Monday, July 23, 2012
Sardine-related traffic
Have you ever been driving along, heard a rattling noise and thought – which door isn’t closed properly?
Well I know I have, and luckily every time it’s happened I’ve found a safe place to pull over, get out of the car, and close the door firmly before continuing my journey. One delivery truck driver in Poland wasn’t so lucky though, since he failed to close the rear doors correctly, and didn’t notice in time.
This resulted in 24 tonnes of sardines spilling out onto the road, reportedly covering several hundred meters of the highway and bringing other road users to a standstill for hours while the fish were cleared up.
The truck driver was fined £50, and also had to pay £5,000 for the clearing of the road.
One motorist caught in the traffic stated, “At first we thought it was some sort of divine judgement – like a plague of locusts or frogs.”
I may very well have thought the same thing had I encountered thousands of tiny fish on the road – it can’t have smelt particularly divine through…
Hopefully the driver will be more careful next time. What a waste of fish!
Photo © rockyeda via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: car, closed, door, driver, driving, fish, highway, journey, Poland, rattling, sardines, traffic, truck
Monday, July 9, 2012
Former racer against speed increase
A race driver bemoaning a possible increase in the speed limit for the UK’s highways? That’s odd.
Well, Damon Hill, a former world champion race driver who has won the Grand Prix 22 times, has said that he thinks an increase from 70mph to 80mph on motorways would be a disaster. The ex-racer, who retired in 1999, explains, "Most people aren't safe to drive over 55. The speed limit going up to 80mph makes me shudder.
"People mostly drive too fast on the motorway and too close to the car in front. They think they know what they're doing and they don't."
This might sound like a big insult to a large number of this country’s motorists, but in comparison to him we must all be pretty unskilled behind the wheel.
Unfortunately, whereas Mr Hill states that he doesn’t like driving over 70mph because he finds it stressful, it’s usually the most unskilled and inconsiderate road users among us who decide to ignore the speed limit regulations.
Talking about his ‘boy racer’ days, Hill says, “I escaped by the skin of my teeth when I was younger because I was a good driver, but that didn't make it OK."
It’s a shame we can’t give reckless road users some hindsight, so that they could see how dangerously they are behaving. Sadly some of these motorists might not learn how important being safe behind the wheel is until it’s too late.
Photo © Supermac1961 via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: car, Damon Hill, drive, driving, Grand Prix, highway, motorway, race driver, road users, speed limit
Monday, December 5, 2011
A Marmity mess
Whether you hate Marmite or you love it – no one likes having to take a detour because there’s been a Marmite spill all over the road.
However, recently some poor motorists who had been travelling along the M1 had to take alternative routes when a lorry crashed and spilled sticky goop all over the highway.
Ok – it wasn’t actually Marmite – it was waste brewers yeast – but it was first reported to be Marmite and as a Marmite hater I personally can’t see the difference between the disgusting brown spread and waste yeast encrusted with tarmac anyway.
The motorway had to be closed in both directions between junctions 32 and 33, the lorry driver was taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries, and The Environment Agency was called to help clean up and check that waterways hadn’t been polluted.
What a mess! It proves how evil Marmite is once and for all!
Ok, yes, it wasn’t Marmite…
Photo © Jacob Rickard via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: detour, highway, junction, lorry, M1, Marmite, motorist, motorway, road, tarmac, yeast
Monday, July 25, 2011
One-legged South African driver
Some disabled people have their vehicle modified so that they can still get out and about on the highways.
Not so for one driver in South Africa.
He had to have his left leg amputated after suffering a gun shot wound in 1996, but, instead of having his vehicle adapted, he sat his 11-year-old son next to him and told him when to press the clutch peddle.
He was stopped by a chief traffic inspector – who naturally was horrified – and was even more perturbed when she found that the 39-year-old amputee only possessed an expired learner driver’s permit suitable for use in an automatic car.
The man was fined 1,000 rand, which is the equivalent of £90.
Let’s hope he doesn’t do it again.
Photo © arboresce via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: clutch, highway, leg, licence, modified, South Africa, traffic inspector, vehicle