This morning I drove up the M1 Motorway from London to Leicester. Well - more accurately - I drove up the M1 until just north of Milton Keynes - and then stoppped - and crawled - and stopped and crawled - and stopped and crawled - for around 45 minutes.
Yes - an accident. I’m not going to pressupose the cause of the accident - or whether it was unavoidable etc. etc. but having witnessed prior some crazy drivers overtaking at over 100mph and weaving in and out of fast-moving and crowded traffic without any regard for common-sense of safety and lane-discipline I directed all my rage at those types of driver - and pointed my own finger of blame squarely at such inconsiderate motorists. Not only do these types of people risk the lives of the innocents around them - they also cause misery, anger and major irritation to other motorists who just wish to get from A to B safely and without delays or hassle.
 |
During a moment of boredom whilst standing still on the Motorway - I rummaged around the glove-compartment of the car to see if there was any music cassettes that I could play - and found only one anonymous-looking TDK cassette. I don’t normally drive this car you see - it belongs to Mrs.79. So I popped it into the cassette player and turned up the volume with the window wound down fully in the searing summer heat. Out blasted the Beachboys “Surfin’ USA” - to which I rocked myself as much as I could - and tapped my fingers on the dashboard too. After a few minutes - I looked around and noticed some people in adjacent cars with their windows wound down - smiling, giving me the thumbs-up - and rockin’ to my music too!
And so I felt “cool”.
Posted by jag at April 24, 2004 08:18 PMThe best thing about driving in India - you can never get to go above 80kmph - either the roads are bad or the traffic is too heavy. Having said that, there are still accidents - due to drunken truck drivers mostly, and it is quite painful to watch a smashed up bus/car/van.
The livery on the police car seems interesting - never seen that one before!
I’ve just got back from Sri Lanka where the style of driving is frightening: overtaking round blind bends … overtaking the overtaker round blind bends!!!! But, on the other hand it seems to work because the drivers all seem synchronised to this style of driving and eveyone gives way if necessary. A huge contrast to Germany. OK the speeds and potential damage are far higher but the major difference is that there is so little tolerance on the roads. People hate to give way and seem to want to punish the rule-breakers and the aggression of both sides turns into a huge potential hazard. I don’t really approve of ignoring the traffic regulations but it seems like an art form in Sri Lanka, whereas here it’s a war zone.
Posted by: David on April 26, 2004 09:14 AMSat: the livery you see on the Police car is very typical of the traffic cops in UK. High-visibility in all light conditions is the key theme of the design.
David: I can sympathise completely with what you say re driving in Germany - the same is apparent in UK, as you probably know - a lot of raod rage is caused by people wanting vengeance - sparked by a very low degree of tolerance to “bad” driving. Having said that though - based upon what both you and Sat have reported about the India and Sri Lanka - I’m not sure which is worse!
Posted by: Jag on April 26, 2004 07:55 PMThe filter at work stil thinks you are an “occult site” so I cannot read you as often as I would like (Him Indoors is using the coputer for coursework at the moment so access is restricted). Anything you can do ? I miss my daily dose of west london through different eyes to mine.
Posted by: stroppycow on April 27, 2004 11:50 PMHi Strop - I’m not sure what I can do actually. I wonder why the filter at your work picks it up as “occult”?
Actually - you haven’t been missing much anyways - since I haven’t been able to update in the last few days due to being exceptionally busy etc.