Is it just me?

[Jukie]

Hi , The driving standard in the UK is on a par with Portugal.

I wouldn't know!

 

[ALFAitalia]

Spain, Portugal, Italy, France (France gets worse the further South you get).....all way worse than us.

 

[Fastcar155]

Spain, Portugal, Italy, France (France gets worse the further South you get).....all way worse than us.

Hi ,

A few years ago I would not have made my comment , post Covid driving standards in the UK are terrible.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Today’s poor driving standards are maybe accentuated due to more cars and drivers on the road when compared to ‘the good ole days’.

More cars on the roads compared to the "good ole days?"

Like this dip into driving on the A4 forty years ago, perhaps? It does look a little bit quiet.

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[Bobby Dazzler]

More cars on the roads compared to the "good ole days?"

Like this dip into driving on the A4 forty years ago, perhaps? It does look a little bit quiet.

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I’d love to drive that car, on those roads, at that time. Not just the lack of traffic, everything just looks “nicer”.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

I’d love to drive that car, on those roads, at that time. Not just the lack of traffic, everything just looks “nicer”.

For anyone familiar with that road, it's a hoot to see traffic going through places like Theale and Newbury.

And no drivers using an iPhone !

 

[SpikyMikey]

For anyone familiar with that road, it's a hoot to see traffic going through places like Theale and Newbury.

And no drivers using an iPhone !

And in complete contrast: Sunday last A322 heading from M3 towards Bracknell taken from the rear cam.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/miketonline/0tS0D88Eu9

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

For anyone familiar with that road, it's a hoot to see traffic going through places like Theale and Newbury.

And no drivers using an iPhone !

Although I would love to live a few days in the late 1890s, I would love even more to experience life in the late 1960s.

Both were remarkable and pioneering times, with some similarities: Interesting architecture, rapid urban regeneration, exciting technological advances, and the feeling of anything being possible.

The things invented in the late 19th and early 20th century reached a level of maturity in the 1960s, like the car and transatlantic travel, and eventually cross channel hovercrafts and space travel.

What a time to be alive and what a time to drive a British sporting saloon from London to Bath. Must have been remarkable. I’d have preferred to do it in a Jaguar E-Type roadster though. Perfection.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

And in complete contrast: Sunday last A322 heading from M3 towards Bracknell taken from the rear cam.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/miketonline/0tS0D88Eu9

Shocking. Taking risks like that will “probably be OK” until that one time when it isn’t, and the consequences will be life changing. Hopefully the drive stops doing it before that happens.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Unconvinced that there's any ideal time. They all have their unique appeal.

Throwing a holdall in the back of a Purosangue to head down to the coast in 2023 is probably as attractive as a, very unreliable, E type to the West Country in 1963.

Interesting that it's just over 100 years since the first petrol station opened on the A4, in 1919. With an AA man filling your vehicle from a single pump.

Different times.

.

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[MikeInWimbledon]

Who would want to take photos on this 1960's camera?

You can't even use it to put selfies to your Insta !

 

[davymead]

Who would want to take photos on this 1960's camera?

You can't even use it to put selfies to your Insta !

View attachment 145541

I did, and it was seen as revolutionary back then. Still got one in a cupboard somewhere.

 

[SpikyMikey]

I did, and it was seen as revolutionary back then. Still got one in a cupboard somewhere.

Our 'family camera' was a later version of the Instamatic - early 70's I guess. I remember the film cartridges and revolving Magicube flash bulbs.

 

[davymead]

I’d forgotten about the Magicube flash bulbs.
Wasn’t one type multi-faceted and inched round per usage, or am I dreaming again.

 

[adm]

The standards of lane discipline in the UK are definitely getting worse.

On a 2 lane A road, we now have 2 lanes of traffic moving at roughly the same speed. This is because people do not pull back in after passing, no matter how slowly they are actually passing. They will stay out, moving 3mph faster than the other lane and do another overtake and then another. Their mental processes must something like "Well I am passing, so I should be in this lane", when in reality all they are doing is causing a queue of traffic behind them.

Move up, pull out, overtake, pull back in. Repeat. It's not rocket science. Let the faster movers go by.

The Germans and the French are very good at this. I go abroad a lot on my bikes (4 out of the last 6 weeks) and it's normally a pleasure to drive in either country. Belgium sucks though. They drive like the British.

There really needs to be a proper public awareness campaign about this as it is getting ridiculous.

 

[SpikyMikey]

I’d forgotten about the Magicube flash bulbs.
Wasn’t one type multi-faceted and inched round per usage, or am I dreaming again.

I remember them as giving you 4 shots per cube, which rotated to give a fresh bulb facing forward when you wound the film on.
Or maybe I'm imagining it also.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

I did, and it was seen as revolutionary back then. Still got one in a cupboard somewhere.

As did I. The Insta that preceded Insta

Still remember the hot flashcubes, and that surprise in early Summer when the photos came back from Boots with some shots from Christmas that I'd forgotten about. The joys of taking just 36 photos a year.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

I remember them as giving you 4 shots per cube, which rotated to give a fresh bulb facing forward when you wound the film on.
Or maybe I'm imagining it also.

That's exactly how they worked.

Four tiny explosives on top of your camera, rotating when you wound the film on.

Big improvement on flashbulbs that were still hot when you swopped them out after you'd taken the photo, usually dropping them on the floor in the process.

 

[SpikyMikey]

As did I. The Insta that preceded Insta

Still remember the hot flashcubes, and that surprise in early Summer when the photos came back from Boots with some shots from Christmas that I'd forgotten about. The joys of taking just 36 photos a year.

Or the bigger surprise when you got your pictures back and realised that you don't recognise the family making sandcastles on Bognor beach and there are snaps of a birthday party you never went to and you've no idea who the happy couple in the wedding photos are....

 

[ALFAitalia]

They still used that flash cube on far later 110 style cameras.....well intro the late 70s...I used to have one like this


If I was going to take quite a few pics at night of treat myself to a disposable flash stack like this! Lol!