A place to rant mark ii

And the worst ones are... HGV drivers with their governors. Idiots see these brakes come on and fall apart.

 

If towing trailers, using the gears to brake saves putting strain on the trailer brake mechanism.

What really gets me is the folk who travel at moderate to slow speed and brake for every bend or even on coming cars!, why cant they read the road and moderate the trottle b4 the bends?

 

HGVs David.
A nessesary evil,...espcially on stretches of dual carriageway or two lane motorway.

Why does the one thats only doing a half an MPH faster than the other one, think its a good idea to pull out to overtake and completely block the road for about 10 minutes.
Then you get a slight incline and they all vitually stop.
I'm sure they are either overweight or they are just under powered.

 

Absolutely agree, Pete, and my stepson drives one for B&Q. The area of motorway between junction 24 and junction 28 of the M4,is the most dangerous stretch of motorway in Wales. And to see these, supposedly, advanced HGV drivers performing is frightening. I had one, a few years ago, force me onto the hard shoulder because he wasn`t paying attention. And there was the case a couple of months ago when a HGV driver got killed on the same stretch of road because he fell asleep. His lorry went over and completely demolished about a hundred yards of barrier. Luckily, for the rest of us, it happened in the early hours.

 

Cant agree regards HGVs,

The goverment laws on rest breaks and tachos mean that for a lorry driver who gets stuck in traffic for lets say road works this could mean a two hour rest stop thus a very late finsish /not seing family etc.

For a driver running late the differance of minutes between being stuck behind another loory with a full load / acurate governor is sometimes the differance between a two hour enforced rest brake and later possibly unpaid hours/ finish time.

Most of the problems are caused by forighn left hand drive vehicles operted by drivers using cheap forighn fuel who dont know our roads, pay no road tax and cant speak english in the event of an accident.

 

This guy couldn`t speak English after the crash. He was dead, and there was traffic chaos in the area, not just on the motorway, for 3 days afterwards. And he was a foreigner.

 

How about the length of time it takes the police to reopen Motorways after an incident.
Hours sometimes just to pick up a few cabbages that have spilt on the road. Specialist teams brought in from god knows where to clean up.

 

And the idiot higway agency patrols in the black and yellow range rovers, who flag up speed restrictions on the matrix boards causeing caos just becasue a micra has broken down on the hard shoulder.

 

Nowadays, Pete, if the accident has fatalities then the police must treat the area as a crime scene. That is why the road is closed for most of the day. We are getting used to it in this area.

 

We've got used to it David, around here.
Its about time it was treated as what it is, a road accident and not a crime.
Even so, does it have to take as long as it does.
I have a theory that the police like to shut roads for some unexplainable reason, I think its all part of their "Hate the Motorist" campaign.

 

Well, at least there when they stop you they don't have guns at the ready like in the States and here. :eek:

We've only been stopped once here on a random check and they were a bit boggled with an old Renault Clio Portuguese registered car, American Passport, a British Driving License and a Portugese Fiscal Card (an ID thing that you own property here), all t'other half's as he was driving at the time, so they looked at them all, said thank you and have a safe journey. :D

 

Thats the thing though, do you get stopped in a random check when your walking?
As soon as you become a motorist they can do as they like, and usually do.
Even if your not commiting any offence, as soon as you see one in the rear view mirror, you start to worry.
There are just so many minor things that they can book you on if they like, and it costs the earth if you want to fight it.

 

Maybe if there wasn't as much crime going on and most criminals making quick getaways in stolen vehicles,people driving around in untaxed and uninsured vehicles, vehicles with faulty lights, vehicles being driven in a dangerouse manner, then maybe they would need to be persecuted as much.

 

Or maybee the motorist is an easy target and one that genertaes high instant revenue whilst maintaining solved crime figures and whithout any real ivestigation.

Im afraid to say the police are simply only intrested in revenue raisising and not solving crime.

When we had a problem with vandalism the police were not remotely intrested and wouldnt do a thing, the ivestigating officers were always on holiday etc and despite being given names they wouldnt follow things up.

In the end I sorted things out by catching one of those involved, no problems since or I supect likely in future after his mates saw him!

When the police were phoned up for several vehicle stuck in the middle of the road after flooding the engines in a well known flood and with no warning signs up, they took two hours to come by this time I who was passing had towed them away in 10 mins.

When they did arive as i was towing the last stuck car out they hadnt even brought any flood warning signs!

IMO a total bunch of overpaid incompetent clowns.

 

If you are a politician or a senior police officer, where are you going to make the most money. From catching criminals, or from trapping motorists? Pete, it takes so long because, apparently the site also has to be photographed and measured from the air.