10mph - banned

[280gee]

How about the case of an incomplete mechanical breakdown that allows slow progress to a place of repair or home?

Should we have rules these days that stipulate a minimum legal speed to be attained?

With today's speeds and -on a mission- type driving behaviour perhaps it's simply the case that most roads are not a place for crawling along.

Goodbye veterans, vintage, horse and cart, traction engines, etc?

 

[Colin_b]

How about the case of an incomplete mechanical breakdown that allows slow progress to a place of repair or home?

Should we have rules these days that stipulate a minimum legal speed to be attained?

With today's speeds and -on a mission- type driving behaviour perhaps it's simply the case that most roads are not a place for crawling along.

Goodbye veterans, vintage, horse and cart, traction engines, etc?

I suspect a sensible person in that situation would avoid a motorway, and not proceed wandering from lane to lane with random braking incidents.
Or stop on the hard shoulder, and get out the car and summon help.

 

[Howard]

Saw an episode of Fred Dibnah once where he took his traction engine over a big bridge in northern England ...

He had to have an escort over the bridge , so i guess so ...

I imagine that slowly getting yourself off the motorway is fine, providing you aren't driving erratically and stick to the hard shoulder and have your hazards on ..... don't think the old dear had any of these ?

 

[glojo]

How about the case of an incomplete mechanical breakdown that allows slow progress to a place of repair or home?

Should we have rules these days that stipulate a minimum legal speed to be attained?

With today's speeds and -on a mission- type driving behaviour perhaps it's simply the case that most roads are not a place for crawling along.

Goodbye veterans, vintage, horse and cart, traction engines, etc?

We can all put forward what if's but let's keep this relevant. This woman could only stand with the aid of sticks (plural), she was extremely unsteady on her feet, she appeared shaky and was not fully coherant.

She was without a doubt a danger to herself and more important, a danger to other road users. She appears not fit to drive and in the opinion of the courts she is not fit to drive. Thankfully she has now been banned from driving. Are you suggesting this was wrong?

John

 

[280gee]

Just like the rest of us, she thinks she is the perfect driver and everyone else is out of kelter.

John

There's truth in that no doubt. Personally I hope that I'm staying abreast of my undoubted limitations. I've a back seat driver or two to keep me informed.

 

[Howard]

could only stand with the aid of sticks (plural), she was extremely unsteady on her feet, she appeared shaky and was not fully coherant.

John

Are you sure you aren't thinking of me on New Years Eve John ?

 

[280gee]

We can all put forward what if's but let's keep this relevant. This woman could only stand with the aid of sticks (plural), she was extremely unsteady on her feet, she appeared shaky and was not fully coherant.

She was without a doubt a danger to herself and more important, a danger to other road users. She appears not fit to drive and in the opinion of the courts she is not fit to drive. Thankfully she has now been banned from driving. Are you suggesting this was wrong?

John

It seems that what you observed on TV is pretty much what I observed regarding the woman's condition. Having had close personal experience with sufferers from MS I know that in certain cases it isn't just an observable physical disability that is present. The court may well have taken that into account in sentencing. If the wider question I raised is inappropriate for the thread then fair enough.

 

[television]

Vehicles running into the back of each other is very common on motorways, thats why many use their hazard lamps when stopping, and also shown by the safety flashing lamps used by all motorway services.

 

[verytalldave]

Vehicles running into the back of each other is very common on motorways, thats why many use their hazard lamps when stopping, and also shown by the safety flashing lamps used by all motorway services.

Interesting image there Malcolm. I wonder how many would be able to open their doors and walk away from an accident like that from the 1960's or 1970's?
It could even be a contrived image. Not many airbags on show..........

 

[BTB 500]

I imagine that slowly getting yourself off the motorway is fine, providing you aren't driving erratically and stick to the hard shoulder and have your hazards on

A friend of mine was done for going slowly to the next exit when his car (well, Suzuki Vitara .. does that count as a car? ) developed a problem. If you can't maintain the minimum speed you're supposed to pull onto the hard shoulder and stop. AFAIK it's an offence to drive on the hard shoulder (at any speed), ditto for using hazard lights other than when stationary.

 

[Howard]

Undoubtedly it's the law .... but seems that your friend was treated a little harshly ...

Surely better to get the problem off the motorway on the hard ( advertising your postition with the hazards , as you are in fact , a hazard ) .. than leaving a large piece of metal stationary for (potentially) a few hours in the hard shoulder ... just waiting to be hit by a truck ...

You can't second guess plod, but you'd have thought they'd have given him a bit of leeway or at the least ( if the exit was nearby ) given him an escort off the motorway ? Perhaps they got out of the wrong side of the bed ....

 

[BTB 500]

Undoubtedly it's the law .... but seems that your friend was treated a little harshly ...

Surely better to get the problem off the motorway on the hard ( advertising your postition with the hazards , as you are in fact , a hazard ) .. than leaving a large piece of metal stationary for (potentially) a few hours in the hard shoulder ... just waiting to be hit by a truck ...

You can't second guess plod, but you'd have thought they'd have given him a bit of leeway or at the least ( if the exit was nearby ) given him an escort off the motorway ? Perhaps they got out of the wrong side of the bed ....

Yup he was gobsmacked ... he only had a few hundred yards to go (this was on the M25). They made him wait for a tow truck. Perhaps they didn't like Vitaras!

I used to work in Eastbourne and there was quite a problem down there with elderly drivers who really shouldn't have been on the road. I got stuck in a huge queue at a T junction once ... cause was a Triumph Herald driven by an old dear who simply wouldn't pull out onto the main road. Sad, but she shouldn't have been behind the wheel.

My grandmother developed Alzheimers and used to go out in her Mini and forget where she lived. So I'm afraid we took the rotor arm out.

 

[television]

I used to work in Eastbourne and there was quite a problem down there with elderly drivers who really shouldn't have been on the road .

Seaside towns are a common place to find elderly drivers, many have money, and they can afford to live in these places. One gets used to it, when I go back to Hertfordshire it takes some time to get back up to the prevailing speed of the traffic.

 

[MBManInKen]

Whoa. Did she delay you getting to a meeting or something?

Nothing of the kind - I was just not pleased to see you state that she did not do anything illegal .

In fact, unless she was doing something illegal, there would not have been the opportunity for a court to step in in the way it happened.

The point I was trying to make was that there are tens (hundreds, I'd venture) of thousands of people who are unfit to be on the road every day because, as things stand you can pass a fairly arbitary test and drive for, say, the next 45 years without re-testing or any type of review until something goes wrong and forces that intervention.

Right, well that is actually quite a good point! I can agree with that, but that relates to a different system, i.e. the lawmakers as opposed to the judicial system.

The system has taken her off the road, but only after this potentially life-threatening incident.

Yes, but it is important to understand that the legal system could not have done anything else: they cannot make laws, they enforce them. They cannot act on what they believe is wrong, only on what the law describes as being wrong. In this case, the judicial system had no way of taking her off the road before she ended up violating the rules. That separation of powers is an essential part of modern democracy .

But again, I agree with you that the lawmaker ought to consider this issue of passing a test once and then being considered fit to drive for the rest of your life, you're quite right to bring that up.

I concede your point about the re-test. She may well pass, though, given the lack of motorway testing in this arbitary exam.

Somehow I don't think so . I heard an interview with her on radio 4 yesterday and I seriously doubt she'll be able to pass the retest.

Posters on this thread have been quick to condemn the actions of the individual without considering the bigger picture IMO.

Not a bad point either . On the other hand, my personal feeling is that people have let themselves be distracted by the personal issues around this person being an MS patient - which really ought not to have anything to do with it, the matter is solely one of fitness to drive.

 

[MBManInKen]

Haqving seen this lady on our local news I have no sympathy with her whatsoever.

I didn't see her but heard her on radio 4 and have to agree: she doesn't get any sympathy on the driving issue from me whatsoever. In fact, it seemed to me that she was largely ignoring the fact she was a danger on the roads and she seemed to believe that it was quite unreasonable of the rest of us to consider her unfit to drive!

It is easy for her to say she needs the car to get to Staples!

Yes, she said that during the interview - to go and fetch a bloody print cartridge!

Her words not mine, but in my humble opinion we have a greater responsibility to other road users.

Agreed.

staples has an online service and for those of us that cannot drive, we just have to educate ourselves and learn how to shop online.

Exactly and that is the real point: yes, her medical and social situation is something that can sollicit my sympathy, but that is really not related at all to the issue of driving - it's a wider social and political question.

 

[MBManInKen]

Regardless, it took over 4 months to reach magistrates

Sounds reasonable to me . In Belgium, it would probably have taken about 2 years .

 

[Spin_bowler]

Nothing of the kind - I was just not pleased to see you state that she did not do anything illegal .

OK - she did something illegal. I hope that now pleases you

I think we share similar views on the incident. She definitely shouldn't have been on the road and there are shortcomings in the way that we test and monitor driving standards.

I agree with you, I don't think she'll pass (or even take) the retest.

 

[MBManInKen]

How about the case of an incomplete mechanical breakdown that allows slow progress to a place of repair or home?

It seems to me that what to do depends on where you are. If I would end up on the hard shoulder of a motorway still able to reach 10mph, I would be quite inconsiderate and irresponsible to try and get home over the motorway at that speed. I would get a flat bed to come and pick me and the car up.

In other places and circumstances, it might be acceptable to limp home, but at the least one should consider this responsibly, not egocentrically.

Should we have rules these days that stipulate a minimum legal speed to be attained?

Already happens in some countries. In Belgium, there has been a minimum motorway speed as long as I can remember, of 70kph (about 43mph).

With today's speeds and -on a mission- type driving behaviour perhaps it's simply the case that most roads are not a place for crawling along.

Agreed.

Goodbye veterans, vintage, horse and cart, traction engines, etc?

Not necessarily, I guess this can be organised in some way or another, but I would think that the overall picture should be the prevailing consideration, not nostalgia.

 

[MBManInKen]

I think we share similar views on the incident.

Agreed .

 

[television]

Agreed .

We have a thread where we all agree it must be the new year:bannana::bannana: