Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

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Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Lost Leopard Spot » Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:22 pm

A local village near me got hold of a speed camera and whilst wielding it realised over 50% of the locals were speeding in their own village. Including one unbelievable tit who sped through the village before joining the next 'watch', and when confronted (with mobile footage) denied it was him or his car.

So, over the last two days we've* done a traffic census in a Derbyshire village which lies on a four-way junction with traffic lights. The survey has been continuous between the hours of 5am and 9pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, and we've just compiled the stats.

Over the 960 changes of traffic lights observed, 840 cars went through on red. On only two occasions did cars stop on amber, the 118 other occasions all queuing traffic had gone through so there were no incidences of red-crashing because there were no drivers there.

Of the 92,506 cars who passed through the village:
65,409 exceeded the speed limit
9,203 were eating or drinking with just one hand on the steering wheel whilst moving.
5,502 drivers were visibly on a mobile phone.
906 were visibly without a seatbelt.
17 drove through a zebra crossing when the light was red.
2 drove through a zebra crossing when the light was red and people were on the crossing.

* We, being a small group of private citizens. We did not advertise our presence and filmed/census took/speed camera'ed discreetly from unobvious vantage points.

Despite that, 4 absolute idiots (all seperate individuals driving seperate cars at seperate times of the day) noticed our 'activity' and responded.
One turned around, drove back and launched a bottle.
One braked to a halt worthy of a film scene, exited the car and charged at the volunteer before running back to his car and pissed off at speed.
One swerved up onto the pavement and then performed handbrake turns to his passenger's obvious entertainment.
And one (already speeding, whilst on a mobile phone, accelerated to get through an already red light that had just turned from green) noticed the speed camera, and lost control of his car and drove into the bus shelter opposite the junction (unoccupied at the time).

We've just finished our meeting. Unfortunately the woman who was filming using her mobile is refusing to hand in the most incriminating incidents to the police because a fair percentage of the individuals involved live locally and will know her. Pity, really.
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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Lost Leopard Spot » Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:45 pm

The first and obvious conclusion is that Red doesn't mean what it used to mean. The modern interpretation seems to mean, oh that's ok we can squeeze another three cars through easily and I'm only fourth in the queue, I can get through too!

The second conclusion is a less obvious one, because we didn't record stats for it, because we weren't expecting it. But, the closest and hairiest incidents, were also the most common (we have no figures). They involved speeding cars going through on green to turn right and intercepting oncoming cars who've just dawdled through at the end of a queue on red. The constant barp of annoyed speeders echoed by the outraged beep beep beep of red light jumpers is the New Age Symphony.
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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by TANGODANCER » Thu Jan 24, 2019 6:32 pm

^
Bottom Line, the Highway Code is just being ignored because people can. Unless the whole thing is monitored (fat chance when there aren't enough police to catch thieves, burglars and they just aren't interested in trespass or shoplifting.) it will remain so (I was about to write - "thus it will ever be", but Prufrock might be watching). People know what's right and what's wrong, they just don't give one. Police and the law only act on hard evidence and without speed cameras and better monitoring....When in doubt, lie!
Every street/ road/avenue etc ( I live in one) within half a mile (maybe more) of Bolton Hospital is chock-a-block during working hours with cars parking on pavements to avoid carpark charges and they're the new taxi routes up there. . Traffic wardens...when did you last see one anywhere near? They could make a fortune in fines for crazy parking.
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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Lost Leopard Spot » Thu Jan 24, 2019 6:36 pm

TANGODANCER wrote:
Thu Jan 24, 2019 6:32 pm
^
Bottom Line, the Highway Code is just being ignored because people can. Unless the whole thing is monitored (fat chance when there aren't enough police to catch thieves, burglars and they just aren't interested in trespass or shoplifting.) it will remain so (I was about to write - "thus it will ever be", but Prufrock might be watching). People know what's right and what's wrong, they just don't give one. Police and the law only act on hard evidence and without speed cameras and better monitoring....When in doubt, lie!
Every street/ road/avenue etc ( I live in one) within half a mile (maybe more) of Bolton Hospital is chock-a-block during working hours with cars parking on pavements to avoid carpark charges and they're the new taxi routes up there. . Traffic wardens...when did you last see one anywhere near? They could make a fortune in fines for crazy parking.
Yup.
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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Enoch » Fri Jan 25, 2019 1:35 am

Was anybody hurt?

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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by BWFC_Insane » Fri Jan 25, 2019 1:50 pm

Serious question - what fecking village has over 45,000 vehicles passing through it a day? That's way, way over the major A road daily average.....

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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Lost Leopard Spot » Fri Jan 25, 2019 2:45 pm

Enoch wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 1:35 am
Was anybody hurt?
No. Although the bottle thrower will be.
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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Lost Leopard Spot » Fri Jan 25, 2019 2:47 pm

BWFC_Insane wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 1:50 pm
Serious question - what fecking village has over 45,000 vehicles passing through it a day? That's way, way over the major A road daily average.....
Ambergate, Whatstandwell, Cromford, Matlock Bath, Darley Dale, Rowsley...

(You're quite welcome to come along and help with our next traffic census...)
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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Lost Leopard Spot » Fri Jan 25, 2019 3:04 pm

We once had 6,200 in twenty minutes...
https://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/ ... -1-8538570
Yes we've held parish traffic censuses before. And as usual the police and local authorities just shrug their shoulders. You sound quite like them.

You want to see it in the summer: there are queues on the approach from the south that stretch back to Belper and queues coming in from the north that start well before Matlock, and all the fxcking time motorbike after motorbike after fxcking motorbike overtaking and undertaking the queues to form knots of interfering traffic at the most complex junctions. Which then all at breakneck acceleration take off and interweave like the fxcking Red Arrows.

This time of year is tame.
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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Lost Leopard Spot » Fri Jan 25, 2019 3:52 pm

And to further inform you... I live in a village which is the southern portal to a National Park with over 13 million visitors a year, next door to the 'Mecca' for motorbikers, with a spur road (the Via Gellia) built specifically to transport freight between London and Manchester when freight was horsedrawn, on the oldest north-west Roman route that became the A6 sometime in the eighteenth century, in one of the few UNESCO World Heritage sites in the country which draws in international tourists, at the apex of a traffic fxck up because rail services come to a grinding stop at Matlock.
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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Lost Leopard Spot » Fri Jan 25, 2019 3:53 pm

Does that answer "what fxcking village...?" ?
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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by BWFC_Insane » Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:12 pm

I wasn't doubting the veracity of the data - just wondering where the hell had such a volume of traffic in January is all! So thanks.

That's a hell of volume for non major roads in rural areas. But still.

There is a very simple answering to much of this - compulsory black boxes on all cars. It will happen (assuming completely driverless and automatic control cars don't happen first).

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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Lost Leopard Spot » Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:36 pm

BWFC_Insane wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:12 pm
I wasn't doubting the veracity of the data - just wondering where the hell had such a volume of traffic in January is all! So thanks.

That's a hell of volume for non major roads in rural areas. But still.

There is a very simple answering to much of this - compulsory black boxes on all cars. It will happen (assuming completely driverless and automatic control cars don't happen first).
Firstly: quite a few of the red light abusers are commercial lorries. Local firms being the worst. Black boxes won't sort that because black boxes record speed not red light evasion.
Secondly: the worst speeders are motorbikers. I have no confidence black box technology will ever come near them in the next decade.
Thirdly: The sheer proportion of people who speed is informative. It's because people don't believe in the methodology of accident reduction...see Enoch's dismissive "was anybody hurt" retort.
Fourthly: The police and local and national authorities already turn a complete blind eye to this, when evidence is not only there but presented to them they basically say "sorry, nothing to do with us".
Fifthly: Nobody gives a fxck, because basically you are the one's being accused. And everybody does it. So what is the universal response?
Last year a local resident ran down and killed his only daughter. In an accident. Tragic. To this day he blames the local authorities, road designers, the weather... anything but the fact he didn't notice the traffic light was on red and his daughter was crossing on green...
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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Enoch » Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:38 pm

I'm sick to death of watching humans staring at a little red man, whilst listening to their latest download and walking blindly across the road in front of me as soon as the little man goes green, often pushing the pram into the road first, without so much as a cursory glance left or right.

Nanny state full of them there mollycoddled snowflakes, no thank you!

Good job I'm paying attention to what's actually going on.

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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Lost Leopard Spot » Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:47 pm

Enoch wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:38 pm
I'm sick to death of watching humans staring at a little red man, whilst listening to their latest download and walking blindly across the road in front of me as soon as the little man goes green, often pushing the pram into the road first, without so much as a cursory glance left or right.

Nanny state full of them there mollycoddled snowflakes, no thank you!

Good job I'm paying attention to what's actually going on.
I quite understand that reaction. No, really I do. But, when you live in an area that is utterly and wholly overtaken by what in the rest of the country is a tiny minority, but in your own backyard causes all normal folk to act abnormally, then I challenge you to explain why the fxck I should put up with you inconveniencing me because you think you might not kill me whilst driving illegally?
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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Enoch » Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:53 pm

I've never even been to Derbyshire!

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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Lost Leopard Spot » Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:57 pm

Enoch wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:53 pm
I've never even been to Derbyshire!
Even more reason to stop trying to kill me.
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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Enoch » Fri Jan 25, 2019 6:42 pm

Spotty, are you familiar with the 'Monderman experiment' in Drachten, Holland.

Here.

Similar schemes have been developed in more than fifty British towns, including Bexleyheath, where I have lived, with universally favourable results. Seems the safer man tries to make the roads the more dangerous they become.

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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Lost Leopard Spot » Fri Jan 25, 2019 7:33 pm

Enoch wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 6:42 pm
Spotty, are you familiar with the 'Monderman experiment' in Drachten, Holland.

Here.

Similar schemes have been developed in more than fifty British towns, including Bexleyheath, where I have lived, with universally favourable results. Seems the safer man tries to make the roads the more dangerous they become.
I'm very well aware of schemes like that. Unfortunately I don't live in such liberated zones. I have to live with the traditional arrangement of traffic lights. And when the combined fifty strong chapter of The Sad Satanic Wankers From Hell club come through, I don't have the option of pointing out to them that I'd be safer in Holland because they'd respect my street space better there...

And when the green 'you can walk now you pathetic cxnt' light comes on for the two and a half seconds it gives me to cross and I launch my right boot into the passenger door of the next car to ignore a red light, it doesn't lead to harmonious multitransportational ecstasy.
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Re: Rampant Casual Roaduser Criminality

Post by Enoch » Sat Jan 26, 2019 12:01 am

You're just picking at sores.

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