Wing mirrors

[charles]

I nearly hit a cat this afternoon which had ignored all basic training and ran across the road without looking out for passing traffic.

[Tim Streater]

Yes, I was looking at £330 for a replacement.

[NY]

She was lucky that the car remained upright. I have a friend who was driving her parents to a relative's wedding when the car had a blowout on the M4. She doesn't remember exactly what happened, but witnesses reported that the car turned end over end and side over side several times after hitting the central reservation, the grassy bank beside the hard shoulder and several adjacent cars.

Incredibly the only injury to anyone in the car was a broken finger. But the car was a write-off (as were the other cars that she hit) and they couldn't claim on the insurance for their own car because my friend was only covered third-party (the "driving other cars" clause of her own policy) while driving her father's car.

Luckily the only times I've had punctures while moving have been at low speed and fairly slow punctures at that - ie deflating over thirty seconds or so rather instantly going from full pressure to flat.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I saw two squirrels having sex halfway up a tree three days ago.,

[dennis]

Expensive for the friend then when she got the bills to pay.

I have hit an object on the M6 travelling at 70 mph which deflated the tyre and put a 3 inch dent in the wheel and the car drove just like nothing had happened other than the noise.

I never found out what it was. it was dark and about another five cars pulled up with broken tyres in the time it took me to replace the wheel.

No cars went careering out of control AFAIK.

[Adrian Caspersz]

you were up a tree?

[NY]

Yes, one the few occasions when I've had a puncture while moving, I've been amazed at how little the handling of the car is affected. The only time the car started to pull to one side was when I discovered the tyre molten and shredded, with the wheel riding almost on the rim and with only a little bit of mangled rubber between the rim and the tarmac. I wonder how long the car had been like that. The handling on my mum's Renault was always a bit soft and rolling, so I may not have been so aware as in a car that normally had a firmer ride.

Changing the wheel, mainly by feel, in the pitch dark on a country lane with no torch was "fun". I took the parcel shelf out and propped it up in front of the car, and draped my light-coloured T shirt over it to reflect a little bit of the headlights back towards me, but it didn't make very much difference. With the thought that cars may not react quickly enough when they saw my hazard lights, I've never changed a wheel so quickly in my life.

[Steve Walker]

There was a programme years ago where they compared a modern car to one ten years older (the "new" one was IIRC a Cavlier, possibly a mk3).

The cars were driven and a small explosive charge was used to cause a blowout. The older car immediately went out of control, while the new one stayed in a straight line and pulled up perfectly safely.

My experience, once as a passenger and once as a driver, has been that there was no fuss and no loss of control.

SteveW

[ARW]

Well mine was on the floor this morning when I set off for work. Laid next to the pillocks mirror who had hit it.

[ARW]

halfway up!

[ARW]

I once hit a dog that was not on a lead that ran out into the road. It was injured but not badly so (a very minor collision). The dog's owner got aggressive blaming me so I just said "go f*ck yourself" and drove off without swapping details. Now I was, at that time, of an age when I really would have had no problem having a fight with the dogs owner however a screaming gf in the car would not let me "have a go".

A week later the police arrived at my house about me not stopping, swapping details or reporting the accident. I had actually reported the accident but this was before computers were in use. No further action was taken apart from the dog owner getting a warning (not a cation) about dogs and leads.

[ARW]

No. Your short winded insults are good enough.

Louise still thinks that it's funny that you asked her if I was her Dad when we picked up the printer from yours.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Casperz can't understand punctuation If I had meant :

I saw two squirrels having sex, halfway up a tree, three days ago.

I would gave written it

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Congratualtions on a post with no schoolboy howlers. Just shows you can do it when you want. Keep it up.

[T i m]

<snip>

And I'm guessing this would be someone's 'companion animal'? I wonder why they don't care about them? Probably why I believe anyone hitting one isn't obliged to stop and report it, as you would with a dog etc? I mean, if the owners don't care enough to make sure they aren't being a nuisance or liability to others, why should we care?

Daughter often has to pick them up with a shovel ... no fun when the owners are there pinning the 'Lost cat' poster on a tree at the same time. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

[Bob Eager]

What about the missing full stop?

[The Natural Philosopher]

What about "Congratualtions"

[Tim Streater]

I had a blowout in a TR6 at 100mph in 1971. Stayed in a straight line and stopped OK.

[Cursitor Doom]

Junk 'science' which proves nothing - other than the contempt of the program-makers for the viewing public. BBC was it?

Depends on so many different factors.