Drivers and their problems

David9694 wrote:

One more paint job will fix it. A shame they aren't importing more ideas from The Netherlands.  Still more money being thrown at drivers. 

Running Horse Roundabout on A229 Blue Bell Hill, Maidstone, to be turned into ‘turbo roundabout’

this style of road junction is designed to prevent drivers from switching lanes by using colour-coded routes. This means motorists will instead pick their chosen exit before entering the roundabout and follow the correct lane.

The redesign is said to cost Kent County Council around £650,000 and has been put forward in hopes of reducing crashes on the junction as well as improving lane discipline by users.

Existing informal cycling and pedestrian crossing points will be retained (???)

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/six-figure-redesign-to-turn-...

They'll leave the informal crossing points? Couldn't they take this opportunity to put in some formal crossing points??

Jogle wrote:

Dinas Powys man loses home after spending thousands on novelty private number plate This might be more "Non-Driver and his Problem" but I'd summarise it as "man thought a numberplate was worth a lot more than other people and so now wants his money back as his investment wasn't an investment". https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2024-03-24/man-loses-home-after-spending-...

Who would spend £30,000 on a numberplate 'as an investment'?  When you throw in the bit where apparently he doesn't even use the numberplate - its in a storage unit with the rest of his possessions after he lost his house, apparently - it certainly seems that he needs some lessons in fiscal management…

" We never had these harsh parking fines before Brexit  "

I assume this is humour !

David9694 wrote:

"I spent so much time Given my inability to drive at the same time as checking my speedo I am sure I was definitely a danger to pedestrians and errant drivers. My wife was glued to the satnav reminding me whenever I was approaching 20 and couldn't appreciate the view clearly doesn't trust my driving either."

hawkinspeter wrote:

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/tourists-fined-taking-long-pay-9191558

Maybe there should be some kind of amnesty for parkers if the payment options aren't working properly

One of the tabloids recently ran a story on some bloke getting fined for outstaying the parking restriction limits in a cinema car park, after going to watch Dune part 2 

brooksby wrote:

Dad says he’s racked up £30,000 in ULEZ fines taking his child to school

https://metro.co.uk/2024/03/27/dad-says-racked-30-000-ulez-fines-taking-...

He's not the sharpest tool in the box, is he?

With this kind of thing some might say "their own misfortune is their punishment".  I hope they face further sanction.

On balance I think it's reasonable for society to pick up the tab for some behaviours of others we find objectionable - even if they're damaging to the people themselves.  That would be under principles like "freedom" and "providing care for the injured / those in danger regardless of how they got to that point".  But at some point we do have to consider the cost as these can conflict and we have finite resources.

I think with mass motoring the harms that people cause through carelessness / stupidity / "ain't gonna do what they tell me" can be so magnified that this merits a modified approach.

It has happened. Here's a link to one example :

https://road.cc/content/news/speeding-driver-who-killed-cyclist-jailed-f...

I have felt for a long time that the CPS were accepting careless far too easily and it's nice to have a judge confirming this. The reasons are obvious as it saves a lot of work for the CPS who presumably can't afford to employ the best barristers and it thus takes a lot of risk out of the court case, especially with some seemingly gullible judges (not this one by the sound of it) and easily led juries.

We usually don't know or care where the oil came from. We'll be even less interested in how those electrons got pushed down the cable.

Anyway - that's antisocial parking. All four wheels on the narrow street!

BTW on those cables - cycling and cycle infra is an impediment and danger to those with disabilities - and indeed pedestrians, I hear...

https://therantyhighwayman.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-amazing-electricity-...

Nothing to do with his tyres or excessive speed for the conditions then.
I had someone trying and telling me aquaplaning was caused by hard braking in the wet !

Hands off our park, stop thinking you have to be able to drive everywhere, for instance on green spaces where some may want to play or enjoy space without the intrusion of fast driving motor vehicles.

"Just one more dimension (for even more energy- intensive transport) will fix it..."

What do the elderly do on the other 51 Sundays in the year ?

Burnham Market is one of those weird posh coastal town places overrun with 2nd home owners from the Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. So those vehicles probably belong to "residents" who are on their jollies this week, and think they're roughing it in the countryside.

RE: Running Horse Roundabout - Probably just the newspaper but it seems we can't use the word "Dutch" / "NL" without saying something incorrect in the same sentence.  "Colour-coded routes"?  Here's a real one...  Here's a page with some more about them (halfway down - maybe they just googled this page and saw the diagram and thought "that's how it works"?).

Turbo roundabouts are inherently "bicycle exclusive" infra - almost as much as motorways.  You have to provide separate safe cycling and walking infra (if you need a turbo roundabout automotive flows are going to be incompatible with traffic lights).

Looking at this roundabout on the map it looks like there would be no cycling there unless you were insane (basically part of motorway support infra) and indeed no need for cycling.

But... streetview even shows a cyclist, and there are some footways (!) repurposed as "cycle infra".  There is a "cycle route" parallel to it which exits onto it although again it's not entirely clear why you want to.

Anyway, just "UK".  Meanwhile, in the real NL, building major roads doesn't have to be a barrier to access for non-motorised transport...

Sounds like he had more money than sense. And still has, apparently.