:: Morgan ::

:: Thursday, November 21, 2002 ::

Apologies for not getting around to my second story. Apparently there are about 500 deaths due to roadworks in the UK each year. So why don't we have cameras to catch these bastards who are creating these roadworks. In percentage terms roadworks, and the people who create them, must be killing more people than speeders. ..and if it saves one life! So no more roadworks!!

More seriously. To the lady I almost met on on the link road between the Egham roundabout and the Junction 13 roundabout "Next time you try to change lanes look first and if you are going to apologise for being a dangerous lunatic then move back into your own lane first!"
Modern myths: Motorcycles can appear from nowhere - they CAN'T they were always there you just didn't look!
Modern mysts2: Motorcycles are not permitted to filter - they are and it's perfectly legal. They just have to look to make sure some gormless twat isn't ging to pull out with out bothering to either look or indicate. Next time you feel like pulling out without looking, or indicating, just imagine a 44 ton artic is coming - now pull out you bastard!

This morning's M25 - a slight shower of rain and the motorway is blocked solid from J9. Two accidents, one on each carriageway. When it rains why not drive slower and leave a little space - but no they still drive nose to tail and haven't a chance when the slightest thing goes wrong.


:: David 8:43 am [+] ::
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Now it's time to get serious. I ride a Honda VFR800 almost everyday and travel to and from work along the wonderful M25. I'm lucky I never have to stop because of traffic and I've only had one accident on the motorway. Some idiot in a car changing lanes without indicating or looking. As a result of my biking and the need to travel in and around the South East I am naturally interested in stories about traffic, accidents, roadworks and other road related issues. I think I can express my views here and hopefully strike a cord with anyone who reads them. Comment if you wish - agree or disagree - don't be abusive, I'll simply delete your remarks. OK so two stories today. Both sparked by stories in today's Daily Mail (UK right wing tabloid)

Story 1: Over the weekend there was a coach crash on the M25 near Slough, in which 5 people were killed, including the driver and his mate. Consider that the Motorways in UK are said to be our safest roads(see http://www.learn2live.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/General/Comment.htm for an interesting perspective on this claim.) and that they are amongst the easiest for speed cameras to be used on to catch speeding motorists, and raise a little extra revenue. The justification for the speed cameras is that they improve road safety and if they save only one life etc. etc. Well it seems to me that if the so-called safety experts are so keen on saving that one life that we ought to be examining our policy with regard to safety barriers on the motorway. In the accident above the coach rolled down the embankment before coming to rest on its side. A year or two back we had a Land Rover driver coming off a motorway and ending up on a railway line and causing a number of deaths. There were calls at that time to bring in more barriers where there was a possibility of vehicles going on to railway lines. I'd like to see things going further. We should look at introducing barriers to prevent the risk of vehicles plunging or rolling down any embankment off a motorway. I've been trying to find some statistics on motorway accidents where vehicles have gone down an embankment after the accident. Unfortunately, no luck so far. I did, however, find this interesting websites with some comments by Cybertrucker. You may want to have a look at his site after reading this http://members.tripod.com/~Cybertrucker/speed.htm, I certainly will. As a motorcyclist I'm very interested in schemes which threaten to take control away from the rider so Mr Cybertrucker has an interesting point and one which, perhaps, should be studied further.

...to be continued. Story 2 will refer to the 500 deaths a year supposedly caused by roadworks
:: David 1:43 pm [+] ::
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Well now that I'm getting the hang of this there is no excuse for not getting on and doing something with it. In a previous job I used to travel extensively and partly for my own amusement and partly to assist with my job I used to take many photos. I'll try to post some of the better ones here. Who knows you may recognise some of the places I've visited.

One of the first photos I'll try to let you see is a school photo from about 1961, I was 11 at the time and had only travelled outside Coventry once. Here we go click on the link Dave aged 12. If you recognise yourself in the picture then get in touch.
:: David 11:21 am [+] ::
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This is the first post to my new blogger site. It will be updated from time to time or even more often. One of the nice things about the Internet is how much fascinating stuff is out there. I just love stuff and I'll try to share some of it with you, my reader(note singular).

Well here is the first update. I've just had a look at the cheatsheet program, link from Blogger home page. What an excellent little tool. I'd like to be able to run that on my server and offer users the chance to save cheatsheets on the server so they are available from anywhere.
:: David 10:07 pm [+] ::
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