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Driving and Roads

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 473
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Applying Occam's razor, are you sure it wasn't flashing a warning to any passing car to be aware of possible cyclists ahead (sounds like a black spot).

If it is intelligent I expect it uses infrared or microwave, or a combination of them, similar to some pedestrian crossings, to detect a cyclist.
 
MikeSh said:
Applying Occam's razor, are you sure it wasn't flashing a warning to any passing car to be aware of possible cyclists ahead (sounds like a black spot).
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Well, I go through that junction after dark every couple of weeks or so, so either the sign is a new installation or it is triggered by something other than me.
 
Black Hole said:
The question in my mind is: how the hell did it do that? So there could be a sense coil in the cycle lane, but that wouldn't distinguish between a bicycle and a car that happened to stray into the cycle lane shirley?
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I suppose it might. There is a difference in the amount of metal in a car and in a bicycle so it's possible. On the other hand, it might just detect your vehicle and flash the warning assuming that a cyclist is there. Not that motorists take note of flashing signs. There is a low railway bridge near me. Height detectors have been placed some distance before the bridge (as viewed from either direction). Flashing signs warn over-height vehicles and a run-off lane allowing them to do a u-turn have been provided. And yet lorries and buses keep hitting the bridge.:rolleyes: Fortunately it is a test track so no scheduled rail services are delayed.
 
EEPhil said:
There is a low railway bridge near me. Height detectors have been placed some distance before the bridge (as viewed from either direction). Flashing signs warn over-height vehicles and a run-off lane allowing them to do a u-turn have been provided. And yet lorries and buses keep hitting the bridge.:rolleyes:
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Many things have hit that bridge over the decades (it's not even that low - about 14'6" I think). I think the most notable was when a flat-bed lorry carrying a JCB (or similar) hit the bridge. The JCB's arm swung round and hit a bus going the other way. ISTR a couple of kids on board were killed.
I always think of it as the "Bill your dinner's ready" bridge, as that was the graffiti on it which lasted probably 20+ years before it was painted over.
Fortunately it is a test track so no scheduled rail services are delayed.
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The stupid thing is that the trains stop about 1.5 miles back down the line. There has been a huge amount of activity (relatively speaking) on that track in the last 18 months. I haven't seen anything go further for a very long time (Network Rail insisted on the nearby very expensive bridge being built over the then new A52 missing link and it's hardly ever been used).
 
Trev said:
Spelling. 1/10
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All too common problem these days. I tried very hard to get it right as well and slipped up over the simple bit.
see me.
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I used to get that for writing in green ink. They hated it. I loved it at the time. Haven't had a green pen for ages now. Might go and buy one tomorrow.
 
EEPhil said:
There is a low railway bridge near me.
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That reminds me... I once drove an 11'3" van under a 10'9" bridge. That was on the main line between PAD and BPW. But I did know what I was doing and trebled checked at varying distances away and at dead slow speed. The highest part of the vehicle actually fitted comfortably under the highest part of the bridge.
Some of my colleagues have had er, incidents, shall we say. Two this year. But not really their fault - a fail-unsafe system; and it had recently been changed without anybody having been told. Classic.
 
prpr said:
The stupid thing is that the trains stop about 1.5 miles back down the line. There has been a huge amount of activity (relatively speaking) on that track in the last 18 months. I haven't seen anything go further for a very long time (Network Rail insisted on the nearby very expensive bridge being built over the then new A52 missing link and it's hardly ever been used).
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I've never seen anything go over that A52 bridge. Anyway the buffer material near the Melton Road, close to the old Edwalton station looks completely knackered. Probably the A52 bridge needed to be there in case the train didn't stop in time. Don't want a train landing on the ring-road.
 
Trev said:
I like green ink too.
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I had one of those multi-coloured biros as a kid too.
It was a bit of a nuisance to retract the colour and select a new one every time. And it was hard to write with as the body was so fat.
 
prpr said:
I had one of those multi-coloured biros as a kid too.
It was a bit of a nuisance to retract the colour and select a new one every time. And it was hard to write with as the body was so fat.
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The one I had (with about a dozen colours) didn't retract at all - you had to unscrew the top and swap refills by hand.
 
I came within inches of a major smash today.

Here's the place: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/51°21'12.3"N+2°12'19.8"W

Here's a map:

3984

I was approaching the marked mini-roundabout from the south on the B3106, turning right. To the left were two cars approaching about 50 yards away, I checked right and there was nothing coming so I proceeded on my course around the roundabout... to find myself almost t-boning the first of the cars approaching from the left who failed to give way, apparently completely unaware there even was a roundabout!

Shook me up, I might say. Said vehicle then had to give way to oncoming traffic in a stretch with parked cars in the village, with me right behind, and then put as much distance as possible between us (pushing well past 30). I figure that if he/she (I think it was a she) thought it was my bad, he/she wouldn't have been quite so keen to get away.
 
There are people who think that mini-roundabouts like that are just like a normal junction with the 'main' route having the right of way. Had a guy on a car forum who hit the tail-end of a van that pulled onto the m-r as he tried to drive straight through at 30 mph - he was convinced he was in the right.

I actually think the US system of just having compulsory Stop lines and first to stop has right of way would be better for the way people drive these days.
 
I think it would help if there was at least some kind of physical obstruction in the middle, instead of just a white dot. Okay, so large vehicles have to cut the corner to get round, but large vehicles have large wheels and could bump over a small kerb at the appropriate slowness.

Several times at other mini-roundabouts I've had oncoming vehicles (turning right) go completely the wrong side of the dot, and in one case indignantly complaining because I was in the way of that track (when they could have gone around the dot and then behind me).
 
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