helped a lady the other day on a very busy A406, North Circular.. she'd broken down in lane 1, shortly after lane 3 had merged into lane 2, so she was providing an extra bottleneck.
she said the car was overheating and she'd always been told to stop immediately if a car overheated......(fair enough)........but.....literally 20 feet further she could have pulled into the entrance slip road of a main dealer garage......which was considerably safer.
when i looked at the car a bit more i noticed it had been shunted at the front, to the extent that IMO it would have damaged the radiator.....(lights were o.k., but bumper and bonnet damaged and air bag had gone off and was taped over). Accident had happened elsewhere.
she advised it was going in for an insurance repair in 2 days time and had been taking it easy!
can't imagine an 02 reg Corsa with that much damage AND a knackered head gasket or worse would be economic to repair......and her driving it around like that was bound to cause problems eventually......it was a warmish day in a big traffic jam.
for the amount of damage potential driving a car with a knackered radiator, why not hire something cheap or as it's a city get public transport.
Edited subject line to promote discussion ! - PU.
|
How many offences did you book her for ?
dvd
|
He asked her what gear she was in and she said a black skirt and matching blouse!
MD
|
."but.....literally 20 feet further she could have pulled into the entrance slip road of a main dealer garage"
Its the `out of petrol etc` and stopped bang in the middle of the carriageway that gets me.
I once helped a woman out of a real risk situation by telling her to stick it in first gear and turn the key...
She was totally amazed that you could drag it out of danger for a few yards on the starter in an emergency.
Of course a little thinking as it was slowing down would have avoided this altogether.....
As I`ve probably mentioned before, she held `Advanced Driver status`
No more bragging about that again at work though :)
|
Its the `out of petrol etc` and stopped bang in the middle of the carriageway that gets me. I once helped a woman out of a real risk situation by telling her to stick it in first gear and turn the key...
I was on my 'bike, going along a busy road which went over a M/way. Traffic lights on the bridge either way before and after the slip-roads, letting traffic go straight on on the "A" road, or take the slips, or exit the slips... Lights red. Self waiting behind a Repmobile. The lights went green. The Rep(?). in front didn't go. Hand waving going on in the car. Mayhem, cars going by on each side.... So, I moved back, after they'd all gone, and parked on the side stand (in the middle of the flippin' bridge!), and went to see what the matter was with Old Matey. Clutch cable gone ping. Bear in mind that this was an active and now partly bunged-up junction. So, I said to him, I'll push you backwards to my bike, we wait 'till the lights go green, I'll push you up to speed with the engine *idling*, you snick it into gear, and move off the bridge. OK? OK!! Instructions on how to change gear without the clutch given, with emphasis. Happy Rep! Lights go amber & I push like hell, nothing happens, cars come past on each side, etc. The silly twit's got the handbrake on. Wheeze, gasp. Try again when the lights change, OK? OK.... amber, off we go, pant groan push. There's a bit of *revving* and then a hell of a bang, and off he goes so fast that I nearly bruised my nose on the tarmac.
So, job done!
Back on the bike... Hmmm, thort I. Why did the Ah Flatfish not drive off on the A road, park in the lay-by, and call for backup? Why is he now stalled down there on the motorway hard shoulder, making a 'phone call?
Sigh. After all that.
|
Westpig's account of this moronic woman getting in the way 20 yards from a slip road reminds me of how often I have seen exactly similar things. People who stop in the carriageway instead of going onto the hard shoulder, kerb or grass verge, often on fast and narrow bits of road.
Always sends my blood pressure sky high. What on earth is wrong with these self-important twerps, to whom it never occurs that they might get dangerously in the way of other people?
John Whitmore was writing in today's Terrorflag about the need for psychological checking and fettling of young drivers, something I advocated here months ago. Perhaps the test could be angled to try to assess the probability of this sort of half-witted behaviour, which is extremely common.
With a bit of luck it would reduce the number of drivers on the road, if it was applied retrospectively to all existing drivers.
Go for it, Gorderino!
|
oh dear - this is getting more like a confession site every day:
Ford Capri had been totalled by a van whilst parked but still driveable. From rear offside wheel onwards the car was a wreck - 2AM on the way to parents house and sitting at red lights thought it was a mate who came up behind me so 'for a laugh' floored it on the green and tore off down the road. The blue lights convinced me it wasn't my mate and so I stopped. As I couldn't actually open my door I scrambled out the passenger door to talk to the policeman - having convinced him I wasn't drunk or driving a 'failure to stop' and having a good laugh at the state of the car he let me go with the advice to save my drag racing for a strip!
|
|
|
_COLON_no_upscale()/cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/8f7fabb656ad1d815dbe441c0d9fc0a8/8f74fe690422a0aafe525a48b5a9903f.jpg)
