"The Thinking Persons Driving School"
Berkshire Driving School, 63 Wheatley, Great Hollands, Bracknell RG12 8UG
01344 303132
http://www.berkshire-driving-school.co.uk
Your Comments welcome to:
john@berkshire-driving-school.co.uk
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It was disappointing to hear that the Reading commercial driving school Big Wheelers has ceased trading. They started up before the Berkshire Driving School and the instructors I met were decent sorts who put a great deal of effort into their profession. I even bought a truck from one of them. Fuel price hikes are a problem for all of us.
The car has been giving stirling service for the last hundred thousand miles, and is now demanding that I spend money on her. I think that the plastic thingy in the clutch release bearing which keeps the steel balls apart has broken. This means that they are free to rattle around inside the bearing when you put your foot on the clutch bearing lightly. When you depress the pedal fully the noise stops since the steel balls are doing what they are designed to do.
You would think that such a small item would be cheap to replace and indeed on old cars this is so. Unfortunately with high tech machines, engineers deem that the flywheel has to be replaced as well.
Just in case some of you out there are thinking that it is unwise to use such such an expensive car for driving lessons, think on. Most new cars have dual mass flywheels and it is becoming common practice to replace this item when changing the clutch.
I will be a grand out of pocket but a little wiser. I will fit a little light in the foot-well. This little detail will help me check if drivers are riding the clutch.
You may actually save money by taking driving lessons with me!
An elderly relative got lost recently when out driving. His wife contacted the police and within a short while he had been located driving towards London. It seems that number plate recognition was used to locate his car. What was to have been a short journey to the shops turned out to be an eight hour drive. When in London our relative was able to regain his bearings after recognising the Houses of Parliament. Eventually he returned home after a long, long drive.
His next birthday presents will be a sat-nav and a cell phone.
We may grumble about this 'Big Brother' society we now have but it is comforting to know that our safety is being monitored. Some may resent the fact that we are on constant surveillance but the 'Powers that Be' will only be interested in the small elements of society who are up to mischief. If the likes of insurance cheats and license dodgers have a precarious life and likely to come into line then perhaps our ludicrously high insurance charges may fall and more cash be made available to make our roads safer - rather than slower.
The burst pipe on the Bagshot Road last week caused bedlam as frustrated drivers sought alternative routes last week. Drivers heading south trying to link between the A329M and M3 found their route on diversion via Twin Bridges roundabout, a notorious bottleneck in its own right. Local drivers aware of the problem sought their own diversions only to find themselves in long queues of traffic threading their way through housing estates.
I appreciate that the Government has a policy of not building new roads as this, they claim, “Encourages driving”. Perhaps an exception could be made so that the M4 and M3 could be linked by extending the A329M. An early decision on this will be needed because of the rapid expansion of Bracknell westwards towards Wokingham. In a short number of years the two towns will be as one and there will be little chance of persuading residents that houses should be demolished to make way for a motorway.
Is there anyone in charge of the future? We seem to be sleepwalking into chaos!
This is a problem often encountered on the road on Sunday. As a driving instructor I try to comply with the Highway Code, and this means that I use the left lane where possible. A tricky plan of action when you are the only car in the left lane and traffic in the lane on the right is stationary. Eventually one comes across an obstruction in the left lane and it is necessary to join the traffic lane on the right. Despite the recent policy proclaimed by the Highways Agency that we should 'merge in turn', those Sunday drivers on your right are a little put out that you appear to have 'got one over' on them. It is not unusual to be muscled out by these losers and be confronted by angry gesticulations as they close ranks against you. Eventually a 'proper' driver will hold back to let you out. This never seems to be problem midweek when professional drivers share the road with me.
If you see me driving along a dual carriageway at 70mph, please do not waggle your finger and shout 'call yourself a driving instructor?' if you catch me up at lights. The maximum national speed limit on dual carriageways is indeed 70 mph and I am aware that few experienced drivers are aware of this. Perhaps the passing the Theory Test should be part of every driver's regular assessment. The pass mark will need to be lowered for 'experienced' drivers to give them a fighting chance of keeping their license.
Hans was best known as a traffic engineer, rather than as a driving instructor. He believed that if you treated drivers as idiots then they would behave like idiots. He had the concept of a 'shared space' where pedestrians and drivers mixed freely and drivers were responsible for the safety of pedestrians. Road signs, kerbs and barriers were removed completely; pedestrians and drivers shared the entire street. When this idea was applied to suitable roads, accidents became less frequent and traffic flowed easier. May I suggest that Crowthorne High Street be given Monderman's 'Shared space' treatment?
Some parts of the DSA website have not been updated to include the specification for the minimum minibus test vehicle. I believe this to be -
Category D1
A Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV) with 9 - 16 passenger seats with a Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) of at least four tonnes, of at least five metres in length and capable of 80 km/h (50 mph). Tachograph, ABS, seatbelts and examiner mirrors should be fitted. Note that using the Tachograph is not tested and I understand that it not essential for it to work for the driving test. Unless the school or college takes the vehicle abroad, I believe that it not, in practice, ever used.
It seems that the electric vehicle will soon be a familiar sight on our roads. The latest developments have shaken off their ‘milk-float’ image and are more than a match for the internal combustion engine. Lightweight minimalist sports cars such as the Tessla and Electric Atom have been shown on U-tube out dragging expensive supercars.
It appears that battery technology has been moving on apace and once research and development costs have been recouped, these batteries will be mass-produced cheaply using benign and abundant materials. Unlike the internal combustion engine, electric cars use almost no energy when stationary and are well suited to our clogged and hobbled road system. Power to propel these cars can be produced with far less carbon dioxide per unit of energy than burning fossil fuel in the car engine itself.
It seems that a number of motorcyclists have been videoing themselves riding at outrageous speeds in parts of Britain and posting their reckless exploits on U-tube. Naturally enough the Authorities will stamp out their pranks and the weapon of choice will be the speed camera.
You might have gathered that I am not in favour of these devices as a means of generating revenue for the Government but this seems to be a clear situation where their implementation will improve safety. These cameras will be hidden and set to a speed high enough to avoid catching normal fast drivers going about their business.
Hughes, the top cop from South Yorkshire was vocal in his draconian views on speeding drivers. Joy de vivre got the better of him and he was clocked doing 90mph in a 60mph zone on the A5 at Wrexham, North Wales, in his Y-reg Audi. He was banned from driving for 42 days for speeding.
Since most car speedometers over read by a considerable margin at high speed it is probable that the clock was reading about 100 mph at that time. His speeding was no accident. Yet many drivers accidentally lose their licence for being a few miles per hour over the limit. Some professions (such as driving instructor) require a license to be held for three years and even losing the license for a day would lead to unemployment.
You can understand my anxiety about losing my license since the mildest transgression could result in a loss of income and terminal debt. Driving is hazardous due to the wealth of high tech devices stacked up by the roadside which will automatically criminalise me and add me to the unemployment statistics. Is short the quality of my life is somewhat ruined by scam-cams. No statistics are taken on the reduction of life expectancy of professional drivers whose employment can be suddenly terminated by these devices.
Usually members of the Police force are absolved from this problem. More than 300 officers have been caught speeding in the past year in Wales. Only 29 cases - less than one in 10 - resulted in points being added to their license. Perhaps I am in the wrong profession, could I be a policeman?.
Officer Meredydd Hughes, a police chief who is at the forefront of combating speeding on Britain's roads, today admitted twice being caught out by roadside cameras. This, South Yorkshire's top officer, has played a leading role in national speed camera policy. Mr Hughes believed the policy should include hiding cameras, which currently have to be highly visible. He may lose his licence as a result of his misdemeanours.
Officer Hughes is just one of many professional drivers who run a great risk of losing their livelihood due to minor transgressions. It would be interesting to know if he inwardly continues to believe that portable hidden cameras should be used to penalise honest law abiding drivers who slipped up by mistake. No doubt he will keep this view to himself if he wishes to keep his position.
The latest incarnation of this publication became available for distribution this month. The introduction of a section on invalid carriages is the greatest addition. Smaller but important changes include a more prominent section on vehicle towing and loading, (see rule 98) and this reminds drivers that if they passed a car test after 1 January 1997 they are restricted on the weight they may tow, (see Construction and Use Regulations 1986 and Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999).
It is gratifying to see the section on 'coasting' (122) no longer tells us not to do it. With the introduction of ABS the previous edition of the Highway Code was plainly wrong. It still lists why coasting can reduce control and I think the wording is now appropriate. An amusing part of the old Highway Code was the 'shortest stopping distances', originally formulated for cars which would now be museum pieces. The table (see rule 126) is now labelled as 'Typical Stopping Distances', a change well overdue but nevertheless welcomed.
Less satisfactory is the fact that there is no mention that it is inadvisable to stop at empty roundabouts. Fortunately it does advise following drivers to look forward before moving off to make sure that traffic in front has moved off, (185). Perhaps The Highway Code should also advise that drivers must watch out for other motorists stopping unexpectedly.
I am very disappointed that the Highway Code still states that all vehicles MUST pass round the central markings of mini-roundabouts, (rule 188). Clearly this can put drivers in conflict with vehicles suddenly approaching from the left. The stand-on vehicle will be closer and less visible to drivers approaching from the side road. Slowing right down on otherwise clear roads will also add to our carbon footprint.
Curiously the Highway Code only advises that drivers should avoid smoking if they are to drive safely, (whereas the use of mobile phones has eight references). Clearly hours of debate were conducted in a smoke filled room to decide on that!
As ever it would have been better if professional drivers had been allowed a greater input into the Highway Code. They spend more time on the roads and they would have a greater understanding of matters affecting safety. Perhaps the "Powers that Be" think that making road travel less efficient will encourage us to use public transport. They seem to have a policy to increase our road journey times and the Highway Code is just one weapon that our Masters use to achieve this. I am disappointed that this latest incarnation of The Highway Code does little to reduce our carbon footprint.
I have recently had the misfortune of using the M1 south of Luton, the long stretch which has the 50mph average speed cameras installed. Fortunately the driving school car has an average speed computer function which I reset as I passed each camera and I had calibrated the system against my sat nav. This allowed me to average exactly 50mph and helped me avoid driving for protracted periods with vehicles either side of me. It only needs one driver to sneeze and his fellow travellers either side could be endangered. There is very little 'wiggle room' on those narrowed lanes. No doubt other drivers, relying on their hopelessly optimistic speedometers, thought I was risking points on my license but it is my job to know my car. If I had a criticism of the vehicle it would be that I should have also specified cruise control. However the car was very expensive as a driving school car and I had to draw the line somewhere.
With global warming probably a reality, scenes like this will be increasingly common.
A typical family car with a top speed of 120 mph needs about 121bhp to drive it at that speed. Since the power needed to move that car through the air at half that speed (60mph) goes down by the square root, it can be seen that just 11bhp would do the job. The other 110bhp are only really needed for overtaking and joining fast traffic. If roads were wider then overtaking would be easier and need less power. If acceleration lanes were longer we could join up with fast traffic without needing to accelerate so hard. We need not then have to buy cars with powerful engines just to stay safe and to avoid inconveniencing other road users. If roads were better then we could also avoid traffic jams.
You see where I am going? Better roads would save energy and reduce the rate that Homo sapiens is polluting the atmosphere. A spin off from this is that better roads are safer.
It is easy to blame motorists for having accidents at accident black spots but has anyone considered that our road infrastructure may perhaps need a little money spent on it?
I would not hesitate to advocate a rise in fuel duty to pay for this - except that the money raised in this manner would undoubtedly end up like the 'road fund' license. It will be taken from tax donor and used for other 'worthwhile projects'.
A top ranking policeman pronounced recently that "drivers who exceed the speed limit by even a modest amount are as guilty as murderers." Pretty strong stuff considering that many (perhaps even most) drivers exceed the speed limit by accident. This month I heard that the very same policeman has been in trouble for drinking and driving! More on this story as news comes in.
Psychometric tests for drivers has been proposed this month. My experience of drivers who are likely to fare badly in such tests would be prepared to drive without licenses, no matter what the regulations require.
May 2007 I have just heard on Radio 4 that the little G-wiz does not conform to the 40mph impact test that cars have to undergo. Naturally being under 500kg without its batteries it does not have to comply with the crash test. Since you would not expect these little vehicles pounding along in the outside lane of the motorway tail-gating the vehicle in front, is it not reasonable that they should be exempted from the regulations? Their natural environment is city traffic where the average speed is below 20mph. Get real, Radio 4 and check out stories which matter!
This month I have had the opportunity to test drive an electric car, the diminutive G-wiz.
It looks far less cartoon like in the flesh and seems sturdily constructed. Both front seats lie next to each other because there is no gear lever and the handbrake is mounted beneath the dashboard reminiscent of many cars of the 1930's
It was a cold day but the electric heater worked well. The small cabin was cosy yet offered plenty of leg room for tall drivers. There are even seats in the back for taking passengers short distances - but too cramped for comfort.
Initial impressions were favourable with a smooth accelerator action and tiny turning circle.
Unfortunately my big feet knocked a relay soon into the drive and the engine stopped. The co-driver quickly re-plugged the item but clearly a small guard should be fitted to protect this item.
Road humps had to be crossed with care in the little G-wiz. The limited suspension travel needs strong springs to prevent bottoming out. Is this why Chelsea tractors are so popular in towns? - they would cope well with road humps.
On the open road the G-wiz bowled along well and kept up with the traffic along the 40mph speed limited road. Just for fun I took a roundabout at speed and the stiff suspension and low centre of gravity came into its own. Handling was precise and reassuring.
Braking is regenerative so that the motor acts as a generator and recharges the battery. Initial braking was great but just as the car came to a halt the regeneration stopped abruptly. You have to adjust for this when you drive. Perhaps the electronics need further development.
I would feel happy owning a G-wiz though much of the fun would be gained by adding modifications. The G-wiz is an interesting retro-step into the future and I will be following the development of the electric car with interest.
CO2
How often do I hear of the advice to drive in third gear to avoid exceeding the 30mph speed limit? I heard this again in the Archers, Radio 4. Naturally the carbon emissions are likely to be nearly double in 3rd than in 6th gear. Clearly most cars will not go slow enough in top gear. There is an argument to increase the 30 limit in towns to 40mph say, between the hours of midnight and 7am. This will allow a more efficient use of our roads and a reduction in CO2 emissions.
22 February.
I attempted to check my speedometer using a speed check numeric beacon parked on the pavement near Heatherwood roundabout. I turned off the air conditioning and windscreen wipers since I have discovered that spurious reflections from these can confuse the electronics in the radar.
The beacon worked fine when I was the only vehicle on the road but often read about 10% high if there was approaching traffic. This seems to me to go against the laws of Physics. Could anyone suggest a reason for this?
Smoking
I heard on the radio today that the European Politicians have decided that the smoking ban in public places will not apply to the European Parliament building. So often, it seem, the Great and the Good pass laws which are imposed upon us poor sheep and our livelihood can be taken away from us if we transgress by one iota. We blindly tow the line when we know that by doing so will serve no purpose. Many of our Leaders however, consider themselves far too important to be burdened with such triviality!
Remember April '06?
I questioned the accuracy of speed cameras. Surprise, surprise! A televised news feature 2nd February '07 highlighted the low accuracy of many of these devices. As I often say, "You heard it here first!"
Speed cameras need not just be put where accidents might be prevented, they may now be put where vehicles habitually speed. Fortunately they still have to be sited in a visible position and painted yellow and the speed limit must also be posted nearby. Without this precaution the cameras would be excessively effective and flash too many drivers. It is considered that antagonising motorists excessively may lead to a backlash.
Slow driving involves low gears, low gear results in poor fuel consumption. Please could we have a higher fuel tax and end this ridiculous emphasis on everyone driving slowly (and inefficiently)? We need more efficient roads; the present policy of hobbling them is bad for the environment!
Global Warming
January in England was the hottest on record. The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - a group of three hundred scientists and representatives of 113 governments - unanimously portrayed the problem of global warming as 'An existing and worsening threat'. Scientists convening in Paris came to this uncomfortable consensus which included that global warming could render popular foreign holiday destinations too hot for normal human habitation. We MUST reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Today, Saturday 10th on Radio 4 a well known politician sounded off that 'global warming has taken on the dogma of religion'. This just illustrates just how ill informed some of our leaders seem to be. I wish that this politician had read the relevant articles which appeared in the New Scientist, which I picked up from a local service station a few days ago. Believe me, they make scary reading!
I was aware of the likely affect of global warming thirty years ago and decided that diesel cars would be the best way forward. In spite of the problems of buying this fuel at the time I bought a VW Golf Diesel. Diesel cars were very rare at the time and finding diesel pumps was a problem. I cut my carbon emissions by 50% that year! It was worth the inconvenience.
The way forward will be electric vehicles. More about these in a later blog.
You cannot stop global warming by driving efficiently but you may be able to help Scientists by giving them a little more time to investigate ways of reversing the process. Obviously this involves cutting CO2 emissions by driving sensibly.
Please see the new chapter on Global Warming we have placed on the driving tips page where we provide various ways we can all help reduce emissions associated with driving.
Last year was busy for me and the new BMW 1 series is bedding in well. Clients enjoy driving it and my pass rate has improved with this car.
I understand that the cost per mile using public transport is on a par with the cost of running a small car. Obviously if you have passengers it is more cost effective to use your car. This is strange since public transport benefits from economies of scale. Perhaps a carbon tax would alter this?
Clogged roads are causing problems with public transport. I read today that the local bus company has lost one of its routes. It seems that the buses on the 191 route often get snarled up in congestion rendering the service not cost effective.
Clearly government should invest the vast sums generated by speed cameras into our road infrastructure and improve efficiency, rather than deliberately hobbling our roads which is the present case.
I filled up my blue plastic recycle bin when I first got it. I was then told that my plastic should have gone into the green landfill bin. It seems that the only plastic I can put in the bin are plastic milk bottles. At two a week it will be full in a year!
Recent events have caused a fall in sales of 4X4 vehicles commonly referred to as 'Chelsea Tractors' and wiped a chunk off their second-hand value. Mr Livingstone has said that he will increase the Congestion Charge on these vehicles. Mr Blair's idea of introducing Road Charging has also alarmed the 4X4 brigade. Needless to say, all drivers are alarmed at this last proposal. High mileage drivers like me will be most affected. It may result in prices rising and profits falling!
It is interesting to note that most new vehicles sold throughout Europe now have diesel engines. This is only natural since this fuel produces the lowest carbon emissions at the moment. In the future we will see electric vehicles becoming popular now that battery technology can give such vehicles the power to be exciting.
The Mail on Sunday October 15 published some damning evidence regarding the real use of speed cameras. An undercover reporter posing as a potential buyer for a foreign country had a meeting with a manufacturer of the speed cameras. This was at a posh dinner and alcohol was used to loosen tongues. John Bond who was recently the Chief Superintendent in charge of speed cameras in Warwick was very forthcoming on the financial advantages of speed cameras. He bragged of the fantastic sums made by these devices and the dubious techniques employed to maximise the returns. The article was a sad account of how motorists are being conned out of money in the name of 'road safety'
More depressing news - you may have found traffic slowing slower in Bracknell. This is because traffic lights have recently been re-set to detain traffic even when the road is empty. Next time when you are waiting near the front of the queue at lights you will see what I mean. There is probably a political reason for this - perhaps the local council are trying to get the government to build a ring road round the town and jams are being generated to exacerbate the current traffic problems. Travel certainly will become worse when the fields north of Great Hollands become a huge housing estate.
It was sad to see Michael Schumakers' car break down on the Japanese Formula 1 race last night. It has undoubtedly ruined his chances of retiring as the Worlds top driver. It was gratifying to see the loyalty of the Ferrari team towards such a superb driver
I have always admired Richard Hammonds' bravery when he tried to escape from a Volvo which had been dropped into a deep pool. His recent dramatic crash in a jet powered car is typical of the limits the man will go to - and sometimes exceed. I wish him a speedy recovery.
It seems that Ken Livingstone has arranged for the traffic lights in the London area to deliberately cause traffic jams. The National news pronounce that this is so Ken can claim success for reducing traffic delays when new road pricing is implemented in the near future. The lights will be re-timed to permit the free flow of traffic at the same time, so making the measures appear successful.
I was travelling to Guildford last week and noticed a mobile advertising hoarding. The type shaped like a very steeply pitched roof with a space inside. There appeared to be two small windows in it. As I passed I noticed a number of police vehicles behind it together with their crew. If that was a speed trap or number plate recognition device, it was very elaborate. It certainly was not an undercover surveillance mission. Very strange
A decade ago I predicted that within ten years there will be an outright win for diesel cars in the Le Mans 24 Hours. I was spot on. I also predicted that when this happens, the perceived advantage of petrol cars (i.e. greater speed) would disappear and diesel cars will become the normal personal transport, until, of course, fuel cell electric vehicles reach the market.
The Audi turbo diesels unexpectedly beat the petrol cars on their own territory. They easily out accelerated the other cars. The best petrol cars were off the pace by several seconds a lap.
Naturally the petrol proponents are shouting foul. It's not fair that diesel cars could make more laps before refuelling they say. Diesels should have smaller tanks so that the petrol cars could stand a chance in distance races.
The best production diesel road cars develop about 200bhp on four cylinders. The Le Mans winner had 12 cylinders and developed 650bhp. They ran on high grade diesel and had large turbochargers for extra power at high speed. That alone could easily account for the extra 10% power over road cars. Methinks that there will be considerable spin-off which will improve diesel road vehicles.
Beside Ascot race course last week was an electronic police sign which showed your speed. We were in a traffic jam at the time moving at walking pace. As we approached the sign it flashed that we were doing 31 mph. Obviously on-board equipment on the car had jammed the radar signal from the sign and made it flash a silly number. I wonder how many motorists have been unfairly prosecuted for speeding. It is the easy option to pay the fine and accepted the points on the license rather than question authority.
The authorities are criticised when they get things wrong, and rarely get a pat on the back when they display outstanding efficiency. May I redress the balance a little by congratulating the team who promptly removed a large graffito which had been sprayed on the wall outside the office. I had spent some time last year with a wire brush and paint stripper attempting to remove the writing, but with no success. This month I emailed the Council and complained about the mess. Within days the wall was pristine. Such service deserves recognition. Well done to all concerned!
Sometimes good things get done by stealth. A decade ago lane markings on roundabouts in Bracknell were a confusing mess. They have gradually been improved and are mostly quite logical. The authorities have an unenviable task. When things go wrong it is very obvious. Improvements, on the other hand are easy to miss.
Engines breathe better thanks to multi-valve technology and variable valve timing. This reduces pumping losses, enables fuel to burn more efficiently and thereby reduces pollution. At speed, internal mechanical frictional losses are relatively low compared with air drag. The upside of this is that modern streamlined cars travel at motorway speed with outstanding efficiency. Unfortunately it has become fashionable for roads to be designed to reduce traffic speed. This results in cars being driven in low gear and this increases mechanical frictional losses. The result? a considerable increase in carbon dioxide emissions.
Clearly this is not the way to comply with the Kyoto agreement. Roads will have to be redesigned to improve the efficiency of traffic using them. Perhaps a reversion to the transport philosophy used by the Romans 2,000 years ago?
An experiment to enroll a small number of drivers to keep rigidly to the speed limit had to be abandoned recently. As you know, one slower driver can impose his style of driving on a large number of following drivers and thereby enforce the speed limit upon them. The agravation caused by this experiment resulted in accidents as angry drivers tried to get past the do-gooders.
I understand that the policeman who was exploring the capabilities of his patrol vehicle may well be prosecuted for his actions. Has he not been put through enough anguish? - I cannot imagine that he would be repeating the offence. Incidentally, Vauxhall have brought out a faster version of the Vectra which would do 160mph without the aid of a following wind and a vivid imagination - but then police drivers will not be capable of handling the vehicle at speed since they would not have had sufficient experience to drive fast.
Less than four pence a year I pay for my tax disk goes on road improvements. I am forced to waste considerably more because I am stuck in traffic jams on roads which need to be improved. If I were to drive along the motorway at 80mph I would use about half the fuel that I would use if I were stuck in crowded urban roads.
Insurance companies use to load the premium of drivers if they had points for speeding. Many companies have given up this practice and now consider speeding to be a 'trivial' offence. So many drivers have points now.
A recent study revealed that drivers were most likely to get endorsements on their license because they accidentally exceeded the speed limit.
Some drivers get caught out where, in the name of safety, road speed limits have been reduced, signage is often poorly placed and speed cameras have been placed to catch the unwary.
Drivers should pay for the carbon dioxide emissions they produce. World governments MUST be brave enough to increase the tax on fuel. The representatives of the 157 countries at the Kyoto agreement would be signatories to a meaningless document if this were not to happen. The revenue should be invested in our transport infrastructure so that we can pursue our travels without the levy of devious taxes masquerading in the name of 'safety measures'.
I was reading an article in 'New Scientist' 3 December 2005, a report on global warming. Figures show the rate of global warming is accelerating. Whether the slowing of the Gulf Stream is a manifestation of the Guyer principle as the Earth attempts to counter Human activities which increase global warming or whether it is an indication that the Earth is about to flip into terminal climatical change is a debateable matter.
Sunday, 11 December 2005 - I was woken up at a little after six this morning. What I thought was a door slamming was in fact an explosion thirty miles away at Hemel Hempstead. An awesome event! I understand that there were fatalities. I offer my deepest sympathy for those affected by the explosion.
We live in troubled times.
A survey released this month has shown that authorities which spent money on road improvements rather than extra speed cameras found that the roads became safer. I understand that new government thinking has contemplated this finding. Spending on new cameras will level out and the funds will, instead, be diverted into making the roads safer.
Victory for common sense!
Has the American government a conspiracy theory that the rest if the world is making up the story of ‘Global Warming’ in order to harm the USA economy? The Russians were hoping to launch a satellite last week which would have probably confirmed the existence of galloping global warming. It was lost.
The mishap to the satellite could make a splendid story involving sabotage at the highest level – fiction, of course!
Ever wondered why there is always a jam in rush hour which extends between the roundabouts of Bracknell's Southern Industrial Area and Twin Bridges?
The chevron signs on the former are so big that traffic cannot see when aproaching vehicles turning into the industrial estate are coming. Drivers need to pause before gathering the courage to enter the roundabout. An arangement which is neither safe nor efficient.
The other day I checked the distance it would take to stop (on an empty road) at 70 mph. When travelling at this speed, I waited for a mark on the road to come up and then I braked hard. The car came to a rest with no drama. I noted the position and parked up to pace out the length. I had stopped within half the distance given in the Highway Code.
The Highway Code is way out of date. Since the braking distances were first published over half a century ago, better wider tubeless radial tyres covered with stickier rubber are now fitted to vehicles and all round disk brakes are now commonly found on cars. Parts are optimised using computers and the invention of transistors has led to antilock braking.
Clients dutifully learn the braking distances for the theory test. They are largely irrelevant to anything other than a veteran car!
I recently noticed the removal of signs on the A325 dual carriageway through Farnborough which proclaimed that there were 18 casualties along that road in one year and that we should comply with the 30 mph speed limit. The signs were fibs and this was unearthed by the Aldershot News. Just one accident along that stretch was speed related according to unpublished Government figures. This happened when an inexperienced motorcyclist on a new machine struck a kerb and was thrown off his motorcycle.
If we are fed with false propaganda in order to justify the placing of speed cameras, motorists will be antagonised. Genuine safety initiatives will not be respected.
Thursday 7 July - a sad day for civilisation. May we offer our condolences to the families and friends of those killed in those selfish acts. The London bombings united the British nation of all religious persuasions and we hope that this leads to the nasty gang responsible for the carnage to be brought to justice.
News this month revealed that a number of cameras in Birmingham were removed in the interests of road safety. Presence of these cameras were found to have increased the accident rate. (note the link may take a while).
A publication this month from the University of Liverpool (where I gained my Science degrees) revealed that speed cameras had no appreciable effect on road accidents.
Headline in the Daily Express Wednesday April 20, 2005 reminded me of an occasion when I was waiting outside a West London station one autumn night. Light traffic was flowing along the dual carriageway outside the station; a mist had formed in the cool air a few metres above the ground. As I waited I became aware of strange lights flashing around me. It seemed that I was in an electric storm - this was puzzling since the air was motionless. Were aliens attacking Hounslow? Eventually it dawned upon me. Drivers could not see the speed cameras and the clear roads that time of night allowed traffic to move at a slightly faster speed. The result - hundreds of motorists receiving points on their licenses. This is the headline that reminded me of this incident. "The £750,000 SPEED TRAP. That's how much was taken in 2 months. Can this robbery ever be justified?"
A Christmas present given to me in my youth was a set of encyclopaedias. I read about Piltdown man http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/a_piltdown.html the missing link and an article on the formation of the canals on Mars which included a map naming the canals. http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/tharsis/canals.html Of course those perceived gems of wisdom were later found to be fraudulent but they illustrate that myths perpetuate and too few of us are willing to question the great and the good. I stumbled upon a modern example yesterday when I typed in "Traffic calming and environmental effects" into my favourite internet search engine. The first three pages of search results were mainly postings from authorities claiming how their measures cut pollution. Let us dwell on this a moment.
All piston engines generate a high pressure in their cylinders when producing power. When the engine is being used to destroy energy, say, when a car is slowing for a traffic calming measure then a partial vacuum is produced within itself. Since vehicles use oil for lubrication and nature abhors a vacuum, the oil obliges nature by squeezing its way past piston rings, valve and bearing seals and gets into the cylinder and exhaust pipe. There it lurks until the driver accelerates once more. Lubricating oil is not primarily designed to burn cleanly and eventually disappears in a puff of blue smoke. Usually this is diluted by exhaust gases and we never notice it. Some oil gets trapped in the exhaust system where it puffs out the next time the engine roars in anger. We cannot stop it - it will get out somehow. You need not be a rocket scientist to realise that slowing vehicles are not good for air quality.
Worse still is the carbon dioxide generated as vehicles accelerate out of the traffic calming devices. You can measure this if you have a car fitted with a digital fuel consumption meter. The read-out is usually on a dashboard display and normally shows the time. 'Anorak' types know how to set this to display average speed and fuel consumption. I used my device to illustrate the argument that needless slowing will cause pollution.
When driving at a steady 60 mph in 6th gear along an empty road I recorded 60 mpg. I then simulated a series of road humps by repeatedly slowing to 10 mph and accelerating again. Average speed dropped to 15mph and consumption was a low 20 mpg. I had taken four times longer going along that road and used three times more fuel. Since the carbon atoms in the fuel were not created or destroyed when the fuel was consumed, my carbon emissions at the lower speed had increased THREE HUNDRED PERCENT!
Believe me, animals which travel great distances on little resources do not dawdle. Swifts, for example, do an annual return journey halfway round the World and produce only a few grams of carbon dioxide. They would run out of fuel if they had to keep stopping. They travel quite fast - in fact, if you could excuse the pun, they travel quite swiftly. If cars could be given roads which allowed swift travel then carbon emissions would drop.
This little experiment proves that traffic calming measures ADD to pollution. Authorities claiming otherwise are living on another planet - Mars, perhaps?
More information can be found at http://www.speedlimit.org.uk/hump.html , the anti speed hump page.
Equipment in a Vauxhall Vectra police car recently claimed that it reached nearly 160 mph. The top of the range V6 3.2 litre Elite model would muster in the order of 210 bhp and be good for about 140 mph. Pushing the car that extra 20 mph faster would need at least another 100 bhp I come to one of two conclusions. Either tax payer's money is spent on massive vehicle modifications to police vehicles which would include transmission and brake upgrades to handle the extra power - or perhaps the equipment in the police car over-read by 15%.
Now that some police forces are operating a 'no leeway' policy to maximise returns from speed traps, may we hope that their equipment has been thoroughly calibrated so that the innocent are not penalised.
A motoring magazine devoted a page to blaming the police for operating well publicised speed traps on the M4 recently. It seems that motorists were devoting so much attention to their speedometers that a multiple car pile-up occurred near to the police operations. Most drivers regard tail-gating as the worst driving fault in others yet seem to be completely oblivious that they themselves could be guilty of this.
Thirty years ago there use to be a device by the north bound road leading past Ascot race course. It warned drivers if they were tail-gating and flashed DRIVING TOO CLOSE. After it disappeared from that location I briefly re-discovered it again a few years later near Watford. Has anyone seen it recently? Such devices if modified with cameras and set up around accident black spots on fast roads would surely be useful safety measures.
Why are the local primary schools being closed down yet a large number of houses are about to be erected in the locality? Parents will have to drive their children further to school adding to congestion. The local government discourage road use by installing traffic calming obstructions, phasing some traffic lights to go red as vehicles approach them and in some places, putting yellow lines down to make vehicles park on both sides of the road so that park vehicles act as traffic obstructions. The traffic delays increases the number of vehicles on the road and adds to pollution. Holding up traffic hobbles public transport!
Yet another traffic obstruction has appeared in Great Hollands - a traffic 'calming' chicane. This, I understand is to prevent the recent near misses when vehicles emerging from a side street cannot be seen because of an overgrown Pyrocanthus bush. Would cutting back the bush be cheaper and more effective? I note the recent skid marks that have appeared on both sides of the obstruction!
So, following the same logic, if you put a rubber duck beside the site of a recent accident and there was not another accident there for a while, one could claim that the rubber duck was responsible for the improved safety!
It was reported by the BBC Tuesday, 15 June, 2004, 16:13 GMT that UK Cameras 'save 100 lives a year' .These are government figures so we know that they can be trusted. These lives have been saved by erecting 5,000 fixed speed camera sites at a cost of £54M (Source – Alistair Darling)
Here in the Thames Valley the number of injuries near cameras actually rose by 14% (BBC Tuesday, 11 February, 2003, 18:18 GMT) and over the last year (2003), seventy-seven more people died on Britain's roads. (Auto ExpressThursday 24th June 2004)
In the pre-camera decade, from 1984 to 1993, road deaths fell by 32 per cent (from 5599 to 3814). In the speed camera decade from 1994 to 2003 we have seen road deaths fall by just 3.8 per cent (from 3,650 to 3,508). (Reported in Auto ExpressThursday 24th June 2004 on a comment by Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign) The government claims that ‘speed cameras’ are responsible for improvements in accident statistics. What about the improvements to vehicle and tyre design and of course the changes to the driving test which has made the role of the driving instructor so much more demanding?
I sympathise with camera advocates who wish to take the moral high ground. As a parent and driving instructor I too wish to see a reduction from the 3.439 deaths which occurred last year but simply putting cameras up will not work. The statistics prove it.
Yes, saving 100 lives is admirable, especially since cameras raise £68M for the treasury, but ten times more people die of passive smoking in this country and 114,000 smokers die as a result of their habit. (That is 1,140 times more than lives saved by cameras) The treasury gains enormously from tobacco sales although smoking kills around five times more people in the UK than road traffic accidents. (Source, ASH).
As a driver with several million miles experience (I used to be a rep and HGV driver) I know that most accidents happen at badly designed junctions and bends. These are recognized ‘black spots’ and remain so. They need to be redesigned. On these improvements the government is seemingly reluctant to spend the money it raises from fuel tax, vehicle excise duty, camera receipts (£68M), tax on vehicle insurance plus the VAT from vehicle purchases, parts and repairs, business use tax and so on all of which motorists were led to believe was supposed to be put back into roads.
The quality of UK roads these days must surely be at their worst for years if not decades. Even if just some of the annual cost of running the cameras (£54M) was instead spent on improving road surfaces and junctions then the visible improvement would provide positive feedback to motorists that things were being done. Roads would be safer and I believe the number of lives saved as a result of such improvements would be greater.
Simply taxing and fining the motorist with no changes to the road infrastructure cannot affect accident trends - they will surely never be reduced that way.
A sign on the back of a council vehicle read "An environmentaly friendly vehicle". We must do more than this to prevent global warming. No form of transport is environmentally friendly and sticking such posters on the back of vehicles is fibbing. Our government must realise that the policy of reducing car use by making road travel inefficient does not work. Roads should be improved and drivers taxed through increased fuel costs to pay for these improvements.
Anyone doubting that global warming is an urgent problem should click here - http://www.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/
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