OT: Four in every five sets of traffic lights should be removed, report claims

[T i m]

I can picture that. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Tim Lamb]

Slough was reputed to have phased traffic lights set for 30mph. Must have been around 1968:-)

[News]

In message , T i m writes

This length of pump pipes reminds me of a chap I worked with, years ago, when we all had corded phones with curly wurly cable. He *always* managed to get his completely wound up to the extent that he could only use the handset by lifting it from the cradle and putting his head down. Seriously. Had the rest of us in stitches. I used to untangle it for him on a regular basis, but he could never keep it untangled for more than a few days.

[charles]

Apparently, they have been reactivated recently - in the interests of fuel economy and unwanted emissions. They were "untimed" to increase motorists' fuel consumption and bring in more revenue for the Exchequer.

[The Natural Philosopher]

And that accounts for the latest tax on tinfoil, too.

[T i m]

Hehe.

I had similar with 'some people' when I was an IT Support guy and their desk phones. As you say, some coily leads looked like they had just come out of the box and others looked like someone had been knitting with them? ;-(

I think it's something to do with which hand people answer the phone with and what they then do with it. eg. If they then pass it to their other hand to hold against their ear and then use that same hand to hang up with.

Cheers, T i m

[Mr Macaw]

Buses are too wide and too long for a lot of side streets they go up, they ought to be banned, or reduced to minibus size for the routes where I've never seen more than 4 passengers on one at a time!

[Mr Macaw]

Odd. VW are normally pretty sensible, being German. But then in Germany they probably ensure precisely 50% of their cars have the filler caps on each side :-) Not sure why almost every car is made with it on the right. It would be a good selling point making a car which could pull up easily on the empty side of the pumps.... or why not TWO filler caps? The petrol tank is in the centre anyway.

[Clive George]

No, you're confused.

In this case I'm talking about normal open motorway - there's plenty of times when all three lanes are occupied with the lanes going similar speeds, ie nobody overtaking, and in that situation you are definitely supposed to use the other lanes. It demonstrates that there are fairly common exceptions to "only supposed to use lanes other than 1 for overtaking".

And I can plan a merge which doesn't irritate people yet is later than yours. Like I said, just because you can't, doesn't mean others can't either.

Yup. The majority are not necessarily right.

And if you do so, somebody else overtakes you. Lose.

No, you've opened the opportunity for somebody to overtake you.

"not fair". What you describe doesn't work. The only way to ensure "fairness" is to use both lanes.

No, it's the way to handle it. Do you remember the lorry driver in your original example? That's what he's doing. It's not pointless, because it removes the opportunity for an overtaker to gain an advantage.

Diddums. They don't understand how to make it fair. You don't either. Their problem and yours.

You don't understand what you're reading in the highway code. If it's slow enough that there is an advantage available to somebody overtaking, and that people would regard it as queue jumping, that's not a high speed merge.

You really are stretching things a bit there. There's nothing illegal about using the empty lane. And as I do keep trying to point out, the only way to ensure fairness is to use it.

Let me guess, they were driving along the lane with the red X above it? That's illegal, that's a closed lane, I've never once suggested doing that.

There will always be "uncivilised" people.

This is the real world, and I am right. That's the first thing approaching sense I've seen you post in this thread. It's the first inkling you've shown that you might understand why my solution is the only way which will work in the real world.

[News]

In message , Mr Macaw writes

I used to drive cars with one central filling cap, tucked behind the rear number plate, which folded down (or up). Mk III Zephyr and Zodiac, from memory. Always struck me as a good idea.

[Mr Macaw]

Like this?

[damduck-egg]

My dad used to the say the same occured as we went along the Great West Road out to London Airport circa 1960 to go plane spotting. The Chiswick roundabout looked like this then.

Behind the used car buildings and near the white building an almost unknown Japanese Motorcycle company was preparing to move into an office block and plot an entry into the UK market. Honda have come a long way since then.

G.Harman

[Vir Campestris]

Not very good in rear-end impacts.

Mind, look at the old Mini - the one time I was tailgated the lights stopped working. And the boot lock. I knocked the hinge pins out - to find the lights were shorted against the fuel tank...

Andy

[Mr Macaw]

Rear end impacts tend to happen to people who drive slow. I can't recall the last time anyone was close behind me.

[charles]

So you don't stop at traffic lights? Such accidents are more likely to happen when you've stopped and the car following hasn't.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Triumph spitfire also had a central filler cap.

[Mr Macaw]

I don't stop suddenly at traffic lights.

If there's nothing in front of me and it's gonna go red, I either speed up, or slow down gradually. Either of these does not allow for me being rear ended.

If I'm following someone and they go through, I go through too, even if it goes red. Cars coming the other way aren't going to slam into a queue of traffic. If the car in front stops, then I stop too. If the car behind me doesn't, then he's going to end up paying for my car and the guy in front, as I'll let go of the brakes or even accelerate.

[Mr Macaw]

Lights AND boxes? At the same junction? Your council must have too much money to spend.

But stopping in the box causes congestion remember?

The official line is behind. My father insists on doing that and always causes a holdup. If the cars behind the ones turning right don't leave a gap (and nobody does because they don't expect this merry go round dancing), then turning right is now impossible and someone has to reverse. I simply flash to let the other guy go first, in front of me.

What an overly complicated piece of nonsense.

I drive in bus lanes all the time and have never been done for it. Why should buses get their own lane when there are so few of them? All it does is make less lanes for the type of traffic (cars) which there is most of, which clearly causes more congestion, including for the buses who haven't reached the bus lane yet. The only place I avoid that is Edinburgh, where there are red light cameras everywhere which probably look for bus lane traffic too. Mind you, you are allowed to drive in them at certain times, how you're supposed to know those times is anybody's guess - the sign telling you the times is next to the bus lane you might not be meant to be in.

Bullshit. CCTV is not used in that way.

You can educate other drivers while you're out driving. Use your horn if they do something stupid. Shove your way in if they don't let you out of a side road. Barge in front of them if they don't indicate right at a roundabout.

If it's only now and again, there is no reason to leave it clear all the time.

Bullshit. IF I see someone waiting to go in or out, then I let them.

It's a wonder people don't smash into them all the time. If they flash to warn somebody they're there, 99% of people will think that means "you go first, pull in front of me", at which point they will collide.

[bert]

That's a reasonable assumption seeing I was responding to a post which specifically mentioned roundabouts and did not mention fire stations.

[bert]

In article , Tim Lamb writes

A4 out of London was like that, though 40 not 30