The Green Flash

Remember October last year when I told you about green number plates?

Of course you do.

Well, as of today they are a thing. Autocar have the story - not seen it anywhere else.  The Government have plumped for this design:

Basically, just a green flash.

"But, what is the point?" I hear you ask.

Good question.

Well, they signify zero emission (aka electric) vehicles.  And, "Research carried out by Nissan and Yougov claims that 32% of people surveyed would be more likely to buy an electric car because of the new plates, and the prospect of further incentives to be rolled out as a result. This could include specific zero-emission parking zones, exemption from road charges and even zero-emission lanes."

What?

"Research carried out by Nissan and Yougov claims that 32% of people surveyed would be more likely to buy an electric car because of the new plates, and the prospect of further incentives to be rolled out as a result. This could include specific zero-emission parking zones, exemption from road charges and even zero-emission lanes."

I know but I'm still not convinced.

Anyway, being Welsh, I've always fancied one of these perfectly legal plates:

Would that entitle me to half-price road charges and to use half of the zero emission parking bays and lanes?

The biggest flaw in this plan though, is that there is nothing to stop you getting some green sticky paper and turning your diesel Volkswagen into something getting the benefits of a Renault Zoe.

And, after December 31st, the rather dim readers of the painfully sycophantic Daily Express will know exactly where to stick them:

Pot a Willock

 I mean "What a Pillock!"

This is Joe Willock:

Now, obviously I'm quite jealous of him - he is just 21 and he can afford to buy and wreck a new G-Wagen - that is why I've deliberately picked a photo of him looking gormless.

Here he is wrecking a new G-Wagen:

He was supposedly on the way to training so must be familiar with that roundabout.

So why be in completely the wrong lane and driving so fast?

What a pillock!

Talking of pillocks, this motorbikist on the M53 this week seems to think that the hard shoulder is a narrow lane for motorbikists.

Talking of that stretch of the M53, Here is me overtaking an emergency vehicle on blues and twos:

And finally, somebody going through a red light when it's harder not to:

What a pillock!

Dead Badgers Society

I spotted an interesting article in Car+Driver during my lunchbreak about digital licence plates.  They look like this...

...and are only legal in two of the United States of America.

I'm having problems understanding the benefits of these things.  Apparently, they can be changed to give out alerts or to indicate that the vehicle has been stolen.  They can also be linked in to the State licensing to update when the fees have been paid.

Well whoopdie-doo.

I say that because they cost $499 and then either $55 a year or $4.99 a month. It is also available for $17.95 a month for 36 months.

Yes, you have to subscribe to your own number plate.  And think of all the prisoners it's going to put out of work.

And what happens when they get hacked?

The battery lasts five years though.

So, this evening, I returned to Car+Driver to create this post and spotted another intriguing headline - one concerning a dead badger.  I posted about dead badgers many years ago when I was in a different employment to the one my lunchbreak interrupted today.

However, the new dead badger story is actually a dead Badger story - with a capital B - the Nikola Badger has been culled by GM pulling out of a deal to build the things.  

Full story here.

It looks like this is the result of skullduggery - either on the part of Nikola or on the part of an investor trying to cash in on a crashing share-price. Nobody knows who yet - that story is here.

Shame, because if you put electric licence plates on it, it wouldn't need separate batteries.

Renault Megone

Couple of unusual crime stories from this week.

First an idiot in Northampton buys a Renault Megane, doesn't insure it, gets behind the wheel, nearly crashes into a Police vehicle and gets it impounded:

Fox News have the story here.  Being Fox News, they aren't too good on accuracy.  They say that it was a "new silver Renault Megane" - that is actually a Megane cabriolet of approximately 2005 vintage.

Meanwhile, over in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, an 18 year old was arrested for suspected drink/drug driving after crashing into somebody's front porch, collecting the front door on the way and driving off.

Somehow. 

Lord knows how.

The Police Twitter feed has some great comments added including "That's an Audi not a Porsche". 

There's probably some joke here involving Jehovah's Witnesses or Double-Glazing but I'm not sure what it is.

Maybe he was just unhinged?

Roofless

Normally when one of these appears in the news, they blur out the number plate:

I suppose it's a bit pointless when the name of the Company and their website address is all over the vehicle.

So I looked them up.

Apparently, "It is our priority that your products arrive at your customer in the condition you both expect." and "Our express service has been developed with short lead times and vital just in time with delivery in mind. Archbold is an express delivery service solution provider you can rely on. We deliver on time, every time."

Apart from this occasion.

They do have some nice old pictures though:

The bridge crash is actually from this BBC story about the most hit bridges in Britain.

Network Rail said there was an average of five railway bridge crashes per day nationally, with repairs costing an average of £13,000 per strike.

That particular bridge is in Leicestershire and has been struck 25 times in a year.

This is all almost unbelievable.

The height warning signs have both Metric and Imperial markings so we can't blame ignorance of either system.

I suspect Sat-Navs.

Either that or trailer manufacturers are in league with bridge manufacturers and warning sign manufacturers to fiddle the insurance.