"The only transport war being waged in this country is by motorists – against pedestrians and cyclists"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/jan/04/war-on-motorists
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
"In search of the famous 'war on motorists' "
(17 posts)-
Posted 13 years ago #
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Posted 13 years ago #
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Good for George!
Posted 13 years ago # -
That's an interesting one kaputnik - given speed traps have to be 'visible', and the aim is to get people to slow down, has he not made the speed trap more visible and got people to slow down?
Posted 13 years ago # -
HWC;
110
Flashing headlights. Only flash your headlights to let other road users know that you are there. Do not flash your headlights to convey any other message or intimidate other road users.He must have done something silly like admit why he was flashing his lights to get himself successfully prosecuted. He should have known his HWC and when stopped by the polis should have said "yes officer, I was flashing my lights, I was warning other road users that I was there, as it says in the Highway Code".
Posted 13 years ago # -
Ah yes, I'd forgotten about that rule. One I've broken many-a-time myself!
Posted 13 years ago # -
My driving instructor and my dad both pointed out that the problem with flashing people is that it might not be obvious what that flash means. "Go on, you first/will you get on with that manoeuvre?" is sometimes obvious but a flash from a car coming in the opposite direction when not manoeuvring/waiting would usually get me worrying that something was hanging off the car, the foglights were accidentally on or that there was someone sitting in the back seat with a pair of scissors. I wouldn't immediately think of it being a warning about an impending speed trap as I wouldn't be speeding, but might conceivably slow down anyway, possibly suspecting a potential hazard along the lines of an accident or a flock of sheep in the road.
Tricky one... whilst I am quite happy for speeding motorists to be fined and endowed with points I'd prefer them to never speed in the first place, and it's conceivable that they might be more likely to continue to speed after being warned by someone flashing them and getting away with it rather than being trapped, detected, fined and endorsed.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Interesting point Wingpig. Might be cheaper and more effective for the Polis to drive around in unmarked cars, flashing their headlights and getting people to slow down :) (but that would deny them their "revenue" stream)
Posted 13 years ago # -
Wingpig's point reminds of when my mate first got his licence we were driving up to Pitlochry for some cycling with the bikes on the back of a beat up metro. As we approached a corner a few cars started flashing and waving we immediately assumed there was something wrong with our bikes and the driver was slowing to stop at the next safe point as it turned out that was where the police were sitting with a speed trap, don't think we were actually speeding that old car with three large lads and three heavy bikes on the back couldn't i don't think.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Yes that is a good point. The flashee does not know why they are being flashed at and the distraction and/or unneeded braking could cause problems.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Even The Economist isn't impressed!
"Leaving aside the nitty gritty of the government's prestidigitations, there is the broader point that the idea of a "war on the motorist" is, to put it politely, bunk."
Posted 13 years ago # -
Good point chdot, it's rarely put about by the motoring lobby that you can get relatively "a lot" of car now for relatively "a little" (especially if you get it on credit / hire purchase / nearly-new seconds or some similar scheme). Anyone got a similar graph for the relative cost of bikes!?
Posted 13 years ago # -
If you chumps export that "war on the motorist" malarkey over here, I'm gonna get cranky.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Latest casualty figures for just the last 24 hours I think that makes about 7 or 8 in Scotland alone over the last 2 weeks. Strange its hard to find the reports for these killings...
Things a bad on the propaganda front too with BBC Breakfast doing special reports today on the price of fuel and the terribleness of potholes as if they only effect motorists coz no one else uses the roads right ... grumble, complain, whinge
Posted 13 years ago # -
"Strange its hard to find the reports for these killings..."
Not entirely true -
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/news/Five-dead-in-20-hours.6681044.jp
But media tends to only highlight the 'unusual' - 'quite a few in short space of time' or 'killer A9'.
"as if they only effect motorists coz no one else uses the roads"
Yes there is a lot of that.
'Opinion formers' tend to be well paid and likely to own/use cars.
Most MP/MSPs etc. fail to realise/understand how much better off they are than MOST people (before expenses).
Posted 13 years ago # -
The thing I hate most about the reporting of these incidents was highlighted by BBC Breakfast the other morning. There was a crash down south and someone had been killed.
90% of the report was about tailbacks caused by the road having been closed, and relief that it had been announced it would soon be open again.
Can't let pesky dead people making people late for work can we?
Posted 13 years ago # -
“
Scottish Conservative Lothian MSP and shadow local government secretary, Miles Briggs, said: “The SNP’s war on motorists seemingly knows no bounds. Not only do they want to hammer workers for simply driving to work, they are upping the ante even further.“
https://twitter.com/cocteautriplets/status/1515122740784771072
Posted 2 years ago #
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