I Am Thinking Of Calling It A Day

[aqua monster]

my views are there is work out there BUT why do people want to work when they can get paid more for doing nothing and just signing on once a week....

Only my views so no key board fighters please..

 

[JoshuaA]

my views are there is work out there BUT why do people want to work when they can get paid more for doing nothing and just signing on once a week....

Only my views so no key board fighters please..

I think for some people who have been higher paid and had more "upper class" jobs have an element of pride involved when it comes to finding a new job. I know my neighbour and also my own father had that problem initially.

 

[aqua monster]

i agree with you josh but at the end of the week when its time to get paid i would sooner say i did a weeks work doing any thing to earn my wages than do nothing and claim...

We all have to get up and go to work regardless if we like our jobs or not some people need to get over there pride and work.... At the end of the day work is work and thats what keeps the world going round..

 

[ChilliPepper]

I'm not so sure on the other ones you're talking about though. The fact of the matter was you actually broke the law to get caught, whether or not the camera is in what you assume is "the right place" you were still breaking the law by speeding and you've been caught. The camera did its job, possibly you might of learnt a lesson from it.

Wider road/naturally accelerate there is a speed limit, it's not hard to maintain a legal speed. If you "don't notice you're speeding" you don't deserve a licence to be honest (Not directed at you by the way, thats a response I was given by someone at the pub lol.)

I think to hold speed cameras in such high regard, and to make such a bold statement as, "if you don't notice you are speeding you don't deserve a licence", then you really better hope that you are never caught
I also think it is ignorant on your part that you feel all speed cameras/vans are put there 'for the better good'. To avoid accidents? What about all the cars slamming their brakes on when they catch sight of the camera/van? I'm not saying they are in the right for speeding, I am being realistic. Vans and cameras fining people for going a little over the limit, yet at the same time there can be some fool creating a tailback by driving too slowly, at the same time morons tailgating a car for doing the legal speed limit and some idiot pulling out without signalling/cutting a car up. I think the latter crimes far greater than going a little over the speed limit (which is all it takes to get caught, by the way) but yet the police are never around when that happens.

I think a far fairer camera is the average speed camera, or SPECS as they are called. They give advance warning of the speed restriction, the chance to slow down gradually and safely, and also punish the idiots who then floor it after they get past the first camera because they don't understand how these cameras work.

Before you ask, no I have not been caught by a camera or van for speeding, I just have a strong opinion about these 'cash machines'.

 

[chrisbassist]

In all fairness, speeding is a bigger issue than you give credit for. Speed limits are there for a reason. And my first thought when someone mentioned a camera, saying there haven't been any accidents there in years, was that maybe the camera is doing it's job properly.

People driving too slow a problem? I don't think so. Yes it winds us up, but any accidents are caused by the impatient idiots trying to get past. Not the ones driving slow.

 

[ChilliPepper]

In all fairness, speeding is a bigger issue than you give credit for. Speed limits are there for a reason. And my first thought when someone mentioned a camera, saying there haven't been any accidents there in years, was that maybe the camera is doing it's job properly.

People driving too slow a problem? I don't think so. Yes it winds us up, but any accidents are caused by the impatient idiots trying to get past. Not the ones driving slow.

People driving too slowly is a problem depending on the road they are doing it on and how many people they are holding up They can potentially cause just as many accidents as people driving too fast - you have to look at the bigger picture and potential chain of events. For example someone doodling along at 50mph on a dual carriageway, in the fast lane, at rush hour. People undertake to get past, which is dangerous. People don't have to overtake that old granny doing 15mph on a country road, however we live in an impatient world, so people driving too slowly equals people overtaking recklessly, equals potential head on collisions with a wholly innocent person.

Anyway, this is a huge subject that I'm not going to continue, as my opinion and no doubt yours, will not change so no point I just felt that I needed to comment on JoshuaA's post about speeding, as he sounded very sanctimonious. I think it's rare to find someone who hasn't gone slightly over the speed limit, whether intentional or not. It doesn't automatically make them a bad driver.

 

[chrisbassist]

Everyone does it from time to time. No one is perfect, I rarely stick to 70 on a motorway.

It's hard to change an opinion. Especially over the interwebs. But I do believe that a bigger problem than slow drivers are the idiotic ones that think they can overtake the slow driver on a blind bend right by a junction where people are pulling out.

Bigger picture, yes you could see that slow people cause crashes (and I'm not saying they don't cause any, I'm sure there are situations where they leave sensible drivers no choice but to drive into them) but usually the cause of the accident is the idiot trying to get past. Who isn't prepared to wait for a safe place to do so.

 

[ChilliPepper]

Yes, I agree that some people are morons who overtake on blind corners. I've witnessed this more times than I'd like to recount. It's usually been due to someone driving too slowly, though of course the person overtaking should wait for a safe place to do so. I feel sorry for the innocent parties involved.

 

[JoshuaA]

A slower driver sitting in the fast lane doodling along, the problem isn't the fact they're a slow driver its the fact they're sitting in the fast lane. If they moved over into the left lane there would be no problem with their speed.

I religiously stick to speed limits in built up areas, country roads and well you got me... I don't on a motorway however I rarely breach ~80.

You pointed out people slamming brakes on coming up to a speed camera, which in effect kind of implies nearly everyone was speeding at the time, only an idiot would speed up and slow down just before the camera. Speed cameras tend to have a high degree of leniency anyway, usually 10% by most council standards however some councils (they are the ones who set the limit at which you will actually receive points) may be overly generous and let people off for doing 50mph in a 40mph.

When I talk about speeders though I usually mean those people who continuously go 40 in a 30, insist they think it's a good idea to floor it past someone to over take dangerously in built up areas. Those who speed consistently are usually dangerous when it comes to over taking too, those who speed consistently are more like to slam into the back of you on a wet day. Many people I know who I have begun to despise due to their arrogance have passed their test jumped into a Ka/Corsa/Fiesta and instantly started driving at 40mph in a 30mph, their excuses are usually like "Oh it doesn't feel right doing 30", "It's hard to stick to 30!". My girlfriend was one of them and I had many a arguments with her over it because of how wreckless and stupid it is for her to had just passed her test at the time and then ruin everything she had just learnt. I am particularly peev'd with young female drivers who speed consistently around built up areas and those who find it acceptable to play with their hair in the mirror/talk on the phone or put lipstick on whilst driving.

Some time ago I had one young girl clearly 17 in a 2010 Vauxhall Astra go into the wrong lane on a simple roundabout. We went to go around the roundabout and just as I was about to pull off on my exit, she pulls around me cuts right infront of me and slams her brake on at a red light. I beep her to say... WHAT? and she put her finger up at me and then actually started to put lipstick on!

I was recently on the continent with a large amount of driving time spent in Italy, Austria and Hungary with some in other nations too. However I noticed that most drivers in Austria seemed to be a bit better behaved, however there were some obvious A holes. Unfortunately everyone speeds in Austria but barely anyone drives "Dangerously" Or "Wrecklessly" meaning over taking awkwardly driving up 2mm behind the rear bumper of the car infront. However the second I got back to the UK and coming back from Manchester Airport I cars practically ramming each other on the motorway, wreckless over takes and a car crashing into the back of a caravan on the M56!

I think speed cameras do a great job, unfortunately they're getting huge cuts now. However as Chris says, if you haven't had an accident on the road for years with a speed camera there... surely it's doing its job? If it ain't broke don't fix it? Unfortunately most of our roads are broke due to MASSIVE POTHOLES.

Potholes.... which is more annoying Potholes or Sunday Drivers?

 

[ChilliPepper]

Yes, I must say I agree with your points Joshua. A bug bear of mine (another ) is people in the wrong lane at roundabouts cutting across you, then when you beep they have the audacity to stick their fingers up.
Another example of bad driving was on my way to work one day, just about to join a notoriously bad road. You leave one dual carriageway, then get in the left hand lane which follows round to join to another dual carriageway. There is also a right hand lane where you can go straight on or right, you do have to stop here to give way to oncoming traffic. A woman in front of me in the left hand lane, slammed her brakes on and just stopped, when you don't even need to. In fact if she had been driving correctly and following the road signs, she would know it is a continuous piece of road. I beeped at her, and she was mouthing off at me despite the fact she was clearly in the wrong

I think people who can't follow road signs are even worse than the speeders who go a little over the limit, and unfortunately I never see a copper catching them. Not to say it doesn't happen though, of course.

Anyway, I will admit to being a bit of a speeder in my younger days, but I have grown up and usually stick to the limits pretty religiously now. May go over 70 occasionally on a clear dual carriageway, but to be honest I have slowed right down. I think experience teaches you the perils of speeding, and you do learn that it is just not worth it.

 

[Tolak]

Laws, which speed limits are, are mainly oriented towards the lowest common denominator. You don't need a law to tell you that taking other people's things isn't cool, nor is smacking people around, or cranking 70 mph past a school with kids around.

That being said, I generally treat speed limits like suggested retail prices, and go 5-10 over when safe to do so. Around here if you do the speed limit on an expressway you will be a hazard no matter what lane you are in, 20 over is pretty much average speed.

 

[JoshuaA]

I like how this thread has "derailed" like a freight train to another form of transport.

There's a road on the wirral side of the mersey tunnel which one road comes off the motorway to head to a round about and another lane comes up to join the motorway, however both lanes merge together with an initial solid white line. If its busy you sometimes get sent back onto the motorway because you can't switch lane. Mainly you get people who decide to switch last minute after insist they have to over take everyone first! To make it worse the left lane is a lane which can also be used by residents as a short cut to the roundabout rather than joining the motorway. Very poorly designed merger.

Roundabouts wind me up, purely because of people who no longer understand the lane positioning.

However possibly the worst thing going is the state of our roads I don't think anything else tops that.

 

[seffieuk]

Speed humps, now they really give me the 'hump'. My car is fairly low slung so I have to crawl over the things unless I want to bottom out --- they drive me nuts!!

Seffie x

 

[raptorrex]

Vat increase doesn't punish the poor more than the rich, things classed as necessities are vat free anyway. It's people who buy more luxuries who pay the price there.

VAT is on, most things, people buy. and is a pathetic regressive tax. designed to tax the poor, much, more than the better off. PAYE is the fairest tax. tax as a percentage of your total earning, is the only fair way.

someone said "i didn't hear anyone complaining when VAT went down." you weren't listening bud. those of thought said, from the beginning, VAT will go up, soon enough.

Tax, on the lowest 20% of wage earners, is at 80%+. how can that be fair, when a billionaire is taxed, at as little as 15%?

I agree Taxes need to rise. but taxing the poorest, highest. simply is not the way to go. but the greed and jealousy, of the country's top 2% earners (and the power they hold). will always keep it that way.

Indirect taxation it the most regressive kind.

 

[BethK]

It's robin hood all over again!