Diary Of An ADI - A Driving Instructor's Blog

HTC Sensation XE

14/02/2012

I mentioned that I’d upgraded my phone to the HTC Sensation XE – I’d previously had the HTC Desire.

I was toying with the idea of the Sensation XL, which has a huge 4.7 inch screen, but I was put off by the fact that Orange didn’t have it on pay-monthly (and they said there were no plans to), and a few reviews I’d read didn’t rate it as highly as the XE. Also, it didn’t have a card slot, so you couldn’t increase storage.

Then, when I got to thinking about it (after having checked out a few promo videos), the XL is simply too big. The whole point of phones is that they’re discrete, but I reckon the XL wouldn’t fit in my shirt pocket. It’s bordering on being a tablet rather than a phone.

The Sensation XE has a 4.3 inch screen – massively larger than my old Desire, but still small enough to carry around. It has a dual core processor, and is infinitely faster than the Desire. Battery life is better, and Android 2.3 is definitely highly responsive. Even HTC’s Sense interface is smooth and trouble-free (and rumour has it it will upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich – Android 4.0 – at some stage).

But the real reason I have written this article is that I just saw a TV ad for the latest Blackberry (the Bold). It made me laugh when I saw them using the “pinch” technique to manipulate the screen – which is only 2.8 inches!

It’s almost as big as my old Nokia 6600’s display.

Warrington Driving Tests

14/02/2012

DOAADI

ADI, DSA, News

I mentioned this initially in April last year, then again in June. Now, it seems, the trials are ~~due to begin~~.

The article says that the DSA is to “reintroduce” tests to Warrington – the test centre it used to have closed down in 2008. The article also adds that it is on a “temporary basis”. It says they will run from Paddington House Hotel from March. Then it says they will run from the Orford Community Hub from June. It doesn’t mention any of the previous stories which said this was going to happen.

So what it ought to say is that Warrington is being used to trial the idea of running tests from flexible venues, as suggested 12 months ago. The first part of the trial will run from March, and the second from June.

The trial is being run in various places throughout the country – though this damages the political impact of implying that it is only Warrington, and is therefore only mentioned in passing.

According to the article:

This comes after the Department for Transport recently announced changes to the driving theory test that mean pre-published questions are no longer being used.

If anyone can see the relevance of that statement, please send your answers on a postcard to the usual address.

Bid To End Fraudulent Whiplash Claims

14/02/2012

DOAADI

ADI, News

I think I’ve mentioned this problem somewhere previously, but our ineffective prime minister will “today pledge to end” the compensation frenzy that accompanies even near misses, these days.

I’ve fallen foul of such a false claim before. Those most likely to do it come from the dirtiest, scummiest, most desperate reaches of our society.

But they wouldn’t be able to do it without help and encouragement from another dirty and scummy part of our society – and I’m talking about the personal injury lawyers who advertise on TV and radio (and in the media generally). They’re only doing it to line their own pockets, as they apparently get paid £1,200 for even the smallest successful claim. This means that they put in as many claims as they can (you can see why they have those sharks on TV urging people to claim fraudulently), as most judges will award in favour of the claimant. Apparently, around 1,500 such claims are submitted every day – almost in line with the number of daily personal injury adverts on the TV and radio.

Doctors aren’t blameless, either. All you have to do is go and see your GP, say you were in a car crash and that your neck hurts, and that’s it: you’ve got whiplash, and you’re well on your way to getting a few hundred quid off some innocent motorist.

Over 90% of these small claims are completely fraudulent, based on lies, desperation, and incompetence. Desperation and lies from the claimant and his lawyers, incompetence from the doctor who didn’t check the injury claims properly.

As a result, insurance is 20% higher than it was before the claims became common.

According to the article, Britain is the whiplash capital of Europe, and people claim for even the most minor of bumps.

However, I am not sure what they can do. The article states that whiplash is almost impossible to disprove.

Meanwhile, if Cameron wanted to do anything other than lip sync to pre-recorded soundtracks, he would have actually done something over a year ago when he got into No. 10. These claims have done massive harm to the economy – and continue to do so.

It doesn’t need “pledges”. It needs someone to get off their arse and do something. Now. That way, people like the scammers I just saw on ITV3 offering a free iPad if you make a claim can be shut down for good.

Smoking Pot Increases Crash Risk

14/02/2012

DOAADI

ADI, News

The Los Angeles Times appears to be trying to compete for the Statement of the Blindingly Obvious Awards this year.

It reports on a study, which concludes that people who smoke pot within a few hours of driving are nearly twice as likely to have an accident than those who are not high. How big a surprise is that, then?

Mind you, the study – carried out by Dalhousie University, in Canada – has been published in the British Medical Journal.

I wonder how much you get paid for these studies? Because I’m thinking of doing one on why people these days keep stating the bloody obvious as though no one has ever thought of it before.

Another Test Fraudster

14/02/2012

DOAADI

ADI, News

Sarbjit Singh couldn’t speak English – only Punjabi – so he got someone else to sit his Theory Test for him.

Singh had only been in the UK for 12 months, and wanted to drive for his brother’s courier business. To his credit, Singh’s brother detected the fraud and prevented the impostor going ahead with it.

However, when Singh discovered he could take the test in Punjabi he applied again – but was arrested this time.

He was given a 6-month suspended jail sentence, and ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work. He was also “fined” £85 court costs.

Norway: Immigrant Drivers Pose Bigger Road Risk

13/02/2012

DOAADI

ADI, Bad Drivers, News

This article from The Foreigner – an English language Norwegian news site – says that statistics suggest drivers from outside Norway are involved in more accidents than “domestic-born” ones.

This is the first Statement of the Blindingly Obvious I’ve seen this year. The second isn’t far behind…

A local Norwegian driving instructor of Pakistani origin says he isn’t surprised, and explains that people who come to Norway bring a completely different driving culture with them.

Apparently, the statistics show that male and female drivers from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia are more likely to have accidents in Norway.

The first thing I’d point out is that the problem isn’t confined to Norway. It happens in every country where non-native drivers mix it with the locals. The second thing is that it isn’t just Asians and Africans – British drivers unfamiliar with driving on the right are a big risk wherever they go.

In Nottingham, several years ago there was a large Irish contingent, and their standard of driving was noticeably, um… different. At the moment Nottingham has a lot of Polish and other eastern European drivers, and they can be very aggressive (especially the younger ones). Older Asian drivers – particularly around Hyson Green – are also very suspect.

I’ve been to Pakistan and I know what they drive like. My Indian pupils tell me it is the same in India. The older drivers bring that style over here, and will happily park on double yellow lines outside the Asian food stores to go inside and shop.

Hyson Green has the additional problem that many Asian taxi drivers use it as a meeting (and eating) point. As a result, they will think nothing of carrying out standard taxi manoeuvres in gridlocked traffic (i.e. U-turns, turns in the road, etc.) 5 metres away from traffic lights).

In this respect, they’re only slightly worse than native British women in 4x4s picking up their kids from school.

Going back to the article, what is amusing is that they have a photo of a clearly-British car with L-plates gaffer-taped on to it.

Crazy Police Driver

13/02/2012

DOAADI

ADI, Bad Drivers, News

It just goes to show that no one is perfect – or above the law (well, maybe just a little to the side of it). This story details how a police officer in Scotland was driving to an incident involving a diesel spill – which doesn’t appear to have been an emergency from the way the wording goes (an earlier story says it was) – at speeds of up to 149mph!

The officer, Jacob Marshall, didn’t slow down as he passed a motorway slip road, and another driver pulled out to allow other traffic to merge. Marshall clipped the other driver (the earlier story says he “collided with” the other driver).

The BBC article doesn’t say what happened to the other driver (nor does the earlier story).

The judge expressed surprise that Marshall didn’t slow down “even a bit” as he approached the junction.

It’s worth pointing out that if Marshall was doing 149mph at the point where he hit the other car (the report suggests it was at least 120mph), and assuming the other car was driving at the speed limit of 70mph (he was probably going slower), then the police car would have closed in on the other car at 79mph! It’s not exactly something you’d expect, or be able to plan for if you were a normal member of the driving public.

Marshall was found guilty of the lesser charge of careless driving (down from dangerous driving, with which he was initially charged). Sentencing has been put off to allow the defence to put forward “mitigating arguments”.

It puts me in mind of the argument the advanced motoring group members like to put forward – about how they’re better drivers than anyone else (Police drivers are advanced drivers, of course).

They’re not. They’re human, like everyone else.

And even if they weren’t, all those thousands of other drivers are.

Mazuma Mobile II

13/02/2012

DOAADI

Computers & Tech, General

Another absolutely perfect transaction using Mazuma Mobile! I first used them when I upgraded my phone to the HTC Desire back in 2010.

I’ve just upgraded to the HTC Sensation XE, and upon checking I saw my old Desire was worth £73… here’s the timeline of events:

I “sold” it online Thursday 9th
I got the packaging on Friday 10th
I sent it off Friday early afternoon
Payment has gone into my bank this lunchtime (Monday 13th)!

Mazuma’s service is incredible – if you have an old mobile phone to sell following an upgrade they’ve got to be the No.1 Choice. The prices they offer are great – but the speed of the transaction is just unbeatable.

Roadworks And Utility Companies

10/02/2012

DOAADI

ADI, News, Transport

As I mentioned in the previous article (Despatch), there was an interesting snippet at the end about proposals to give councils the power to control roadworks. Under what are called “lane rental” schemes, utility companies could be charged £2,500 per day to dig up the busiest roads at peak times.

Personally, I don’t think it goes far enough. They should be charged £5,000 an hour to dig up ANY road. That way, they might get some work done instead of pratting around for a couple of hours a day and installing traffic lights and lane restrictions which persist during rush hour, causing massive tailbacks.

The water and gas companies are easily the worst offenders.

They dig up the road, then spend a minimum of two days doing absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, the rest of us have to endure temporary lights – often three- or four-way – while the road is effectively blocked.

Once upon a time, they’d put a big metal sheet over the hole after they finished work for the day. They still could in most cases, since the hole is rarely more than about half a metre wide and maybe three or four metres long. No doubt Health & Safety issues are involved, though.

Also, once upon a time, they’d get the job finished in a couple of hours – often during the night. I can’t see what has changed to the extent that the same simple repairs now take at least a week, with working hours only between 10am and just after midday at best. Again, I suspect Health & Safety is involved – after all, if they can’t get enough people to stand around in yellow hi-vis jackets doing nothing, how on earth can a gas or water leak possibly get fixed?

Mind you, it isn’t JUST the water and gas people. This picture from Google shows what University Boulevard in Nottingham looked like. Until recently, that is.

Even in winter, it was one of the nicest looking roads in Nottingham, with mature Lime trees lining both sides, creating an avenue with a footpath and cycle lane for the Spandex boys to ignore completely during rush hour.

But, it isn’t like that any more. Most of the trees on the left have been felled for the bloody tram extension. It has been chaos as they closed one lane of the road – and God only knows what it will be like when they start building the tramline. Anyone who has seen any of the Nottingham tram areas will know they are concrete monstrosities. You can’t have trees near the overhead lines, it seems.

Cities which have grown around tram systems are beautiful (places like Munich and Hannover spring to mind). Cities in which tram lines have grown through the city are ugly monstrosities with huge traffic problems. And they will remain so, no matter how many Mickey Mouse green awards the city in question insists on giving to itself.

Given the carbon footprint involved in building them and powering them, the tiny number of people they can carry in proportion to the number who need to travel, and the amount of extra congestion they cause for cars during peak hours, trams are the biggest “Green Herring” of all time. And especially so in Nottingham.

Despatch: January 2012

08/02/2012

DOAADI

ADI, DSA

This is an OLD, OLD article. All external links are dead.

The latest edition of Despatch is now available – you can view it as a ~~PDF file here~~.

You have to work over half way through it this month to find anything of any real interest (unless you’re so out of touch that the first half is news to you).

The first article is another repeat of the bloody theory test questions story. Yet again, we get to hear about Mike Penning’s idiotic belief that rewording the actual test so it isn’t available verbatim in published form is going to bestow immortality and a cure for scrofula on the human race.

The second article is about motorbikes, and how the EU is going to limit access to more powerful ones by age and length of holding a licence (why don’t they bloody do the same with cars – then we really would have a story).

Then there is some total nonsense about the government cutting red tape. Never, in the field of human procrastination, has so much been written about so little. The changes are insignificant, at best.

There’s some useful advice about buying secondhand vehicles, and what to look out for to avoid being scammed.

Some bureaucracy – to replace that being lost by cutting red tape, no doubt – involving an “expert panel” on “drug driving” is to be established. Apparently these “experts” are needed to tell us whether driving under the influence of drugs is dangerous or not. They are also needed to advise on whether certain prescribed medicines or drug combinations are dangerous, particularly when mixed with alcohol.

As an encore, they are expected to tell us why putting your hand in a running Flymo is dangerous. Of course, Mike Penning is involved – see if you can see which of these he said, and which one I just made up:

Britain has some of the safest roads in the country, but we know how important it is to tackle the menace of drug driving.

Fire is hot, but we know how important it to tackle the menace of arson.

Tricky, eh?

And right at the end, two snippets I found quite interesting. Apparently, from February 1st, a new contractor – TMG CRB – will be handling criminal record checks. I found this interesting – and confusing – because nearly TWO YEARS ago I updated my CRB through this same contractor when my badge was up for renewal. I can’t see what’s changed.

The other one is about councils being allowed to charge utilities companies by the day for digging up main roads. This warrants a separate post.