October 2007
At somepoint may need to purchase another car as swmbo has now passed test.
Driveway down to garage pas gates has a max width of 206cm / 81 inches / 6.75 ft, which widens out to 220 cm / 86cm / 7.17ft
What would be the max width of car that would fit down the driveway without damaging the car and allow the drivers door to be opened enough for the driver to get out? if not parking car in garage.
Current car is 170.5 cm in width Read more
Yesterday morning I followed an ambulance transferring my son between hospitals. Having fallen down stairs he had a suspected broken neck (shown on an Xray) - trussed like a chicken and vacuum packed in a special mattress. The ambulance was travelling up to 40-45 mph on the dual carriageway (50 mph limit) and 25 mph max on other roads. The driving was brilliant, moving over in plenty of time to allow others onto the road at junction without him braking, he was careful not to impede anyone in the outside lane.
What shocked us was the way some other drivers behaved - yes, the mercedes driver who undertook and then braked suddenly in front of him was the one I particularly would like to meet - and the motorcyclist who cut across him at traffic lights.
They do not use the lights/siren for this sort of transfer as they are not in a rush.
For us the outcome was good, son has chipped bone off the back bit of two neck vertebrae and subdued, is home.
I will now give even more consideration to ALL ambulances I see, not just those with lights and sirens. IF it was a broken neck and the ambulance had to slam the brakes on, I hate to think of the consequences.
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Do people do that? I've never seen it myself.
I see it a lot. I think a proportion of motorists go into a kind of panic when they spot a police car or ambulance.
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Thanks to you all. I think it was a temporary blip that seems to have sorted itself. The second computer was installed by a paid and experienced professional geek, so all the equipment should be up to speed.
Hello, with so many speed cams and new ones going up on a daily basis, and ones that don't flash and higher up than the standard square ones that operate from the rear i think and catch people jumping red lights or speeding.
I have a new-ish Tomtom sat nav but not bothered down loading cam info and do not want to regularly set it up just below the radio but can't leave it there even covered as criminals may see it.
So is there a good, small device available that do not have to be fitted to the screen and picks up all static locations, the flash cams and none flash cams and possibly give info of portable speed traps - and easy to update for free if poss or will pay - but unit has to be good and compact and very easy to set up, ie just plug in
Looked at autoexpress but they only had about 4 teasted.
Thanks Read more
An Update:
I have discovered that only 2 commencement orders are effective for the
Road Safety Act 2006, the first, commencement order No 1 effective from 20 - February 2007
included sections 44 & 52
The second commencement order No 2 effective from 24 September 2007 brings into force 14 sections but does not bring into force section 18
www.wikicrimeline.co.uk/index.php?title=Road_Safet..._(Commencement_No._2)_Order_2007
So AFAICT, radar detectors are still legal in the UK, and Snooper is correct. However I think they should make people aware of the possibility of the new law might be coming in. But I doubt the Advertising Standards Authority or Trading Standards would agree with me. because at the end of the day they are legal.
Our local Peugeot dealer has erected a row of flag poles on its used car lot. Each flag shows a list of the other makes they also sell used. Trouble is they have printed 'Volkswagon' on every flag. With this attention to detail what are their PDI's like? Read more
The naming and shaming rules on this site are somewhat way OTT. As if a dealership would go to the trouble of suing an internet forum becuase somebody pointed out on the internet their signs were spelt wrongly. Even if they did, it would get thrown out of caught.
It's a shame this sight has been caught up in the afraid to say boo to a ghost world of PC rubbish these days.
My normal commute is eight miles each way.Tuesday last week the M23 was closed and it took me an hour and five minutes to do the eight miles.
I drove from Crawley to Corby on Friday vis M23 , M25, M11, A14 left at 8.15am and arrived at 11am . Pleasant 2 hrs 45 min drive with no delays.
However on the M25 going , the other direction was more or less solid from M23 junction back to Clacketts lane and beyond due to an accident , at least six miles of solid traffic .
Left Corby at 3 15 pm .Returning on the A14 again .In the opposite direction , I saw a police car had coned off one lane , no obvious accident but the traffic was solid from Huntingdon back virtually to Cambridge, at least fourteen miles.
A14 and M11 chocka with lorries , at least four times I spent many frustrating minutes in a queue behind one lorry inching past another with a speed differential of .00001 mph.
Coup de Grace was Dartford - , I got over the bridge without problem but then spent the best part of an hour stuck in the mess of roadworks at the M25 / A2 Junction 2. I had plenty of time to listen to the radio traffic reports and luckily picked up on yet another accident on the M23 southbound that blocked two lanes.
After getting through the A2 junction I noticed that the northbound queue solid on the opposite carriageway back to Junction 4 , must have been five miles or so solid.
To avoid the M23 I came off the m25 at Junction 6 and travelled down country lanes to the A23 , at one point passing on a high level bridge over the M23 at Bletchingly .
The whole motorway was stopped southbound as far as the eye could see...
It took me an hour longer returning home than going and I arrived home frazzled , frustrated and ready for the shower and that first glass of Rioja ..
It occurred to me that some people have to put up with this frustration every day....Is this typical of your week or was I just unlucky?
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October to December is always the worst time for traffic congestion. In the run-up to Christmas (before whicih everything must be done) everyone is either at work or delivering things.
Does anyone do this any more? I have bought all of my cars with the intention of running them until they are beyond economic repair.
I'm just wondering - not for the first time, but the first time on this topic - whether I'm wrong. I don't care to have a change every so often, nor am I bothered about make or number-plate.
What do you think? Read more
Right. I'm down to offload some web pages...
Anyone else seen this competition? The link from the telegraph page to the entry form doesn't seem to work for me. Anyone got a working link?
The link I have is:
tinyurl.com/2lc8eo
I wonder how far they had to twist his arm to get him to give it away?! I wonder what he'll do with all the spare time that he seemed to spend cleaning it?
teabelly Read more
Yuck. How gross. An insult to the poor old thing.
I am a self employed contract cleaner travelling about 80,000 miles a year. I am looking at buying another car. With the mileage i am doing i am looking for something safer and more reliable, but i dont want to have to change cars every year.
Should i consider the following
Renault Megane, Laguna
Mercedes Diesel W124 old shape better built merc estate.
Ford Mondeo tdci
etc
Please could someone suggest an alternative or recommend one of these cars.
I currently use a Proton Wira and i have to say it is mega reliable but i question its safety.
What price would i have to pay. Please would someone help me.
Thanks Read more
go for a new hyundai sonata 2.0 diesel.
the 56 plate onwards had an upgraded multimedia system.
ultra reliable, very comfortable, probably get one for around £12,500.
5 year unlimited mileage warranty.
At www.a1motorstores.co.uk Product order ref: CPT1521122 £59.99
tinyurl.com/35ncy5 {Direct link to product - DD}
I have seen this reversing sensor on Motorstores website.
Has anyone any here fitted one ? I would like opinions please
as to
a) whether or not this device works ?
b) is it easy to fit & will it last more than a few years ?
thank you all
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As a matter of interest what do you drive or to what vehicle would you fit it to?
Just bought a mpv (Mazda 5) which is a pain for reversing. Like with all mpvs thanks to higer seating and the height of the bottom of the rear window you can't see how close to the car you are reversing to, all you can see is the roof. I was thinking of using a parking sensor till i came across this
www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product...0
this gave me better visibility behind the mpv which enabled me to reverse closer to the car behind.
Bought mine from charlie brown which was the same product but cheaper.
Appologies for not getting my facts right, driveway leads down passed the house where it is 2200 mm in width past gate posts it is 2060 in width, current car incl wing mirrors is 1890 but garage driveway leads down to garage which is 3352 in mm, so no need to get out of car when going pass house, unless it breaks down.
Sorry for the confussion