Bad Driving Caught on Video

The BBC today have a story about an impatient van driver killing another driver by causing a head-on collision.  The incident was caught on a dash-cam (is it called a dash-cam if it is rear-facing?)  and the dead man's family wanted the footage releasing - presumably as a warning to other impatient tossers.

This particular impatient tosser was jailed for three years and four months.

Good.

I've not included a link as I would be uncomfortable doing so.  So instead, here is a link to another BBC story about a miscreant caught on dash-cam (is it called a dash-cam if it attached to a cyclist?)

In this case, an Audi Q8 driver has been ordered to pay more than £1,800 after passing a cyclist too closely.  Now to be fair, the Q8 driver's seat was probably so far away from the cyclist that he didn't realise that the other side of the car was within 1.5m of him.

I don't like Audi Q8s - I don't see the point of them.

I also don't like this particular Audi Q8 driver - he was initially offered a driver awareness course or a fixed penalty notice so he only has himself to blame.

He said, "The fine is absolutely appalling. I am 77 years of age and the last fine I had was 35 to 40 years ago."

All that proves is that he hasn't be caught very often.  And what has his age got to do with it?  I'd be keeping quiet about that if I was him or people may be questioning whether or not he should be retaking his test.

Now, if you've got five minutes to spare, you can watch MY dash-cam footage (from a real dash-cam).  The car to watch is the car in front of the car in front of me.  It is a black Mercedes A-Class being driven by, I'm guessing here, someone very much of the age of the Audi Q8 driver.

He insists on driving in the outside overtaking lane at approximately 10mph under the speed limit UNTIL he comes out of the 50mph roadworks section.

I have had to split that into two to get it uploaded to Blogger and it is during the second half in which you get the high-pitched expletives from me.

I think he only stopped messing about at the end because he saw the two Traffic Womble cars and thought that they were Police.

Meanwhile, to finish off on a lighter note, here is yet another BBC story with footage of an example (like this one from February) of a fork-lift driver getting the better of a low-life.

Train Wreck

No, I'm not talking about The Government's handling of Brexit - I'm talking about an "Only in Norfolk" story.

Only in Norfolk could you be involved in a road-traffic accident with this:

It's a 1912 Y14 steam locomotive.  Quite impressive.

 

And while the locomotive was far from wrecked, there will be some serious buffing out of the Mercedes A-Class that it was in collision with:

Nobody was injured.  The BBC News story is here.

 

The train was travelling at 8mph at the time, we don't know the speed of the car but its driver was heading to the golf club and seems to have missed the fact that the level crossing lights and sirens were active at the time.

 

His insurance claim is going to make interesting reading and his insurance company will presumably have to cover any damage to the loco - good job it wasn't a new one.

Motorway Madness

I saw a story on the BBC News Website this lunchtime concerning a car and caravan being driven the wrong way down a motorway.  There was  a still from some Dashcam footage showing a van avoiding them.

The story said that there had been a collision and an air ambulance had been called but there was no news of injuries.

I thought it might make a good story to do an item on.  Especially since I got a Dashcam for my birthday a few weeks ago.  And also because the BBC had this story at the weekend about Norfolk and Suffolk Police releasing Dashcam footage of bad driving.  Including one example I wrote about last month.

Then, unfortunately, tragically in fact, news emerged that three people had been killed including the elderly couple in the Subaru Forrester that was towing the caravan.

Motorways are supposedly the safest type of road to drive on.

But you still get bad driving.

Like this divvy blonde woman in an A-Class.

It doesn't look that bad on the video but I was travelling at 80mph with NOTHING behind me when she noticed Junction 4 was coming up:

Now, the Norfolk and Suffolk Police have been inviting people to send in Dashcam footage so I wonder if Merseyside Police do?

 

Well, returning to the BBC, we find this story from July.

 

It's about a Website which allows visitors to upload videos before sending footage to the right police force.

 

It's here and was set up by Nextbase - the Dashcam manufacturer.

 

I won't be using it for that footage though.

 

But I thought about it for this two junctions later:

Although I've not got a clear view of his number plate.

 

He was very fortunate that the rest of us had our wits about us and that there wasn't a car coming along the outside lane.

 

I'm assuming it was a "he"

 

And he probably thinks that he is a very good driver when in reality, it is the other motorists who are preventing his accidents.

 

And he has been very lucky.  So far.

Why My Car Is Like A Bugatti Veyron

 

See the similarities?  Actually that isn't my car, it's one the same that I found after doing a quick Google Images search.

 

So what could these two cars possibly have in common?

 

Well, they both cost their manufacturers two-and-a-half billion Australian dollars.

 

And if you're wondering why I'm quoting that figure in Australian dollars, it is because the information is sourced from this story in Caradvice.com.au.

 

It lists Europe’s Top 10 Loss-making Vehicles thus:

 

Model                       Years               Estimated Total Loss
Smart Fortwo         1997-2006           $5.0billion

Fiat Stilo                2001-2009           $3.0b

VW Phaeton          2001-2012           $2.9b

Peugeot 1007         2004-2009           $2.8b

Mercedes A-Class 1997-2004           $2.5b

Bugatti Veyron      2005-2013           $2.5b

Jaguar X-Type       2001-2009           $2.5b

Renault Laguna      2006-2012           $2.2b

Audi A2                  2000-2005          $1.9b

Renault Vel Satis    2001-2009          $1.7b

The list is, perhaps surprisingly, topped by the Smart car.  There are a few other quirky cars in there too, the Peugeot 1007 with its sliding doors that nobody wanted and the tiny aluminium A2 that was expensive to build.

There was also the original Merc A-Class seen here failing the Elk Test - maybe it wouldn't have been on the list if it wasn't for that embarrassment so early in its life.

I always liked the Vel-Satis but not many people were tempted to pay big money for a strange-looking luxury Renault so it was doomed from the start.

I am quite surprised that it had an 8-year lifespan.

The article also breaks down how much each manufacturer lost per example of these cars sold:

Model                     Years                    Estimated Loss Per Vehicle (rounded up/down)
Bugatti Veyron      2005-2013                $6,700,500

VW Phaeton          2001-2012                     $40,800

Renault Vel Satis   2001-2009                     $27,200

Peugeot 1007         2004-2009                     $22,300

Audi A2                 2000-2005                     $11,000

Jaguar X-Type       2001-2009                        $6800

Smart Fortwo         1997-2006                        $6500

Renault Laguna      2006-2012                        $5150

Fiat Stilo                 2001-2009                        $4000

Mercedes A-Class   1997-2004                       $2100

The Peugeot figure is quite shocking because $22300 = £12875 (€15400,US$20800) at current exchange rates which can't be too different from its selling price.

$6800 works out as £3925 (€4700,US$6350) so maybe I got a bargain when I bought my car.

Probably not as much of a bargain as Tata got when they bought Jaguar/Land Rover off Ford though.