Safe Speed Forums

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

Still having trouble with the distinction between weather and climate are we?



And do the teenage children of Hawes still walk to the local secondary school or are they bussed out to Leyburn or Sedburgh or Kirby Stephen?

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Love the poster jomjuk


Dcb I am quoting what Allan wrote to the paper. He mentioned "global warming as being the cause of the snow"

It's WINTER! It SNOWS occasionally from Nov to March here and Oct to April in the High Alps where my wife was brought up.. (OK Appenzell .. does not have the highest mountains )




Sadly .. they have not got the cadence power that we had as kids. We walked.. cycled .. caught the school bus .. pretty much as our own kids. Fosters? we take in person. We have another truanter with us for a short stay.. but enough to get us into trouble if he misses lessons. My wife braved the weather.. and then worked from home.. (having a toes up really) I attended school in one of the above villages Ah.. happy days.

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If you want to get to heaven - you have to raise a little hell!

Smilies are contagious
They are just like the flu
We use our smilies on YOU today
Now Good Causes are smiling too!

KEEP SMILING
It makes folk wonder just what you REALLY got up to last night!

Smily to penny.. penny to pound
safespeed prospers-smiles all round! !
But the real message? SMILE.. GO ON ! DO IT! and the world will smile with you!
Enjoy life! You only have the one bite at it.

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

Hey, that was me!

I did manage to ride about half the way, wheelspin on a pushbike is no joke, when I got on the flat I was up to my pedals in it.

i cycled in this morning, having prepped the mountain bike just in case.

only had one real 'moment' on a very minor road and did some tiptoeing down other untreated roads, bit slower than usual overall then, but took advantage of the offroad shortcut which saves about a mile.

Quite. Not all 4x4 systems are the same.

I have a copy of the Patent for eLSD and it is descibed as a traction control system for reducing torque to the front wheels (which it does by engageing the rear wheels rather than brake intervention on the front wheel to "slow" them down). It is not decribed as a four-wheel-drive system as many people seem to get the impression it is!!!

I remember the late seventies and early eighties well for the snow falls we used to get. Where i lived there were lots of hilly roads and I used to have to drive between 15 and 20 miles to work but a bit of snow never stopped any one. On the hilly bits drivers used to bail out and help push each other up the steeper sections. I once had to jump out of the car, pull the choke out for extra revs while pushing and steering the car up a bit of a hill, while in gear because there was no one around to help push. I used to work on an old RAF camp/industrial estate which used to host car rallies some weekends, so the younger drivers used to practice our driving skills during the lunch breaks on the deserted old roads and when it snowed we had a brilliant skid pan. What we learned there gave us the confidence not to have to worry about snow driving. Rear wheel drive cars were in the majority then and a LSD was something that rally cars had but no road cars, that I was aware of.
Drivers of today don't even try to master their cars abilities and driving skills. If we had winters like this every year we would have to learn or go back to living in caves.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Snow?......Did someone say: Snow?.....Where? When?

OK....so we did have about 1-2mm over the last week......God it was awful!

I can recall early eighties waiting for the rural school bus in an icy/snowy lane and when it skided towards us we all dived in the ditch. But that didn't stop us, we brushed ourselves down and got aboard. We where held up while a farmer was digging drift with a JCB but got to school eventually.

I just can't understand why the schools close these days?

The TV said not to drive into hilly areas - rubbish, I went walking in Snowdonia last week and there wasn't a problem. Tragically three people died last week in Snowdonia, but they were walking - not driving. I didn't see any signs of accidents, but come Bank Holiday August the roads are littered with wreckage.

I would be interested to know what the insurance industry statistics can tell us on the accidents of driving in snow.

Lucy.. I also cannot understand why the schools close. They never did when I was a lad nor when my wife was a girl


I understand though that Zurich and Alps had more snow than normal and that for once.. nothing ran like Swiss clockwork


If you walk - then you wear the right clothing. I think you do so. Layers of fleeces . maps.. thermos and flares in kit .. plus telling someone where you are heading. so that if you do not return on time .. a search party can at least be called on.


We do this when In Swiss/Austrian/German/French/talian alpine areas. Summer or winter.. spring or autumn.

I call it common sense. I wear layers of clothing as I have no idea if a weather front will set in if cycling or walking on our own Fells here. I am still a "duty surgeon" as and when required here. Safety? I actually do take it seriously .. but do not believe for one moment in a speed cam or other automated device replacing human common sense.

By the way .. you ask for the stats of dangers.

Suprisingly .. few accidents are recorded in the soft mush. It's when that mush freezes and no gritting gets done . that we have skids and accidents at low speed. My advice? Check tyre tread and pressures. Keep in third gear. Keep around 25 mph in third if a tricky situation. Feel for the car. If you sense silence. you are on ice. Keep calm. Keep cool. Be prepared to steer into any slide to master it here.

IG can advise better though He always can..


More later. My wife has just brought me a nice cup of tea and some home made ginger cake. mmmmm.

_________________
If you want to get to heaven - you have to raise a little hell!

Smilies are contagious
They are just like the flu
We use our smilies on YOU today
Now Good Causes are smiling too!

KEEP SMILING
It makes folk wonder just what you REALLY got up to last night!

Smily to penny.. penny to pound
safespeed prospers-smiles all round! !
But the real message? SMILE.. GO ON ! DO IT! and the world will smile with you!
Enjoy life! You only have the one bite at it.

Of course you wouldn't see any accidents because people were heeding the TV advice.

It increasingly surprises me, in this supposedly risk averse culture, how blasé we have become about mountaineering accidents. When I started mountaineering in the '60s fatal accidents in Britain were rare and when they did occur they were intensely analysed, whole books being written about single incidents. These days a mountain accident only rates a few column inches.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

I have had a fair bit of snow / ice driving and riding a bicycle (even Paul's that was too big for me and I kept slipping, but once on the main road I was OK but that was hard, mind I was far more concerned about damaging is bike!).

I wonder how people obtain their experiences with learning how to skid and to control it ?
A few people have stated a few things here, but have most had car park, defunct roads etc learning or other.

I only went on a skid pan after Paul had advised (and booked) it and then I went. I was very anxious when I went, as the skid that I had had (secondary) had seen me park beautifully on the other side of the road, but the biggest fear was not really knowing about skidding and how to control it. The skid pan was such good fun, and taught me so very very much. Having started to understand what is really going on (from an experience viewpoint), then I was able to take in and enjoy learning more, and wanted to to !
But what is there to encourage others to even go on a course ?
I then went on more courses after, plus been back to the skid pan about 3 times and plenty of empty car park / street experiences too. The skid pan led to some terrific training include anti-hijack training too (some anyway ).

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

Highway Code Annexe 1:"Make sre that you feel confident od your ability to ride safely on the road. Be sure that you chose the right size and type of cycle for comfort and safety". All cycle training manuals stress the importance of a correctly sized and adjusted machine. Riding an over-large machine means that you are never in proper control and cannot react promptly and properly in an emergency. By doing so you are putting yourself and other road users in danger. That should be your primary concern not fear of damaging your machine.

For a "road safety expert" to behave in this way and then talk about it openly, almost boastfully, is inexcusable. And how do you think Safe Speed members and forum users would have felt if you had been killed in those circumstances?

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

No you misunderstand it was the ice that made me slip. I was not being boastful far from it, I had to weigh up walking the whole 7 miles journey, to reach the nearest town in attrocious freezing cold conditions (no public transport or any other vehicles). Paul was seriously disabled, and ill and we needed food and he needed medication. It was the rough track that was icy that I slipped on. Although his bike was 'too big' it was only marginal and I was able to 'cycle' OK once I had reached the tarmac and gritted road or I would have had to walk it all.
The note about the 'damage the bike was tongue in cheek, should have added a smilie.
My point was about how we are driven to 'things', we can all learn by experiences and mistakes. I deal in facts and truth.

The Campaign is separate from the forums, we have to be 'free' in here, to talk of mistakes and errors of judgement and learn from them.

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

I should have used a Smilie too. I was just being silly about the "holier than thou" attitude that shows up on the forums from time to time

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown