I’ve just driven down the M6 in heavy rain and surface spray and it is amazing how many people consider side-lights to be sufficient to be seen. What’s totally unbelievable, however, is how many people have no lights on whatsoever, making them virtually invisible!
Well I’ve just renewed my tax disc using DVLA’s new online service, and I can honestly say that it could not have been faster if I had been standing at the post office counter. Very impressive. Just waiting to see if the Post Office can screw it up by not delivering it in time.
UPDATE: Tax disc arrived two days later.
Why is that there are roundabouts screaming out for traffic lights, such as the Kearsley Roundabout in Bolton which clogs up every morning and evening, but others which have already got traffic lights but never have them switched on during peak hours (M61 J6)?
I drove past the new Spirit of Sport sculpture next to the Reebok Stadium this morning.
For something that’s supposed to be 21ft higher than the Angel of the North, it doesn’t look very tall, although the Angel of the North is raised up on a hill, rather than stuck in the middle of a roundabout.
Add to that the fact that this has cost over 300,000 pounds, not including the numerous times Bolton Council have dug up the surrounding road, changing the dual carriageway to three lanes and now back to two, causing traffic chaos and delays in the process. This, at a time when the council are whinging that they are 400,000 pounds short on the roads budget. No doubt, someone will point out that the money for the sculpture has come from some different pot, but it doesn’t solve the fact that money has been wasted on the surrounding roads for this.
As John Keats once wrote, it is the Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness.
Yes, autumn is upon us, and today we had the first real spell of fog.
On the one hand you have the beauty of looking down from higher ground at the sun shining across the fog blanketing the lower lying ground, but on the other you have the idiots who don’t know how to drive in the fog.
I cannot believe the number of people driving with no lights at all. Are these people stupid?
At the other end of the scale you have the people who, at the slightest sign of mist, switch their rear fog lights on and dazzle all who follow, blotting out any hope of seeing their brake lights. Strangely, these people also tend to keep driving at 70-80mph on the motorway, presumably believing that by flicking that little switch they are protected, but resulting in a motorway pileup.
No doubt, on the drive home this evening, the fog will be gone, but these same drivers will still have their fog lights on from this morning.
Well, it’s September and the biggest clue that the summer is over, is that my journey to work now takes 33% longer. Yes, the schools have gone back.
I still don’t understand how the school run affects traffic at 7 o’clock in the morning when school starts at 9.
What also doesn’t make sense is that the traffic on the motorway is so much heavier. I could understand increased traffic on local roads, especially around schools, but why does the school traffic increase the motorway traffic?
What happened to walking or cycling to school, or even getting a bus?
I’m amazed at the number of road signs which are either:
This seems to have got worse since local councils took on the responsibility for this.
If you know of any, please send me details (include a picture if possible) and I will add them here.
Why do people slow down to 40mph to pass a speed camera in a 50mph limit?
Don’t they trust their speedometers? Do they think they’ll get done for 48mph? or maybe they simply have no idea what the limit is.
While waiting in the Car Park of B&Q Warehouse in Bolton yesterday, I saw something that is becoming increasingly common.
An inconsiderate driver in a black customised Vauxhall Astra (speaks for itself really) parked diagonally across one of the disabled spaces. Not surprisingly, when he gets out, neither he nor any of his passengers showed any signs of a disability – well not physical anyway.
Today, the Variable Message Signs (VMS) at M62 J8 were showing:
“A1(M) J48, Accident”
Considering that this is 69 miles away (as the crow flies) this has got to be applauded, except that they were unable to warn that the sliproads from the M602 to M60 were closed on Friday night, causing a 14 mile diversion, which could have been avoided by coming off the M602 at the junction before.
