Do ANY governing bodies have ANY "common sense"!?

What or which government department exhibits any consistency or common sense?

Are they really interested in 'green' issues?

If so, can anyone explain how in the same breath they can state that they want people to use less fuel whilst driving, yet also state that chicanes are a good idea?

Chicanes make ALL drivers use MUCH more fuel on each journey... ask any knowledgable driver why [don't ask any of their paid experts, please... they know nothing!] and they will fill you in with the details should you need this concept explaining.

 

New service...

A recent addition to AOL services is the introduction of a Motoring Section which has many different areas which may be of interest, these include.....

News,
Buying and Selling a Car,
Car Maintenance,
F1 Grand Prix,
Insurance,
a Driving Directions facility,
Motor Shows,
Chat and Community,
Loans,
and Number Plates.

It is a bright and easy to navigate selection of many varied, interesting and useful services.

As the service is new, obviously some areas have yet to come into their own, but I've looked into the Driving Directions which gives you a MapQuest search solution, where you have a choice of using either a Postcode or Town as your starting and arrival points. Please note, they are rather keen on using motorways I'm afraid!

I've also looked at the Number Plates section... if you are searching for a personal number plate, then this is another useful facility for locating that special number.

 

Tell the government to get off our backs

You will find a fascinating post if you click the link to Autoblog Green... should the idea work, then maybe it will get the government off the motorists back.

Who am I trying to kid?

After all the main problem with traffic jams and overcrowding on our roads comes from the governments own policy of having too many people in too small an area.

Translated, for all those 'experts', it means that this country is vastly over-populated! Don't tell the experts... but this could also go a long way towards explaining why there is insufficient water in the South-East when we have a little less rain than normal! [We'll forget the fact that so much is wasted by the water companies.]

 

Drive carefully

Bank Holiday in the UK and what we have is wall to wall R-A-I-N... if you are going out and braving the weather... drive carefully.

The spray on the motorways can be horrendous, and visibility can be reduced significantly. With the amount of rain which has fallen in the last 48 hours standing water, large puddles, even floods could pose another hazard... so take care.

Maybe a better idea would be to stay 'chez nous' and create a blog. I can offer the following website address as a new and upcoming place to promote it - even before it's started!!! - have fun... Buzzer Hut | Promote Your Blog

 

Help required... and a freebie for you...

The following quote is from an e-mail I received from John Reese who wants this message and information spread around far and wide...

"Please join Income.com, and Stephen’s other
great partners, in helping to feed over 1,000,000
children that need our help.

Here’s How You Can Help:

1. Visit the web site at www.foragreatercause.org

2. Download the free “Success Report” that will by
itself donate a plate of food on your behalf — even
if you don’t give one penny of your own money.

3. (Optional) Donate any amount that you’d like.
Every single dollar will help.

* You get TONS of free business & success
audios, videos, and special reports when you
donate.

4. Spread the word! Email your ezine lists, post
about this on your blog, and feed children that
need our help!

A HUGE “Thank You” in advance for any help
you can offer this amazing cause."

If you can spread this info further afield, please DO!

Lastly, if you were looking for our normal mix of 'road-use' information and moans, sorry, today is an exception!

 

BBC licence fee usage

Did anyone watch the BBC programmes devoted to John Sergeant, Jo Brand and their ideas on vehicles, driving and drivers?

And more than that, does anyone agree that it was a good use of the licence fee to broadcast their views?

When are views personal opinion, and when prejudice?

 

Vegetation

All the vegetation on the road verges has grown faster than normal for the time of year. What with the warm spell in April, followed by a good watering this month, growth has been exceptional.

I hope all councils are on top of the situation and will keep at least the areas round all junctions cut well back so as to facilitate easy visibility. Traffic travels much faster these days, and appears to pay scant attention to warning signs of side roads. Seeing oncoming vehicles is extremely difficult when the vegetation has grown up too high... and numerous accidents, or near misses are caused by drivers not thinking 'beyond the end of their bonnets'.

Common sense seems to get into even shorter supply when the sun shines and people are out on a jaunt and in a hurry.

 

Road use, or any form of travel, in London today?

Wembley and Lords, both today.

Chelsea v Manchester United in the new Wembley stadium, England v West Indies at Lords.

Anyone for a nice quiet trip to London? Parking should be great too!

At least the rest of the country should have quieter roads and shops - enjoy your choice.

 

Nightmare of train fares! Rant, what rant?

If you are not a user of the rail system... maybe you don't have any cause or reason to travel by train... then you won't know what a nightmare the fares 'system' is for all passengers.

I have been grumbling about the number of two carriage trains which we see daily - but having heard of the way you have to buy tickets with the infinite number of 'choices', plus how easy it is to infringe the conditions of the ticket - then why anybody would actually choose rail travel as a mode of transport beats me. It most certainly wouldn't be because it is reasonably priced!

[Incidentally if you do infringe the ticket conditions, even it seems that the rail company are gaining from your different choice... you are made to feel like a criminal - witness a case mentioned on the BBC Breakfast show today!]

Add to these problems the fact that if you telephone for train times or other local information, then you will be put through to a most definitely NOT local call centre - the person on the other end will gabble the information, speak with an accent you cannot understand, or give so many choices you end up more confused than when you began the call.

A simple, easy to understand, reasonably priced system is what is required - with trains on time, no trouble, no fuss, no overcrowding - is this too much to ask?

Until that day most other modes of transport seem infinitely more preferable - from walking to flying.

 

Bicycles and pavements

In our modern cities should bicycles be allowed to weave in and out of the traffic?

With some towns at virtual grid-lock in the 'rush-hour' - for the unitiated, that's when traffic comes to standstill because there are too many people in a rush to get to work at the same time - many cyclists take to the pavements.

This is invariably safer for the cyclists, and if all cyclists were responsible and dismounted when pedestrians were about, then it wouldn't create any problems. But some cyclists weave in and out of the pedestrians at speed causing accidents... so now some councils have come down on all cyclists using pavements.

Of course lack of space is the real problem - or put the other way - over-population. There is no room to build safe cycle lanes to keep cyclists away from both pedestrians and motorised transport.

They aren't creating any more land HERE!

 

Insurance and 'points on your licence' for speeding

One insurance company is considering not penalizing those with points on their licences for speeding... and where one company goes, others are bound to follow.

Is it fair on those who keep clean driving licences?

Some might argue that there are many worse motoring offences. For example driving without tax or insurance... or a valid licence even... and driving whilst banned.

Youngsters speeding are quite often on the news - having killed themselves and their passengers. They don't have the experience of driving to be able to deal with problems... plus there is the 'showing off' component when with others.

And what is the good of any law if there is no-one to enforce it? The fact that there are insufficient police on the roads to deter other [and speeding] offences is a major problem.

Special traffic 'police' could be one answer.

 

Have you got a blog?

Do you have a blog, and do you want to publicize it more?

Then why not give the Blog Flux Directory a try!

 

Archives

It is in the 'Archives' of most blogs where you will find some of the most interesting, helpful, and even controversial posts.

How often are they viewed?

Do most surfers just check out the current posts? If so, they miss what in most cases are the best... the most 'on-target' [or on-subject]... posts. It's a great shame.

Maybe blogs could be converted into useful websites with links to the original blog - as, at present, many websites have gained their own blogs! So, a reverse trend could perhaps be a bonus for blog readers.

If you miss the beginning of a blog... check the archives for the real gems!

Why not click on 'November' and see what I mean?

 

Philosophy and 'The Gentle Philosopher'

Just one thought for today! It is sufficient.

The words of Will Durant are so painfully accurate: "It may be true... that 'you can't fool all the people all the time,' but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country."

Yes!

If you want to know more about 'The Gentle Philosopher' check out the following link... Click here

 

Just a couple of thoughts!

Why is a bus with just two people on it more environmentally friendly than a car with two people [and a dog]?

And why do trains keep getting shorter? Two carriage trains are quite common now!

 

Imperial versus Metric

I found the following good news on AOL this morning...

"Campaigners fighting EU plans to abolish imperial measures have claimed victory for pounds and ounces.

A deadline of 2009 had been set for metric measures to finally replace Britain's traditional imperial measures, but they have now been shelved following a change of heart at the European Commission.

Both the Conservative Party and the Metric Martyrs campaign group say they have won the battle to keep Britain imperial.

Conservative industry spokesman, Giles Chichester MEP, said that he had received confirmation from the European Commission's Industry Commissioner Gunther Verheugen that dual marking of goods in imperial and metric will "continue indefinitely"."

This is extremely good news for the whole country as we can continue to trade with our English speaking friends in America and worldwide who use the imperial system without the upheaval and upset of being forced to use metric.

Let us hope the same sanity prevails... and we continue to use miles to denote distance in our country, in perpetuity.

And whilst we are on the subject, why does the BBC ruin many decent programmes by stating distances in kilometres?

 

Before you can drive anywhere...

You need a car which will reliably START!

To find car batteries themselves, why not search on eBay? No matter where you live in the world, you will probably to able to access a bargain battery on eBay!


But does your car REALLY need a new battery?

I have found a really helpful website which will help answer that question, and many others besides. Like info on changing tyres, jump-starting your car, and changing your oil. These invaluable information can be found here...
Vehicle Maintenance Tips

 

Multi-lingual

Isn't blogging great!

We get visitors from all over the globe... and get to view blogs in many different languages. Even if we don't understand more than a few words in the particular language, sometimes the pictures tell the whole story!

To check out what I mean by the above statement... just click on the 'Comments' on the previous post. What beautiful pictures!

[I know it would do me good to get that language course out again! I always think it's the language which sounds most delightful to listen to.]

 

HELP NEEDED!

Road Use, Traffic, Driving, Motoring, travel, road transport, drive, motor, transport policy.

Which of this list best describes the posts within this blog?

Any comments would be gratefully received... very few visitors are arriving at this blog - but I want it to be a force for change for the better on our roads - and for transport policy in general.

So would a change of name be beneficial?

HELP, PLEASE, any readers!