Vegetables & Cruise Control

[Blatto]

Was listening to the Radio at lunch time today. Jeremy Vine on Radio 2, not my usual listening but was flicking between channels when I caught his phone-in about a recent spate of cars being hit by someone throwing vegetables at cars. There were the usual crop (no pun intended) of very annoying do-gooders  who thought it was only a few kids having fun and nothing should be done etc...

Some of the larger and harder vegetables e.g. swede, large potatoes etc.. could easily cause serious injury or death . Quite a few people phoned in to say they had bills running into £1000's from the damage caused to their cars.  It was all getting very annoying to listen to especially with the idiots trying to play down the seriousness of the incidents.

But to cap it all some idiotic woman came on to say she had been a victim of this and that it was fortunate that it wasn't worse as she was in a 50mph speed camera monitored area at the time and was therefore only doing 50mph using her cruise control.

Her reason for it not being worse was that because she was using her cruise control and both her feet were under the pedals on  the floor she was unable to reach the brake pedal to react when she saw some vegetables heading her way, thereby averting an accident from panic braking and/or the guy behind going into the back of her.

ffs do people really think that not being able to reach the brake pedal as quickly as possible (or accelerator) if required in an emergency is a good thing.?

Makes me wonder how many idiots there are hurtling down the motorway on cruise control with their feet comfortably tucked away in such a way that they take a few seconds to get to the pedals 😞

We really need to introduce some sort of IQ/Common sense test into the driving test before people are allowed on the roads.

 

 

[TomsFocus]

This is why we need self driving cars as soon as possible...  There are a lot of people that can't be trusted to use a pavement safely in all honesty, let alone a motor vehicle...

[Guy Heaton]

On a ford the collision assist would save her 😄😄😄😄😄

[bays281]

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=2ahUKEwiR6bXsqZfnAhWVqHEKHVWvCYEQFjACegQIBxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.devonlive.com%2Fnews%2Fdevon-news%2Fswede-lobbed-idiots-shatters-armed-3757372&usg=AOvVaw3Ti5Hr8KtBcPgtE93AzqEU

[Blatto]

On 1/22/2020 at 9:22 AM, TomsFocus said:

There are a lot of people that can't be trusted to use a pavement safely in all honesty

True enough, had a young lady wearing headphones just walk out in front of me at a junction the other day, didn't even look up from her phone. I don't mind if they want to commit suicide by stupidity but don't damage my car in doing it.

 

On 1/22/2020 at 11:46 AM, Guy Heaton said:

On a ford the collision assist would save her 😄😄😄😄😄

Only a brain transplant would save a person like that 😄

Oooh I've got cruise control, I can rest my poor tired feet well away from these uncomfortable pedals. 🤦‍♂️

 

[Tizer]

On 1/21/2020 at 8:15 PM, Blatto said:

Makes me wonder how many idiots there are hurtling down the motorway on cruise control with their feet comfortably tucked away in such a way that they take a few seconds to get to the pedals 😞

I've never been able to work out why there are crashes on the Motorways where I live nearly everyday, the above may be one of the reasons why.

[Nick Y]

On 1/21/2020 at 8:15 PM, Blatto said:

Her reason for it not being worse was that because she was using her cruise control and both her feet were under the pedals on  the floor she was unable to reach the brake pedal to react when she saw some vegetables heading her way, thereby averting an accident from panic braking and/or the guy behind going into the back of her.

ffs do people really think that not being able to reach the brake pedal as quickly as possible (or accelerator) if required in an emergency is a good thing.?

Makes me wonder how many idiots there are hurtling down the motorway on cruise control with their feet comfortably tucked away in such a way that they take a few seconds to get to the pedals 😞

We really need to introduce some sort of IQ/Common sense test into the driving test before people are allowed on the roads.

It's a pretty common occurence these days. I've heard of a lot of people doing it and even some family members have done it.
I've also seen some drivers with their feet up on the chair or dash. 
They think because the speed is limited whilst on cruise control that they don't have to react to anything at all. Even radar guided speed control won't stop this happening in my opinion.

As for people panic braking to avoid debris, other vehicles or pedestrians then that's the car behinds fault for following too closely or not paying enough attention to the road to react in time. 
In countries like NZ, there are heavy fines and demerit points for following too closely/failing to stop in time. 

I had cruise control in my old Vectra but still covered the brake pedal with my right foot in case I needed to react. I've never taken my feet more than an inch away from the pedals.

[Milkman]

Little scroats throwing a swede at a Police car, that was in my neck of the woods. Let's forget cruise control for a minute and consider the ones that threw the swede. It was up until now common practice for bored town teenagers to stand on an over bridge and play Pooh sticks with a concrete block but a lot of these teens are so weak from a diet of supermarket processed food and so malnourished that they can no longer lift a 25 kilo breeze block now and can only manage a 2 kilo swede. Round them up, put them in stocks and pelt them with tomatoes.

[Turvey]

8 hours ago, Milkman said:

Round them up, put them in stocks and pelt them with swedes.

Fixed that for you 😉

[TomsFocus]

9 hours ago, Milkman said:

Little scroats throwing a swede at a Police car, that was in my neck of the woods. Let's forget cruise control for a minute and consider the ones that threw the swede. It was up until now common practice for bored town teenagers to stand on an over bridge and play Pooh sticks with a concrete block but a lot of these teens are so weak from a diet of supermarket processed food and so malnourished that they can no longer lift a 25 kilo breeze block now and can only manage a 2 kilo swede. Round them up, put them in stocks and pelt them with tomatoes.

I don't understand what they get out of this sort of thing, what's funny about causing tonnes of damage and potentially injury?

I posted in another thread recently where a load of tyres on a silage clamp by a main road had been 'rearranged' one night into the shape of an enormous *****...it gave plenty of drivers a giggle (especially on a road that's often congested!), caused no damage or injury and was easy to 'fix' (although I do appreciate it may have wasted some of the farmers time).  That's the sort of 'fun' they should be having!  

[Milkman]

Another way you could punish these juvenile idiots when and if caught, use them as crash dummies.

I don't know what the situation is in other parts of the Country but here it is no longer legal to erect advertising hoardings in fields beside the motorway and dual carriageways, it causes distraction.

I think that all foreign left hand drive lorries should be banned from our roads as the drivers are often way over our driver hour restrictions and cause carnage occasionally, they should be made to transfer their load onto UK based transport at the point of entry to this Country and then turned back to where they came from.

We had a spate of juveniles rolling big bales of hay and silage down steep fields onto roads a few years ago, there was a well known musician killed when a bale hit his car, that was a pure accident though.

[Guy Heaton]

They do it for two reasons:

1) The bantz

2) absolutely no consequence to their actions.  if they do get caught it's a slap on the wrist and some bleeding heart social worker.

You do see some of the kids where they've either done something really bad,  or it's happened by accident, and they look amazed and horrified that this time it might be serious.

[Milkman]

Don't know about the consequence of their action, they should be made aware of consequences and drummed into them hard, it's more a case of that they have no regard or respect for others, what if they threw something and it hit the car that their parents were driving and it caused their death and possibly others, they should be apprehended, locked up and lectured in the error of their ways plus their parents, humiliate and put them all to shame.

[Blatto]

23 hours ago, Tizer said:

I've never been able to work out why there are crashes on the Motorways where I live nearly everyday, the above may be one of the reasons why.

Well it won't be helping the situation much if people are using cruise control like that but I suspect the main reason for more accidents is just people driving with no consideration of the conditions, following way too close, using their phones or intoxicated plus the fact that the police are nowhere to be seen, unless they are all in unmarked cars these days and people who are stupid and irresponsible enough to do all those things do not feel they will be punished for them.

I drive about 20 miles or so up the A1M from just North of London every day and I'd say 80% of the drivers are just following 2 or 3 car lengths apart at 70mph. WTF people feel the need to do that for is beyond my understanding. Should be more like 100 metres at that speed not less than 15 like most are doing. Plus I must see at least 10 drivers using their phones, If I can see them why the F can't the Police? It's also about time that being caught whilst using a phone is a minimum 12 month driving ban, phone crushed and any repeat offenses Imprisonment.

The current 3 points (or is it 6 ?) and fine is clearly no deterrent.

 

6 hours ago, Milkman said:

Don't know about the consequence of their action, they should be made aware of consequences and drummed into them hard

Yep I'd agree, bring back the Birch for some of these crimes. Naked in the stocks in public view and birched until they understand you can't just do anything you like for fun if it has dangerous consequences.

 

[Guest]

As an avid Radio 2 listener, I do tend to zone out when Jeremy Vine comes on. He once had someone on whos husband was dying of terminal cancer and Jeremy asked, how are you feeling at the moment!?! Whats she going to say 'Oh yes Jeremy, absolutely ecstatic' 

Cant stand the bloke and his obnoxious ways. certainly not worth his £600k per year!

Roll on when Boris de-criminalise the TV licence! 

Free BBC for all!!!