Car owners could now face fines if they (or indeed their passengers) throw litter from their vehicle if they are caught on camera. This is a move being considered by the government to reduce the amount of fly tipping/littering that takes place from our various vehicles.
Ministers are holding talks with town hall chiefs around the UK in a bid to close a loophole that has stopped officials from imposing new fines of up to £80 for this type of offence. Currently, they cannot take action against the registered keeper of the car but only the individual who litters. This has proved to be difficult from an identification point of view.
The fact that this sort of offence is quite difficult to police makes me upset. I find it quite a horrible sight when someone is driving along and then happens to throw out a used pack of cigarettes for instance. I once saw a person even throw a whole pizza box out of their window. Would you do it on your street? I doubt it – so don’t do it on mine or anywhere else. There’s no excuse for it in this day and age.
What I’d like to go on to mention are some other bad habits that you could see on Britain’s roads – some of which are actually quite dangerous. Others of which will just prove rather bad to your wallet. Let’s take a look at what some of us do wrong on (and off) the roads.
Indicators And Their Use
It is a legal requirement that cars must have indicators on the road – this is a benefit both for the driver who uses these signalling lights (it shows people what you’re planning to do) and other drivers, as they can adjust their driving and pulling away accordingly. However, indicators work both ways. What I mean is that I was recently almost in an accident. I approached the roundabout, slowed down, put on my right indicators, and when safe to go I did so.
Unfortunately, a driver of a rather nice 231bhp Mazda RX-8 totally ignored my indicator and sped into my path. I pressed the horn to make sure he was aware of me. He became aware and apologised profusely. This is what I mean by the indicators working both ways. Use yours wisely, and make sure that you look out for other people using theirs.
Tailgating
There is absolutely no excuse for doing this to anyone – especially at motorway speeds as this proves to be incredibly dangerous. Do you remember your stopping distances? No? Well go back and take a look. Do you really believe that you can stop in the 5 feet or so that you’ve given yourself if the car in front slams on their brakes? OF course, the irony is that the closer each car is to the one in front, the more likely that each person has to aggressively use the brakes. OH well, we are a sensible bunch aren’t we!
Lane Discipline
Some drivers are all over the place – such as the wrong side of the road. Okay, some junctions are small and it’s easier to get out when you’re just edging into the wrong lane. However, when someone is tramlining across a roundabout straight across your lane then it moves from being annoying to actually incredibly dangerous.
Driving Too Slowly
I’d never recommend you to speed around, unless you are speeding around on a track – but then that’s the point there. What I will say though is to do the legal speed limit, provided it is safe to do so. What I mean by that is if it is a 30 road but there’s a few inches of snow, then please do go slower and make sure you (and the other drivers on the road) stay safe and not crashed into.
On the other hand, there’s no excuse for doing 20mph in a 30mph zone with perfectly clear conditions and a straight run of the road ahead. I don’t care if you’re 17 or 70 – if you’re not capable of safe, legal driving up to the limit in conditions that allow it, you shouldn’t be on the road. To give an example of this, I was recently trapped behind someone driving a car that kept putting on the brakes. We were doing 25mph – I know this as I kept the same distance away. Why he kept applying the brake when there was nothing in front I have no idea, but it was wasteful on fuel and wound me up!
Overall, there are quite a few issues on our roads, but rubbish certainly shouldn’t be one of them. I’ll give a few tips on better driving in a post of the future. In the meantime, why not keep a plastic bag in your car for rubbish, that you then empty (or put itself into the rubbish) once a week?
dexey says
April 14, 2008 at 3:36 amThere is an excuse for doing 20 in a 30 mph limit, and it is a good excuse.
The 30 represents an upper advised speed not a mandatory must be achieved speed. Secondly, in urban areas, that 30 should probably be 20 to help protect vulnerable road users. Car use should be a poor second to another form of transport in the urban area and particularly of lower priority than walking, cycling and public transport.
Mr Butterscotch says
April 14, 2008 at 5:15 pmHi Dexey,
Your first point is… I’m not quite sure to be honest, but you haven’t given a good excuse beyond pointing out the fact that it is the ‘upper advised speed’. I agree – which is why I say:
“do the legal speed limit, provided it is safe to do so”.
In urban areas, lower speed limits can be imposed by law (along with ‘recommended’ speed limits). If they are imposed, people should and do drive slower. On the other hand, if it is a 30mph limit and the conditions are clear and safe, there’s no reason at all why the car driver can’t do that speed.
I agree that urban areas should be lovely little havens where people walk around and cycle everywhere, but this is neither Paris nor Amsterdam. The fact remains that it would take me over an hour to shop at the town where I work – it would be pointless getting public transport to that location for instance.
As for public transport – a friend of mine had a relative killed by a bus, as it was pulling away. Not exactly safe either you could say…
Mr Butterscotch says
April 14, 2008 at 5:23 pmAs an aside, I don’t think we’d be without cars in an ideal world. There’d just be bigger roads and less Co2 – along with cheap fuel.
Micky says
May 1, 2008 at 9:17 amDexey sounds like one of those annoying idiots that builds up a massive queue of traffic and assists some drivers on their way to road rage.
I’m not saying he/she is an idiot, that’s just what comes out of the post.
Mr Butterscotch provides the perfect reasoning – “safe to do so”.
If you can’t judge how safely you’re driving, or spot possible hazards, then you are a hazard to other road users and should not be driving.
Key to driving safely is careful, mindful observation, not driving at a snail’s pace in some stupefied oblivion.