Sorry, Mate - I really didn't see you

I'm driving a brand new Fiesta this week - rented in Scotland - and it's like sitting in an armoured cave.

If I want to check my drivers-side blind spot, I get an eyeful of door pillar:-

If I want to check my passenger-side blind spot, for example to pull in after an overtake, all I get is upholstry:-






When I'm on 4 wheels I'm usually in a G-reg Cavalier, so this has been a bit of an education. I know chunky A-pillars have become popular in answer to consumer pressure for occupant protection, but this is the first time I've seen for myself the full extent of the way this has compromised the safety of those outside the cage.

Looking forward to giving it back to the rental man. And giving cagers an even wider berth from now on!

Round Britain Rally-ers seek new challenges!

I find it enough of a challenge to complete the rally without getting requiring rescue by the coastguard (sank in sand), four blokes renovating a building (fell over on the gravel) or a bloke visiting the GPO to pick up some stamps, not a 900cc Triumph (hadn't spotted the slope and rolled forward tucking the side-stand back up).

So good luck to John Goodwill, who is doing the rally to raise funds for cancer research.

Only 26 days to go!

Schoolboy error

I hadn't realised that setting "accept anonymous comments" to "no" meant that only registered google-bloggers could post comments. As I'm against compulsory anything, I've changed it to "allow".

Reporting Road Accidents

Interersting column in Scotland on Sunday by Norman Harper.

After describing an incident he witnessed where a pedestrian sadly lost his life after starting to cross the road without chcecking properly for cars, he concludes "In any case, the next time you read of a pedestrian being knocked down and killed by a car, pause for a moment before assuming that the fault was the driver's."

I'd second that in spades for reporting of motorcycle deaths. A particularly egregious example from the Bucks Examiner still sticks in my mind - the headline was something like, "biker killed after hitting family car." On getting to the final third of the story it was explained that the family car in question had done an unsignalled right turn across his path on a fast A-road, the driver admitted that he hadn't checked for oncoming traffic - yet the casual reader of the piece will assume that it's just another death-crazy biker who got what he was looking for. Would it have been so hard to write "being hit by"?

Two and a half cheers for bikes and bus lanes

The DfT has finally published its new guidance to local authorities on allowing bikes in bus lanes. It's not as positive as it could be, but it's an improvement on the previous version which told local councils that bikers should not normally be allowed in bus lanes.

I particularly like the hard stare the bloke in the blue anorak on page 3 is getting from the courier - a potential lemmingPed if ever I saw one!

Better than the bollards!

How sweaty must these guys have been!