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Highway Code Changes

So these Highway Code changes do not apply to NI, seemingly we have our own Highway Code, though there is a few changes in discussion and consultation :rolleyes:
 
One things for sure, Deliveroo ‘drivers & cyclists’ need a separate designation. Couldn’t believe what I saw last night. One of there e-bike riders, barely visible lights, no helmet & headphones in place.

Also spotted a guy on a motorised MTB earlier, not electric but an actual two-stroke motor, very loud, attached to the cheapest thing sold by Halfords. Terrifying, how are these things not spotted & stopped?
 
Also spotted a guy on a motorised MTB earlier, not electric but an actual two-stroke motor, very loud, attached to the cheapest thing sold by Halfords. Terrifying, how are these things not spotted & stopped?

They often are, I follow a few police twitter feeds. Astonishing. But, not crime of the century, and limited numbers of police available. I’d rather they caught drug dealers, rapists, gun carriers etc than organ donation riders.
 
One things for sure, Deliveroo ‘drivers & cyclists’ need a separate designation. Couldn’t believe what I saw last night. One of there e-bike riders, barely visible lights, no helmet & headphones in place.

Hmm! When I had a moan a few months back about suicidal e-scooter riders (no lights, no helmet and headphones in) swerving between lanes without looking on my commute along the Old Kent Road you weren't impressed.. ;-)
 
Hmm! When I had a moan a few months back about suicidal e-scooter riders (no lights, no helmet and headphones in) swerving between lanes without looking on my commute along the Old Kent Road you weren't impressed.. ;-)
They weren’t on e-scooters so I am not sure what your point is? The motorised bike would have been illegal & I am not tarring a whole sector of travel just observing some bad behaviour. I don’t want to ban e-bikes just because of some deliveroo riders whereas the whole e-scooter thread was largely condemning their existence.

Otherwise I’m a total hypocrite;)
 
I drove into St Helens town Centre and environs the day before yesterday.

As I left the biggest and most stupidly designed of the town centre roundabouts..keeping right after turning right into a dual carriageway..( And intending to stay right as that is required at the next stupidly designed roundabout), I just spotted a bloke in a hand propelled wheelchair. He had been given way to by a driver who had just turned left from the opposite side of the roundabout to where I had entered it. However, since he crossed in front of said driver, I barely saw him. I lifted off.. but he shot out from in front of the driver to my left and then crossed in front of me. I was hardly in danger of colliding with him.. but it was his assumption that I had seen him which was a concern..especially as he then crossed the centre line and charged across in from of traffic aproaching him on the two opposite lanes. Whether he was performing according to new Highway Code, or is always suicidal, I have no idea.

A mile or so futher on, as I positioned myself aproaching lights controlling access to the famous 'East Lancs Road', a pedestrian who appeared to be walking normally along the sidewalk to my left, suddenly dodged out in front of the car to my left..which was several cars back from a red light.. I was in the right lane, for turning right, and there was only one car..well ahead of me.. stopped at the lights. There was also no car behind me.. but our friend the pedestrian held out his hand in a clear signal that he expected me to stop, so that he could cross, rather than wait a few nanoseconds for me to pass, then cross. Again..New Regs? or just stupid? Who knows.
And again..before anyone jumps on me. Had he been clearly waiting to cross before leaping out..etc... But he wasn't.
 
The point of the change is not simply to encourage and prescribe that you or I use the Dutch reach in order to reduce the likelihood of 'dooring' or even losing a door, but rather that everyone uses the Dutch reach in order to reduce the likelihood of dooring or even losing a door. It's a case of success versus mastery: you and I may well have succeeded in not dooring or even losing a door etc, but what we want and need is cultural mastery so that, as far as possible, dooring and even losing a door is, by and large, a thing of the past. The old way of just using the one hand had the potential to be successful as long as people turned and looked over their shoulder before opening the door, but, as a society, we just didn't master it, hence the change.

All deeply philosophical.. but you are just going to have to believe that I always look in my mirrors , both rear view and wing, before opening my door. It is such an ingrained habit, that I even do it on my drive.
 
All deeply philosophical.. but you are just going to have to believe that I always look in my mirrors , both rear view and wing, before opening my door. It is such an ingrained habit, that I even do it on my drive.

I don't think my comment was philosophical at all: people are still being killed and maimed because people don't look thoroughly enough - or at all in some case cases - when opening their car doors. That's why as a society we need to change from some people having mastered safe exiting from their vehicle to the vast majority if not all people having mastered it. Like you, I've proven to be quite good at opening my door only when it's safe to do so but we need everybody to do that like it's second nature. Simply being instructed to do this during driving tuition hasn't turned out to be the enduring point of learning it ought to be, hence society needs a nudge. If this nudge proves to be unsuccessful then I'd expect another nudge to follow in due course, perhaps in 10 years' time whereby penalties will be introduced/increased should dooring occur.
 
I'd still been 50/50 on the Dutch reach so what I did yesterday was tie a bright yellow duster cloth to my door handle so that I see it just before I open the door and so give myself a last minute reminder to use the Dutch reach. Since I did that I've been 100% on the Dutch reach... and no, it's not a technique I employ from a "continental special interest film for gentlemen" :)
 
I drove into St Helens town Centre and environs the day before yesterday.

As I left the biggest and most stupidly designed of the town centre roundabouts..keeping right after turning right into a dual carriageway..( And intending to stay right as that is required at the next stupidly designed roundabout), I just spotted a bloke in a hand propelled wheelchair. He had been given way to by a driver who had just turned left from the opposite side of the roundabout to where I had entered it. However, since he crossed in front of said driver, I barely saw him. I lifted off.. but he shot out from in front of the driver to my left and then crossed in front of me. I was hardly in danger of colliding with him.. but it was his assumption that I had seen him which was a concern..especially as he then crossed the centre line and charged across in from of traffic aproaching him on the two opposite lanes. Whether he was performing according to new Highway Code, or is always suicidal, I have no idea.

A mile or so futher on, as I positioned myself aproaching lights controlling access to the famous 'East Lancs Road', a pedestrian who appeared to be walking normally along the sidewalk to my left, suddenly dodged out in front of the car to my left..which was several cars back from a red light.. I was in the right lane, for turning right, and there was only one car..well ahead of me.. stopped at the lights. There was also no car behind me.. but our friend the pedestrian held out his hand in a clear signal that he expected me to stop, so that he could cross, rather than wait a few nanoseconds for me to pass, then cross. Again..New Regs? or just stupid? Who knows.
And again..before anyone jumps on me. Had he been clearly waiting to cross before leaping out..etc... But he wasn't.
I doubt these were reactions to the new Highway Code but you anticipated the dangers & no one was hurt so shows you are decent driver.
 
you anticipated the dangers & no one was hurt so shows you are decent driver.

Gosh!!

After starting my cycling career on the public highways around 65+ years ago.. I was thrilled to have my skills confirmed by the award of a Cycling Proficiency Badge,.. as a Wolf Cub... around 62 years ago.

I felt even more validated when I started riding Motorcycles in 1965... 57 years ago... A practice which I continued on and off until the mid 1980s. I fell off a couple of times, but was never in a collision, or found guilty of any offences.

From 1967 ..55 years ago.. I started driving cars on the roads. In more than half a century I have collected a total of three.. long expired points on my licence and never been in a collision that was deemed to be my fault.

In the interim, I also managed, causing a minimum of mayhem, to drive numerous vehicles 'off road', on factory premises etc. These included Electric and Diesel Fork Lift Trucks, Building site 'Dumper Trucks', a 'Hi Mac' Grab, Diesel Electric Cranes, assorted trucks, including Flatbeds and 'Tippers'.

Some three or so years back I took advantage of the opportunity to have my driving assessed as part of a scheme for 'Elderly Drivers'. It was free, so why not? The Instructor advised me that my driving was well up to standard and her only complaint was that I allowed the ratchet on the handbrake to be audible whilst applying said brake. I could have argued that I was allowing her to hear that I was actually applying the brake at appropriate times.. but that would have been churlish..
So once more I was pleased to have my skills recognised and validated.

But now.... Accolade of Accolades!!!! I have been awarded... The Ultimate... the 'Woodface Award for Decent Driver'!!!

Can't wait for the Bumper Sticker to arrive..... :):):)
 
I don't think my comment was philosophical at all: people are still being killed and maimed because people don't look thoroughly enough - or at all in some case cases - when opening their car doors. That's why as a society we need to change from some people having mastered safe exiting from their vehicle to the vast majority if not all people having mastered it. Like you, I've proven to be quite good at opening my door only when it's safe to do so but we need everybody to do that like it's second nature. Simply being instructed to do this during driving tuition hasn't turned out to be the enduring point of learning it ought to be, hence society needs a nudge. If this nudge proves to be unsuccessful then I'd expect another nudge to follow in due course, perhaps in 10 years' time whereby penalties will be introduced/increased should dooring occur.

Windhoek.. I understand exactly where you are coming from. But do you not see the 'Dutch Reach'..as a 'sticking plaster', to disguise a more fundamental issue? The basic issue is a combination of failed observation, which may be combined with carelessness (in the full sense of the word) and impatience.

So I'm bound to ask. Why offer a fundamentally awkward and unnatural technique, which the worst offenders are unlikely to adopt? What is needed is for drivers to be taught, and assessed on observational skills BEFORE they are awarded a licence. If they cannot convince an examiner that their use of observation has become as automatic as their use of the accellerator pedal...fail them.
 
350 miles yesterday, Suffolk to Berkshire and back, with lots of driving in the Windsor area once there, and I avoided motorways.

No carnage, and quite a few examples of the hierarchy in action.
 
Windhoek.. I understand exactly where you are coming from. But do you not see the 'Dutch Reach'..as a 'sticking plaster', to disguise a more fundamental issue? The basic issue is a combination of failed observation, which may be combined with carelessness (in the full sense of the word) and impatience.

So I'm bound to ask. Why offer a fundamentally awkward and unnatural technique, which the worst offenders are unlikely to adopt? What is needed is for drivers to be taught, and assessed on observational skills BEFORE they are awarded a licence. If they cannot convince an examiner that their use of observation has become as automatic as their use of the accellerator pedal...fail them.

I see it as part of an overall better solution, and it will almost certainly take years if not a decade or two before the vast majority employ it. I think the primary targets of the new arrangements are new drivers as they've got to start somewhere, plus it would be an almighty challenge to focus primarily on all the existing drivers who will all die out eventually anyway; besides, I don't imagine it would be easy to get all current drivers to sit a theory and/or a practical test every time there's an update to the highway code. But they can start to make an impact by getting learners to get in the habit before gradually and eventually, there's an awful lot of drivers out there who've been tutored to use the Dutch reach since day one. This really is a generational solution to tackle generational problems on the road.

I don't find the Dutch reach awkward myself (I can appreciate some people will find it awkward though), and I don't think it's unnatural either. It's just different.
 
Gosh!!

After starting my cycling career on the public highways around 65+ years ago.. I was thrilled to have my skills confirmed by the award of a Cycling Proficiency Badge,.. as a Wolf Cub... around 62 years ago.

I felt even more validated when I started riding Motorcycles in 1965... 57 years ago... A practice which I continued on and off until the mid 1980s. I fell off a couple of times, but was never in a collision, or found guilty of any offences.

From 1967 ..55 years ago.. I started driving cars on the roads. In more than half a century I have collected a total of three.. long expired points on my licence and never been in a collision that was deemed to be my fault.

In the interim, I also managed, causing a minimum of mayhem, to drive numerous vehicles 'off road', on factory premises etc. These included Electric and Diesel Fork Lift Trucks, Building site 'Dumper Trucks', a 'Hi Mac' Grab, Diesel Electric Cranes, assorted trucks, including Flatbeds and 'Tippers'.

Some three or so years back I took advantage of the opportunity to have my driving assessed as part of a scheme for 'Elderly Drivers'. It was free, so why not? The Instructor advised me that my driving was well up to standard and her only complaint was that I allowed the ratchet on the handbrake to be audible whilst applying said brake. I could have argued that I was allowing her to hear that I was actually applying the brake at appropriate times.. but that would have been churlish..
So once more I was pleased to have my skills recognised and validated.

But now.... Accolade of Accolades!!!! I have been awarded... The Ultimate... the 'Woodface Award for Decent Driver'!!!

Can't wait for the Bumper Sticker to arrive..... :):):)
As I said early in the piece competent drivers have nothing to fear about these very minor changes.
 


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