Nearly Toast Twice in one day ..are car drivers getting worse?

I had several cortinas...mk1 & 2...boy do I wish I'd kept em....they are BIG money now.

 

If the word lotus appears in front of the word cortina.....you could add 30k to the price nowadays.

 

Thruccy, it's nothing to do with driving anymore it's everything, there is no consideration to others, it's the "all about me" culture and sod the rest of you that seems to have been created

 

A mate of mine still has his 1600e...same one he had in 1979 aubergine with a beige vinyl roof. He's put a 5 speed box in it to keep up with the traffic though.

 

What's it worth now you ask....one on eBay...8 days to go...on ;£10,000

 

I used to teach in Halewood - where they make the Fords. They called the Escort the Ford Takeaway. They were so easy to nick. One little scrote I taught had a bunch of keys that fitted every Ford on the road. Car security was not so hot in those days.

 

To me, this is a very important thread that is critical to our own survival. I read an interesting article about 2 years ago, but I can't find it right now. I think it was in one of the motorcycle magazines. The basic gist of the article was that you should expect that a typical car driver waiting at an intersection will pull out in front of you. The article talked about psychological issues related to man's fundamental perception of 'threat' by the car driver. It related to our development over the eons, and how things are 'coded' into our brains by learned responses. Basically, small objects are not a personal threat (except bees and spiders ) and large objects like tractor trailer trucks are threats. You simply make an unconscious decision that the small motorcycle is not a threat and you pull out in front of it. As riders, we are keenly alert to motorcycles, but that's probably because we want to see what that guy or gal is driving

While looking for the above article, I came across this one that is short and worth a read IMHO. https://www.psychologicalscience.or...d-because-drivers-arent-looking-for-them.html

This is another blog that I visited a while back. It has some interesting information on a variety of related topics that is gathered from research and this person's own experiments. http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/recog-safety.htm

The research above doesn't generally take into account the use of cell phones, all about me mentalities, or other driver distractions like a bee flying in the car at precisely the wrong time.

After reading this and other information, whenever I come upon a car waiting to turn into my lane of travel, I just assume that they want to hit me and I slow down enough to make sure that I can deal with anything they decide to do. As much of a pain as that can be, I think it makes me a much happier rider, because I'm taking the risk out of the encounter. I hate to admit it, but I almost hit a guy on a bicycle recently while I was driving my truck. I came off a highway ramp to a stop sign. I stopped and quickly saw that both directions of travel were clear of cars. I started to go and slammed on the brakes when a bicyclist suddenly appeared 6 feet in front of me. When I first looked left, he was hidden by some utility poles. The bottom line is that I should have looked in both directions a second time - my bad. Based on his reaction, I'm positive he needed a change of clothes after that encounter.

 

I always ride with my fog lights and head light on but you still get D...heads pull out on you or cars flashing you because all you're lights are on.
Tucker

 

Their flashing you because you’ve got your fogs on, NOT because you’ve got your lights on. Car fog lights are set so they light up the side of the road. So they can end up dazzling on coming cars. And what about all the drivers with those bright DRLs who can’t be bothered to turn their lights on a night?

 

My experience this morning

1) Looks clear - Green light, traffic moving


2)A wild OAP appears, oblivious to traffic in lane 1 and not bothering to look, just walked out - the van stayed still so I was half expecting someone to appear - I start braking


3) Blaring my horn, doesn't look or acknowledge me
at this point I am heaving the anchors from 30MPH to zero in 2 secs


4) She got across safely, but if I was a fixed wheel cyclist with no brakes or a bus at 30mph she would have been a bit bruised


I will upload the vid to my YouTube channel this evening

 

Basically, at least 80% of people out there who drive cars don't give a flying f**k about anyone else, they are on their own agenda come what may

 

How many Rozzers do you see on the roads these days? I know there may be the odd unmarked car about but thanks to red light and speed cameras the number of traffic officers on the roads has dropped in most areas to near enough nil. The "I don't care about anything/one but me" brigade realise very quickly that they can get away with pretty much anything and it spirals downwards from there. Blatant queue jumping, no care or attention, no pride in driving...

Some may not like the idea but personally I believe we need a lot more visible plod on the roads.

 

Not a close call but a silly drop.
I was living in Aldershot at the time and had been to Hartley Whitney to see a friend.
On the way back ( at least I think it was on the way back ) I was stopped at a set of traffic lights which were on a steep hill at a crossroads.
Normally these lights changed fairly quickly so I did my usual, instead of putting my foot out I balanced the bike.
Needless to say this time it didn’t work and I fell over onto my side. So there’s me lying on the side of the road leg trapped underneath the bike.
Several cars behind me with the drivers pissing themselves laughing.
Can’t blame them if it had been the other way round I would have too.

 

Not one of your finest moments then. New nickname Ileane.

 

I was trying to get my knee down and see how far I could lean the bike over

 

Worked then I'm not so sure I would have had the balls to own up to such a farce. God on you matey

 

Many, many years ago, I had bought a brand spanking new Z1000ST, I was going to the bike show (at Olympia!) pulled into Fleet services on the M3 for a brew, thought I was the bees knees on my new bike, as I pulled up there were a load of bikes already stopped, I thought I'd be cool & flick the side stand out as I came to a halt to smoothly stop & park in one, missed the feckin side stand & nearly fell over with the new bike much to the amusement of all watching!

 

It’s just a funny story now Ken.
Too many years have passed since it happened for it to bother me

 

Or her Russian brother... Ifelloff