80’s. The oldest is one of those who drives at 25 to 30 everywhere, which is a greater cause of accidents IMO than a fast driver, it makes people impatient and makes them take risks. You know the type – never had an accident, but seen hundreds in his rear mirror. I know the risk-takers should not do it, but it happens.

The best of them is old Dennis 3 doors down. 78 now, but 3 years ago he gave up his Nissan Almera because he thought he was not driving well enough at his age. Nice guy is Dennis, loads of commonsense. He loved that car, but he knew that it was time to stop. That is what I will do when the time comes, atm I am doing OK, but the Tucson I pick up 2 weeks today, may be my last car. I will be 75 then and will take a long hard look at myself. If I don’t think I can drive safely for another 3 years, that’s it. It will be upsetting, but I have never been the cause of any of the 3 incidents that happened to cars I was driving and I do not want to ever be the cause of an accident in which someone is injured, or worse. Especially, me and mine.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[PlaneMan]

I get loads of terrible drivers near me, there’s the bus depot down the road, a very busy junior school on the same road but opposite my estate and nearly every main car dealer (and some posh ones) within a mile or so.

I also get the selfish numpties who are tight to pay a few £ to park when they watch Cardiff City at home, so they park where they feel like it.

So I get badly driven buses, badly parked and driven cars by the junior school and people on test drives who are nervous as hell. And car transporters seemingly abandoned in the road for hours at a time which block one lane of 2 main roads.

And people ask me why I have a helmet camera! :wacko:

[Bob Williams]

OK Nolan, why do you have a helmet camera? :scratch:  :yahoo:

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[PlaneMan]

Bob Williams wrote:

OK Nolan, why do you have a helmet camera?

Because of the Royal Mail vans and lorries! (I forgot the main depot that’s almost within spitting distance). :whistle:

[Author]

Posts