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Last week, I came up the A52 in Nottingham towards the Nottingham Knight roundabout (from the North). I was taking the right turn on to the A60 towards Ruddington. It’s national speed limit on this roundabout.

I pulled on to the roundabout and – as I got halfway across – a blue Citroen Saxo (reg. no. MV52 VBX ) decided it was going to go from the A60 coming from Wilford Hill. It was filled to bursting with schoolkids – two boys and two girls, I think.

I had to slow down rapidly to avoid a collision.

On its own this wouldn’t have been the end of the world – as far as people demonstrating they should have been put down at birth goes. You get a lot of it.

But what made it all the more irritating was the fact that the whole car full of retards thought it was immensely amusing and kept looking back to laugh. I really do think it was the highlight of their week. They turned right into Ruddington, along Kirk Lane, so I assume that’s where they live.

You can’t help wonder what their parents would make of all this. You hope that they wouldn’t be impressed and would ground the little cretins – the driver, at least, seeing how he put the lives of his three occupants and me at serious risk; but also the passengers, for demonstrating their complete lack of maturity in situations which threaten other peoples lives.

This is what you’d hope. The frightening thing is that these prats probably got the attitude FROM their parents.

I’ve been going through a bit of a lean patch, recently.

All through the spring and summer I was getting a pass rate of around 70-80% (out of something like 25 tests). Since October this has completely flipped on its head, and I’ve only had two passes out of ten!

Admittedly, several of the fails were the same people, but it still hurts – especially when they put in a driving display worthy of a fairground sideshow attraction. Then you start wondering if the examiner thinks you are submitting substandard candidates, even though you know they can drive.

All the same, congratulations to AS – who passed last week with 4 driver faults. And also congratulations to JB, with 8 driver faults yesterday.

That pass rate is bugging me, though. I know that the DSA doesn’t have quotas, and that if someone can drive then they will pass the test no matter what day of the week it is. But it seems that pass rates go in these odd cycles – it always goes down in winter (irrespective of the weather).

A few weeks ago I wrote about the utter destruction that had been wrought on a country lane I frequently travel along. Nottinghamshire County Council had carried out some ‘maintenance’ – the first I have seen this year, and long overdue from a safety perspective. I pointed out, however, that this work went way beyond ‘maintenance’ and easily bordered on wanton vandalism.

I noticed I was getting a fair number of hits from the Council’s internal website – large organisations often have news harvesters looking for mention of their name, and then you get traffic once it is flagged.

Now, I also wrote to the Council to complain about what had happened. I got a polite response almost immediately, telling me it would be referred to the correct department for them to look into and to respond to in full. I went into some detail – providing photographs – and pointed out:

When [what I have said] taken into account **“ and allowing for ongoing concerns over disappearing hedgerows in the UK (not to mention the illegality of tearing them up) **“ you would expect any maintenance to be done with the utmost care.

Well, I have a reply from the Communities Department . This one doesn’t come across quite as politely as the initial response, and I get the distinct impression that they were not happy with my complaints. If anything, the detailed response is actually shorter than the one telling me it would be looked into!

It turns out that there is a considerable difference between a ‘hedgerow’ and things which are not designated as hedgerows (even though they look the same to me and also, no doubt, to the wildlife that chooses to live in them). At least as far as the Council is concerned. The Communities Department refers to ‘non-hedgerows’ with the euphemism self setting vegetation .

In response to my comments about the use of one of those tractor-mounted devices, it informs me that:

…it is not uncommon for a tractor to be used when cutting overgrown vegetation outside of Bird Nesting season.

Yes, I am aware of that. My point is how poorly operated these devices are. However, the important detail here is that the complex laws concerning hedgerows – so complex, indeed, that I suspect councils can twist the meaning as it suits them – means they can be mangled almost at will when the birds aren’t nesting (see  Naturenet for more information on hedgerow laws). They go on:

I can assure you that no hedgerow or planted trees were destroyed during this routine maintenance, only self setting vegetation.

Hold on! This is a play on words. For a start, the ‘routine’ maintenance has pulled out or smashed down trees which must have been at least 5-10 years old and virtually eliminated the Dog Rose and Hawthorn amongst them. Most of the trees and bushes here, I can assure you, were NOT overhanging the road – and even if they were, there is a world of difference between cutting branches back and tearing whole trees out of the ground. Remember one of the photos?

Does this look like ‘routine’ maintenance? Where were they these last 10 years while the trees were just shoots?

It also doesn’t address what I told them about those damned tractors. They can be fitted with flails to deal with anything from cutting the bobbles off an Angora sweater to bringing down a helicopter. This one was clearly fitted with the latter: it was set to Maximum Death Kill Mode, either deliberately or because they don’t have the other parts available to set it up in any other way. They ALWAYS have the damned things set to this level of destruction.

And let’s not forget the fact that I have seen a grass snake, stoats, owls, and so on in the last 6 months slithering, running, or flying into that self setting vegetation the Council thinks so little of. I wonder what those animals will do now?

But worst of all is the frightening realisation that any tree, plant, or shrub – literally ANY of them – is liable to be chopped down by Nottinghamshire County Council if it isn’t officially a Card-carrying Member Of The United Alliance Of Hedgerows! And membership is, of course, determined ONLY by Nottinghamshire County Council!

Actually, this would explain a hell of a lot of the apparent ineptitude on the Council’s part over the years. Not one patch of land is safe from being ‘managed’ and having the underbrush cleared to make way for footpaths and fly-tippers. Often this is a precursor to a ‘Land For Sale’ sign going up at some point. So a patch of untouched land which is a haven for all kinds of wildlife (much of it not catalogued) is suddenly ‘maintained’, and becomes a dogs’ toilet for a while before being turned into an embryo slum estate.

But anyway, there you have it. On any country lane, only official hedgerows are protected in any way. Anything else – 50-year old trees, orchids, willows, whatever – are designated self setting vegetation  can be torn down (badly) by the Council, at will. Unless they can prove they were ‘planted’!

Except… this is simply not true. It is Nottinghamshire County Council making things up! If you take a look at that Naturenet link to hedgerows and the law, it says:

A hedgerow is ‘a row of bushes forming a hedge, with the trees growing in it’. Where a former hedgerow has grown up to form trees, it is not covered by the regulations. The exact difference between a line of trees and a hedgerow is not defined in law.

So, nothing about being ‘planted’. And what constitutes a hedgerow covered by regulations?

Hedgerows on or adjacent to the following… Land used for agriculture [amongst others]…

Which is exactly what THIS former row of bushes and trees is bordering and acting as a hedge to.

You couldn’t make this up, sometimes. The Council is more than happy to do that, though!

Saw this story in the Daily Telegraph today. Apparently, two of the directors have finalised a £10m buyout from Arques – further details, such as which cars will be used aren’t available yet, though I would expect any recent deals would have to be honoured. The Arque deal was only completed in February, so this comes less than a year later:

The report says:

Mr Shafi and Mr Kesting intend to expand the Bristol-based business… by hiring 3,000 new instructors within two years, despite the recession causing a shortage of candidates for the job.

I’m sure that this will get a few peoples backs up.

The report finishes:

The pair hope to reopen high street centres closed under the previous ownership to raise the company’s public profile and achieve sustained capital growth by 2011.

I had a pupil on test this morning, and she failed. She’s a good driver, but gets nervous on test (she is dyslexic and has to try very hard to carry out the manoeuvres correctly). She’s a trainee nurse and, on the bursary she has to live on, cannot afford to keep taking lessons or paying for tests. She bought a car, but she’s going to have to sell it because she can’t afford to keep it sitting on the road if she can’t drive it. Her result was actually quite good – she just made a simple mistake.

Like I say, she’s a good driver – easily safe enough to drive on her own, but obviously you have to perform better than that in order to pass the test.

I was driving her home and she was struggling to keep the tears in check. We came to a mini-roundabout and I waited to let a lorry and a couple of cars coming the opposite way turn right. Behind them was a grey 4×4 being driven by a woman (reg no. AJ57 AHC ). You know the type: she could barely see above the steering wheel, but having a big, kick-ass 4×4 that you can’t handle properly is an essential status symbol for a lot of very insecure people (and women in particular, it must be said).

She wasn’t indicating, but she WAS turning right! She started to turn, THEN indicated, and it became clear she was also on the phone judging by the way her mouth was going and the way her head was cocked to hold the phone between her ear and shoulder!

My pupil asked the question: “why do THEY get licences when they do things like that?”

And that is the question to which there really is no satisfactory answer.

There was an article in the Daily Mail a couple of days ago which trumpets:

The light bulb that lasts 25 years: It’s environmentally friendly and as bright as the old ones…

It could be the breakthrough that finally has consumers warming to the energy-saving light bulb…

Manufacturers claim the Pharox is the first low-energy bulb to give off the same light quality and brightness as a conventional 60-watt traditional bulb…

The bulb’s launch comes ahead of a European ban on conventional 60-watt incandescent bulbs, due to be introduced in 2011…

Let me just remind everyone of an article I posted in January – Daily Mail And Incandescence Over Light Bulbs. In it, I explain how the future of the light bulb lies with LEDs, and I mentioned the Pharox bulb in there. Contrary to what the Mail is reporting – inaccurately, as usual – the Pharox is not new – it has been around since 2007. It is simply being launched officially in the UK.

Ironically, I posted this at the time as a direct result of the Daily Mail offering free incandescent bulbs to its elderly Tory  readership – all fuelled by its hatred of anything to do with the EU, or which has its roots in any time period after the mid-20th century. I notice that the latest article does not mention this ill-conceived and totally stupid stunt.The word ‘hypocrites’ springs to mind.

Mind you, you wouldn’t believe the number of hits I got from people searching for “daily mail free lightbulb offer”. Anything for free, eh?

Check out some of the idiotic reader comments, as well (at the bottom of the latest Mail story).

The Pharox is available from Lemnis Lighting and Ryness (more info on REUK (via their website)) and you can get different versions (4/40W and 6/60W equivalents), plus bayonet or screw fittings. More suppliers will undoubtedly follow.

When I got home this afternoon, I went to the bank to deposit some money.

My bank – The Halifax – has a FastTrak machine, where you just put your card in, then it takes your money and cheques, counts them, and makes the deposit. It isn’t quite as fast as the name suggests (you have to confirm the amount for each cheque), and it IS temperamental concerning damaged notes and cheques, but it does the job. It’s main benefit is that most people stay away from it, so when there is a queue of 20 people waiting for the one cashier on duty, I can just stroll in, do the business, and stroll out.

Incidentally, I need to have a word with some of my pupils and make sure they stop tearing big chunks off their cheques when they tear them out of the book, and to try and use handwriting that isn’t quite so… copperplate in appearance. The machine doesn’t like that!

It was a torn cheque that forced me to go and stand in the queue to deposit it person-to-person. There were TWO (shock!) cashiers on duty, and one person in the queue, who’d just walked in (dammit). Cashier No. 1 became available, then cashier No. 2 immediately after. The guy in front walked to No. 1, who now declared he was no longer available, so I had to step back for him to go to No. 2.

And guess what?

Well, no matter how hard I try, I cannot understand why I, personally, would ever want to go into a bank and instigate business with one of the cashiers unless it involved either putting money IN or taking money OUT of my account. I just can’t.

But it seems that everyone else on the planet engages in anything BUT depositing or withdrawing money. This explains why there is always a mile-long queue (especially at the Halifax). This guy was no exception, and whatever he was doing it took a bloody long time – longer even than the length of time it takes a human cashier to credit a single cheque to your account in the Halifax (and that’s LONG): another cashier saw the queue building up again and came on duty, and the guy was still at whatever it was when I went out!

I’ve noticed quite a few hits from people who are obviously searching for answers to specific questions – either to do with driving instruction or driving lessons, or with things I have written about on this blog.

One of the most common is “welding rod keeps getting stuck ” – from people who have found the links to my posts detailing the construction of my kneeling chair. Well, I’d like to think I have edited the relevant posts to provide the answers on that, but I have now added a Contact Form (see the button at the top right). If anyone wants any specific information – and assuming I can answer them – please use the form to send me an email.

On the driving front, I see search terms where people are obviously looking for the answer to a specific question. A recent one has been “dsa approach to roundabouts ” and “adi roundabout questions “. Previously, I’ve seen “adi parallel park “, “adi turn in road “, and “adi reversing “, to name just a few. I assume that these are PDIs looking for help.

If I can be of assistance I’d be more than happy to answer any direct questions – and you won’t have to worry about me revealing your identity. Again, please use the Contact Form (see the button top right). And don’t worry if you are not English-speaking… I can use one of the Google translation tools, just as many of you use them to translate pages from this site.

I saw this story in the Daily Mail today.

Girls with their eyes on the rearview mirror and one hand clutching the mascara or lipstick are to blame for nearly half a million accidents a year, it was revealed yesterday.

I’ve seen quite a few doing this, particularly first thing in the morning. Women often don’t seem to be able to accept that the car isn’t an extension of their homes, and behave behind the wheel as they would in their kitchens or bathrooms. Selfishly.

When I’m with pupils, people-watching can be fun. When a female driver stops at lights, the first thing she often does – even before putting the handbrake on – is lean over and toussle her hair! Or that thing women do, where they appear to be rubbing in face cream with their middle fingers just below their eyes. Or turn completely around to do or say something to the baby in the back seat (that one scares me: they often have a kid in back, and yet appear to be oblivious to the world outside). Or lean over and duck below seat level to do something in the glovebox or on the floor – and miss the lights changing.

One thing you see a lot of: badly adjusted mirrors! If you can’t see the side of their heads or their eyes in that rearview mirror, then they can’ see you. And it’s because they have it adjusted so they can see themselves!

Back in June, I published a post about people who send texts whilst driving.

I often say to pupils when we’re out on lessons (and if it’s safe to do so) and we’re sitting at traffic lights “just have a look at this guy on the right. Look at his eyes. He’s sending a text.” And they are. You should see how they react when they see us looking at them.

Today, I got this link via an email from PCMag – a site I subscribe to. Bear in mind that it is an American site, but there is no way the data aren’t valid for us in the UK.

Distracted drivers **“ including those sending and reading text messages from behind the wheel **“ caused the deaths of nearly 6,000 people in 2008, according to Wednesday data from the Department of Transportation.

In addition to the almost 6,000 people who died last year, more than half a million people were injured by distracted drivers, according to Wednesday findings from DOT and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Driver distraction was involved in 16 percent of all fatal crashes last year.

Unlike the UK, America doesn’t appear to have a nationwide legislation regarding use of mobile phones. However, since it seems that most people in the UK flaunt the rule anyway, it is likely that they contribute to a significant number of accidents over here.

EDIT 4/10/2009: One of my pupils sent me the link to a recent BBC story . It contains this video on YouTube, created to show the dangers of texting when driving – it’s the full HD version from YouTube I’ve linked to, and it is very graphic:

I have to be honest, but I find it incredible that people who are as stupid as this are even allowed to sit a driving test, let alone go out unsupervised. But it is a growing problem – and as much as I applaud Gwent Police for doing it, it is going to take a little more than a video on YouTube to turn braindead idiots into even passably responsible drivers.

If you think I’m being unreasonable, look at some of the usual “learned” responses to the video on the YouTube page here .

I was on a lesson this morning and I said to my pupil as we were stopped at lights:

Look at the guy driving the car behind. What do you think he is doing?

His eyes were up and down, up and down. As we moved off, he overtook and I warned my pupil he would probably cut in. He did. He then weaved in and out across two lanes and turned left without indicating – stopping on green lights to let someone turn in front of him for some reason (they were stationary in the middle of the road). He disappeared somewhat faster than us after that. Then – about half a mile further on – we came to a roundabout. A car cut out across three lanes of traffic right in front of us, and guess who it was? My pupil said:

Look! It’s him again!

He then wandered in and out across two lanes of a dual carriageway and disappeared at speed again.