Category - General

It would appear that Santander is eager to join the bandwagon (and get some valuable publicity) by doing surveys – sorry, I mean “research” - and reporting the findings as earth-shattering epiphanies.

In this article, it is reported that 1 in 5 drivers has admitted to sending a text message while driving their car. It also reports that nearly all of them believe texting is the most dangerous thing a driver can do.

It then goes on to say that eating or fiddling with the car stereo has caused near misses for many drivers. Humorously, it says that this has occurred for 20% of women and 33% of men – implying that men are worse for being distracted.

Santander’s director of insurance then concludes that concentration is vital when behind the wheel. I hope you’re all taking notes, because this will be on the exam paper!

Interestingly – and seeing as it attempted to genderise (I made that word up again) the problem – I would point out that it didn’t mention smoking, putting on make-up, arseing about with the baby in the back seat, having a dog loose, having planks and other DIY stuff sticking out the window and waving about, and fiddling with your hair as potential distractions (amongst many others).

Everyone – regardless of gender – is capable of distracted driving.

On a lesson this morning with a pupil who is not very confident on the road at the moment, she said that she was worried about her kids in the back when she passed and the radio being distractions. So I said we’d try driving home with the radio on.

She went completely to pieces and we had to turn it off.

The Express reports that Aviva has put struggling motor rescue company, RAC, up for sale.

Top of the list of bidders is private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier, and Rice – they bought car auction firm BCA last year and also hold a stake in Hertz car rentals. Apparently, Carlyle – also a stakeholder in Hertz – is also in the race.

EDIT 24/6/2011: And Carlyle has won after paying £1bn, according to Sky.

The Sun reports that the Highway Code is 80 years old – then goes on to take the pee in typical Sun fashion.

Road signs were a bit different back then, and a lot of consideration was given to road users who might be riding or moving animals, or who might be riding vehicles other than cars.

For example, you are advised that if you’re a drover (someone who moves cattle and sheep around on foot) and have someone with you, you should send him ahead so he can warn traffic.

Of course, back then it was customary to use the horn to let people the other side of a bend that you were coming. This gives The Sun all the opportunity it needs to say that a good PARP was all you needed, instead of MSM.

The juveniles who work for The Sun have no concept of anything that happened more than about 10 years ago and take the rise accordingly, in the mistaken belief that it’s humour. Well, it is to other juveniles.

Throughout the history of driving, the current version of the Highway Code has been vital. Back in the 30s the advice it gave was absolutely current. Some of the advice even back then still has validity today if you’re a half decent driver. A couple of years ago I was driving down a country lane and rounding a bend found the road blocked with sheep. A similar thing happened last year driving between Plumtree and Keyworth, as they were moving sheep from a field on one side of the road to the farm on the other. And more than once that stupid cow in Wysall has got out of its field to chow down on the Hawthorns the other side.

Of course, the kind of people who work for The Sun would probably have difficulty recognising a sheep, let alone dealing with a whole flock of them.

EDIT 18/4/2011: This article in the Express also makes interesting reading.

This one is timely. With the sun, and the first leaves appearing with the Cherry blossom, prattus spandexius is now out of hibernation.

You’ll see him – typically with a full-face beard and/or the physique of Thunderbird 2 – pretending to be fit on country lanes and other places where he can cause maximum inconvenience. On weekends, he’ll be part of a gang – almost invariably with one of the gang members being a dead ringer for Uncle Albert and riding one of those lie-down bikes – deliberately riding two or three abreast to hold traffic back.

So this story in the Guardian is interesting – maybe not for exactly the reasons I’d like to think, but it should give prattus spandexius something to think about next time he tries to act like a rolling road block if it ever actually happens.

In 2008, a cyclist hit a teenager and killed her. He was found guilty of dangerous cycling – he shouted to a group of teens “move, because I’m not stopping”. He didn’t, and he killed the girl. He was fined £2,200. There isn’t a specific law covering dangerous cycling like there is for driving.

It’ll be interesting to see how far this goes.

This is an interesting story from The Bolton News.

A 90 year old driver, Thomas Clark, has been banned from driving after he pulled out of a junction and seriously injured a cyclist.

His defence lawyer argues that he has never been involved in an accident before, and he relies on driving to get around and help a housebound 85 year old friend.

However, the housebound friend lives 55 miles away – and Clark has also pleaded guilty to driving with defective eyesight!

There comes a time in everyone’s life when they can’t do what they used to be able to do.

Driving is one of them.