a little bit of drizzle and the motoring world goes mad(der than usual) :-(

[gentlegreen]

Is it just me, or did last night's somewhat gungy weather bring out the
lunatic in the "Clarkson mainstream" ??

I leave work last night with my lovely 10 watt fluorescent light blazing
away - outdoing most small motorcycles and two lunatics charge onto the
roundabout as if I wasn't there .... (a few more seconds and they could have
read by the light I was projecting into their "padded cells").
Wiring up the Fiamm horn is definitely overdue....

After a couple of miles of watching incident after stupid incident I pull up
at traffic lights with my Cateye LD600 on flash and 20 additional
ultrabright LEDs doing their thing and some moron takes his foot off the
clutch and I have to extract my rear wheel from under his numberplate.
(I have frequently considered putting a diagram on the back of my bike (and
my car for that matter) explaining the function of neutral and the
handbrake and where they may be found .......
Touch wood my Mavic rim won't suddenly reveal damage that wasn't apparent at
the time - not that there was any possibility of extracting compensation
from the offender.

 

[MSeries]

gentlegreen wrote:
> Is it just me, or did last night's somewhat gungy weather bring out the
> lunatic in the "Clarkson mainstream" ??
>
> I leave work last night with my lovely 10 watt fluorescent light blazing
> away - outdoing most small motorcycles and two lunatics charge onto the
> roundabout as if I wasn't there .... (a few more seconds and they could have
> read by the light I was projecting into their "padded cells").
> Wiring up the Fiamm horn is definitely overdue....
>
> After a couple of miles of watching incident after stupid incident I pull up
> at traffic lights with my Cateye LD600 on flash and 20 additional
> ultrabright LEDs doing their thing and some moron takes his foot off the
> clutch and I have to extract my rear wheel from under his numberplate.
> (I have frequently considered putting a diagram on the back of my bike (and
> my car for that matter) explaining the function of neutral and the
> handbrake and where they may be found .......
> Touch wood my Mavic rim won't suddenly reveal damage that wasn't apparent at
> the time - not that there was any possibility of extracting compensation
> from the offender.

Just you I think. Perhaps all that light output distracted the drivers.

 

[gentlegreen]

"MSeries" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>

>
> Just you I think. Perhaps all that light output distracted the drivers.
>
roflmao

I'll give 'em distracted - I'm semi-seriously considering a laser-targeted
paintball gun ..

 

[Helen C Simmons]

"gentlegreen" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
>
> "MSeries" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>
>>
>> Just you I think. Perhaps all that light output distracted the drivers.
>>
> roflmao
>
> I'll give 'em distracted - I'm semi-seriously considering a laser-targeted
> paintball gun ..
>


Good grief! Now you've just clarified for me why Nathan is so interested in
buying paintball equipment! He's noticed an increase in aggro from
terminally clueless motorists on his cycle commute to & from college.
Obviously he's thinking of the same solution as you ;-)

Cheers, helen s

 

[sothach]

gentlegreen wrote:
> I'll give 'em distracted - I'm semi-seriously considering a laser-targeted
> paintball gun ..

There is always http://danenet.wicip.org/bcp/spike.html

oh, you said 'paintball' - missed that

 

[Jon is Away!]

gentlegreen wrote:
> Is it just me, or did last night's somewhat gungy weather bring out the
> lunatic in the "Clarkson mainstream" ??

I too find that a small amount of water falling from the sky is enough
to significantly increase the level of stupidity on my normal route.
The same effect can be seen on the Tuesdays immediately following a
Bank Holiday and for a few days after the schools go back.

Jon

 

[Stuart Millington]

On Fri, 11 Nov 2005 05:04:37 GMT, "gentlegreen"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Is it just me, or did last night's somewhat gungy weather bring out the
>lunatic in the "Clarkson mainstream" ??

And yesterday morning's rush hour, some b**** pulled onto the M62 at
close to 70MPH without even bothering to look for a gap in the traffic
on the inside lane - of which I was the one she/"it" was alongside
when she happily proceeded to attempt to sideswipe me out of the way.
Luckily the bloke on the outside lane saw what she was doing and gave
me enough room to pull out of her way.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------
- Stuart Millington ALL HTML e-mail rejected -
- mailto[email protected] http://w3.z-add.co.uk/ -

 

[ian henden]

"Stuart Millington" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 11 Nov 2005 05:04:37 GMT, "gentlegreen"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Is it just me, or did last night's somewhat gungy weather bring out the
>>lunatic in the "Clarkson mainstream" ??
>
> And yesterday morning's rush hour, some b**** pulled onto the M62 at
> close to 70MPH without even bothering to look for a gap in the traffic
> on the inside lane - of which I was the one she/"it" was alongside
> when she happily proceeded to attempt to sideswipe me out of the way.
> Luckily the bloke on the outside lane saw what she was doing and gave
> me enough room to pull out of her way.
>
Count your blessings ...... at least you have survived to be able to post
this!! Cyclist on Rudmore roundabout in Portsmouth the other night isn't.
Pity he didn't use the cycle paths in the vicinity......

 

[Tony Raven]

ian henden wrote:
>
> Count your blessings ...... at least you have survived to be able to post
> this!! Cyclist on Rudmore roundabout in Portsmouth the other night isn't.
> Pity he didn't use the cycle paths in the vicinity......
>

Yawn.


--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

 

[Al C-F]

ian henden wrote:
> "Stuart Millington" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...

>>
>
> Count your blessings ...... at least you have survived to be able to post
> this!! Cyclist on Rudmore roundabout in Portsmouth the other night isn't.
> Pity he didn't use the cycle paths in the vicinity......
>
>

Henden blames the victim again. What a surprise.

 

[mm]

gentlegreen you should be slashed across the face with stanley in toothbrush
and your mother raped for a laugh
"gentlegreen" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
> Is it just me, or did last night's somewhat gungy weather bring out the
> lunatic in the "Clarkson mainstream" ??
>
> I leave work last night with my lovely 10 watt fluorescent light blazing
> away - outdoing most small motorcycles and two lunatics charge onto the
> roundabout as if I wasn't there .... (a few more seconds and they could
> have read by the light I was projecting into their "padded cells").
> Wiring up the Fiamm horn is definitely overdue....
>
> After a couple of miles of watching incident after stupid incident I pull
> up at traffic lights with my Cateye LD600 on flash and 20 additional
> ultrabright LEDs doing their thing and some moron takes his foot off the
> clutch and I have to extract my rear wheel from under his numberplate.
> (I have frequently considered putting a diagram on the back of my bike
> (and my car for that matter) explaining the function of neutral and the
> handbrake and where they may be found .......
> Touch wood my Mavic rim won't suddenly reveal damage that wasn't apparent
> at the time - not that there was any possibility of extracting
> compensation from the offender.
>
>
>

 

[ian henden]

"Al C-F" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
> ian henden wrote:
>> "Stuart Millington" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>
>>>
>>
>> Count your blessings ...... at least you have survived to be able to post
>> this!! Cyclist on Rudmore roundabout in Portsmouth the other night isn't.
>> Pity he didn't use the cycle paths in the vicinity......
>
> Henden blames the victim again. What a surprise.


I rather imagine the incident would not have occurred had the cyclist been
using the quite comprehensive network of cyclepaths provided in the area.

I did not say whether the incident was the cyclists *fault* or the
lorrydrivers.

But it is not very wise to cycle across what is effectively the end of a
motorway (yes, there *is* a fly-over as well, forming another end to the
motorway), on a very busy multitrack roundabout, at night, in the rush-hour,
when suitable alternatives exist. Which they do.

And it's "Mr" Henden to you.

 

[Tony Raven]

ian henden wrote:
>
> I rather imagine the incident would not have occurred had the cyclist been
> using the quite comprehensive network of cyclepaths provided in the area.
>
> I did not say whether the incident was the cyclists *fault* or the
> lorrydrivers.
>
> But it is not very wise to cycle across what is effectively the end of a
> motorway (yes, there *is* a fly-over as well, forming another end to the
> motorway), on a very busy multitrack roundabout, at night, in the rush-hour,
> when suitable alternatives exist. Which they do.
>

We've been here and done this before discussing your bus driver
colleague who you defended for driving over the top of a cyclist onto
that roundabout and keeping going with the cyclist and bike wedged under
his bus. I don't think any more needs to be said.

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

 

[OG]

inetnum: 81.104.112.0 - 81.104.127.255
netname: NTL
descr: NTL Infrastructure - Renfrew


remarks: -------------------------------------------------------
remarks: For abuse notifications please -
remarks: file an online case @ http://www.ntlworld.com/netreport
remarks: +44 1633 710142 (Voicemail Only)
remarks: -------------------------------------------------------

It may give his parents a shock to realise what mm is doing behind their
backs.

 

[Graham]

On Fri, 11 Nov 2005 05:04:37 GMT, "gentlegreen"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Is it just me, or did last night's somewhat gungy weather bring out the
>lunatic in the "Clarkson mainstream" ??
>
I certainly find that motorists drive much faster in wet weather: "the
journey is less pleasant today, so let's put the foot down and make it
quicker".

Graham
--
Graham Steel: [email protected]
Web: http://www.steelworks.org.uk

 

[iakobski]

What happens is the journey time is inevitably longer, but they fail to
make an allowance for this. So when there is a possibility of making
that time up, they put their foot down. Especially if there is a
deadline, like a train to catch.

 

[Chris Malcolm]

Graham <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Fri, 11 Nov 2005 05:04:37 GMT, "gentlegreen"
> <[email protected]> wrote:

>>Is it just me, or did last night's somewhat gungy weather bring out the
>>lunatic in the "Clarkson mainstream" ??

> I certainly find that motorists drive much faster in wet weather: "the
> journey is less pleasant today, so let's put the foot down and make it
> quicker".

I was once a passenger in a car in which the driver started going
quite seriously faster when the rain started. I asked him why. "I've
just washed it," he replied.

--
Chris Malcolm [email protected] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

 

[Danny Colyer]

Graham wrote:
> I certainly find that motorists drive much faster in wet weather: "the
> journey is less pleasant today, so let's put the foot down and make it
> quicker".

There was a piece in New Scientist (IIRC) a while ago about Californians
driving faster when it rains. The reason given was that they weren't
used to driving in the rain and perceived it as dangerous, so wanted to
get their journeys over as quickly as possible to shorten the amount of
time that they were exposed to the extra danger!

--
Danny Colyer (my reply address is valid but checked infrequently)
<URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
Subscribe to PlusNet <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/referral/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine