h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

30MPH ONLY[doing 35mph]

True, Mr. X, very true.
In future I shall pay much more attention to my speedometer and less to the road.

Good! As it should be.

It does seem a little harsh, Rod, I know I get annoyed by bad driving in others every day!

My constant frustration is with the Westlink in Belfast. It has a speed limit of 50 mph (strictly, its a variable speed limit, so if the traffic gets very congested they can reduce it to 30).

It's not a motorway, and rather unusually, there's a big junction at the end requiring me to leave from the right. So I'll often position myself in good time in the right hand lane, and sit at 50, traffic permitting. I could guarantee there will be someone who drives right up to my bumper, flashes indignantly, and eventually undertakes and gives me the look of death.

Can anyone suggest a hand signal or sequence of flashing indicators that communicates the message "I'm doing the maximum speed limit you !"?

Ignore
eventually the police or Karma will catch them out.

>>Can anyone suggest a hand signal or sequence of flashing indicators that communicates the message "I'm doing the maximum speed limit you bleep

I share your feelings on this one. I'm sure people wouldn't do this if they thought a police officer was watching.

Perhaps we could start fitting cameras to certain vehicles to monitor other road-users and automatically transmit info about speeding road-users to some central authority. These cameras could be fitted compulsorily to those who have been convicted of the more serious traffic offences, so the less violations we have, the less we'd get the monitoring, and both intrusive monitoring and speeding would naturally decline.

Strangely enough quotes, it's being done.

Insurance companies are starting to make some drivers fit cameras. When/if an accident happens the cameras save the last few minutes worth of data which is then used to clear or commit the driver. It's been trailed in the states and is now starting to be offered as an option in the uk. Fit the cameras, get reduced insurance costs.

We could go the whole hog and put seven cameras on like those dustcarts in another thread here somewhere.

But I think it's a good idea to have a sort of "Black Box" in a car - in really serious accidents there may not be anyone left able to tell the true story.

PH - This thread getting to 11000 and no one's handed out any or yet.

A N D ::: If we've already got to 11000 petty hates - is anybody *doing* anything about any of them?

Eh?

Well, I just tweeted to the local lunchtime radio station about the Westlink speeding problem - will let you know if they pick it up!

I often think it would be nice for cars to have little voice activated neon signs on the roof to indicate our feelings to other drivers. I would mostly be using DH & W. But there would also be the extra long one which states: "For god's sake learn to drive to the speed limit* instead of holding up this big queue of cars by doing 35 in a 60".

I'd like those signs.

Deb

*yes, I know it's a limit, not an aim, but when I was learning I was taught to progress at the maximum speed the road conditions and the speed limit allowed, which doesn't mean 35 in a 60 on a dry, clear day in normal traffic.

This is what my car needs:

http://theoatmeal.com/blog/car_needs

I've seen this curiously misunderstood as meaning cars need a luminous device to write messages to the drivers behind. What it means is, we need a simple push-a-button way to apologise to other drivers. Because sometimes, we do something silly, reckless, mistaken, or whatever, we don't always do it because we're douchebags who found their driver's licence in a Kinder egg, and so we would like to tell others that yes, we are aware that what we did was inappropriate, sorry about that, we'll be extra careful next time.

So, PH: the way that your car is equipped to communicate lots of anger and annoyment at fellow drivers, but no "oops". And no "there's something wrong with your lights" either, come to it.

As I got used to lorry drivers being really nice people and Mercedes owners rather psycho zombies.

@beatrice; Has the new westlink made any difference to traffic flow through Belfast? When I was living there it was the next best thing being built, with promises of transforming travel in Belfast...

Or did it make a temporary improvement, then jam up with extra traffic the way most new road systems tend to do... ?

It's great apart from at rush hour!

Between 8 and 9 most mornings it'll be a slow crawl, same between about 4.30 and 6 most evenings. The rest of the time it's brilliant - I can get from Lisburn to the Grand Opera House in 10 mins. Or to the Royal hospital, which I was doing with wearing frequency recently. But it'll be at those times, when the traffic is moving nice and freely, but there's still a 50 mph speed limit (for good reason - there are some tight bends and no hard shoulder, and lets face it, it's what - a mile and half long? ) that prats will try to go much faster, and let it be known to you that they do not approve of your safe and sensible driving!

Good news (i'm so cynical sometimes )

You're quite right of course Toybox, a mea culpa button would be useful. I tend to hold my hand up in a visible way but of course that can be taken as a rather sarcastic "thanks for letting me through" rather than an "oops, sorry, I saw you too late to change my mind".

Deb

Bea, if that was Blast or whatever it is now, they won't, they don't even have the text machine in the studio. Anyone else, tweet away.

It's Wendy Austin on Talkback. She's a great tweeter, and I've been on Talkback a couple of times following tweets.

Phone in fund raising telephone lines.

Calls cost £1. 77.7p goes to (insert name of fund raising effort).

And the other 22.3p? That is a huge chunk.

I think I heard one over the weekend costing 50p of which I think only 32.5p went to the fund raisers. 17.5 - over ONE THIRD went to the telephone operator.

PP

Yup. It's all about making giving to charadeee 'fun' and inclusive
If you *really* want to give to charity without needing cajoling via 'fun runs', phone-ins and other such wasteful, populist nonsense, then just send a cheque direct to the head-office of your chosen charity.

But where's the fun in that (since when did helping others have to be fun anyway...?)