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
Friday, June 22, 2012
Bird poo wars
Bird poo.
It’s the bane of many a motorist’s driving days and can cause damage to paintwork as well as looking unpleasant.Recent research conducted by Halfords, however, might help road users fight against it. According to the company, red cars are targeted more than any other colour vehicle, and green cars are targeted the least.
Although there’s no real scientific basis for the results, the firm ran the study in several different cities and numbers never lie.
After red cars it was the blue vehicles which were pelted with poop the most. Next came black vehicles, then white, and finally silver was in the running just before green.
With this knowledge, perhaps drivers who hate to do war with bird, ehem, leavings, will purchase green cars, or buy a green cover for their vehicle to keep it safe.
Alternatively, they could try to avoid parking under trees or lamp-posts, but that can be difficult sometimes.
Good luck to all!
Photo © wwwesb via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: bird poo, colour, driving, Halfords, motorist, paintwork, parking, road users
Monday, February 27, 2012
Ompton man’s dummy camera
Whether you’re in your car or walking along the pavement, it’s easy to get angry at speeding motorists who put other people’s lives at risk with their dangerous driving.
One 50-year-old man living in Ompton, Nottinghamshire, has got so frustrated by road users travelling through the village at high speeds that he has installed his own dummy speed camera. The speed limit through the village used to be 60mph, which was then reduced to 40mph. However, the locals have been campaigning for it to be reduced once again to 30mph.
The maker of the dummy speed camera states that he built it after the council failed to put up a camera itself or further lower the speed limit.
It cost him £250 to make using scrap metal, and he believes it’s just the thing to cut down on the number of people driving too fast, however, he states, “I’ve been told if someone causes an accident by obeying the legal speed limit through the village, then it’s my fault.”
The highways district manager has told the man that if anyone claimed that they had crashed due to the presence of the dummy camera, he would be liable for civil action.
Well, we applaud this man for trying to make his village a safer place, however dubious the methods may be, his intentions are good, and we hope that all the villagers see a reduction in the number of speeding motorists as a result.
Photo © Pug50 via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: car, dangerous driving, dummy speed camera, motorist, Nottinghamshire, Ompton, road users, speeding, village