Mark Harping on.

According to this Auto Express story, A new law is set to bring self-driving cars to UK roads in two years and puts responsibility in the hands of manufacturers if there is an accident.

No it won't.

The article goes on to clarify...

The vehicles must “achieve a level of safety at least as high as careful and competent human drivers”.

That's not going to happen in two years.

Plus "the government says the legal culpability will be placed firmly on the manufacturer, as well as the insurance company that covers the car, with the driver not deemed a driver per se, but a user-in-charge"

So even if they could find a manufacturer happy to risk some prosecutions for causing death by dangerous driving - the insurance companies will refuse to insure such usage.  Which is a shame because this law would be the get-out clause allowing me to drive to a party or pub, get somewhat inebriated, and be driven home by my own car.

The landlords of country pubs will like this law.

Mark Harper, who is our current Transport Secretary apparently, jumped on the bandwagon stating, "Britain stands at the threshold of an automotive revolution, and this new law is a milestone moment for our self-driving industry which has the potential to change the way we travel forever.”

No it doesn't.

He also turned up polluting one of my favourite Youtube channels the other being "interviewed" by Steph from idriveaclassic  - I don't know if she is a bit Tory but she gave him an easy time and let him make snide comments about Labour and the London ULEZ zone without pointing out that it was Boris Johnson who introduced it and it is the government that is forcing the metropolitan councils to hit stricter air pollution target levels - not that that is a bad thing.

I was quite amused though that he and several of the anti-electric brigade commenting on the video seemed completely oblivious that he was stood next to a Rolls-Royce Phantom II that had been converted over to run on...

...ELECTRICITY!

Here's some info on it.

Anyway, back to his comment about Britain being at the threshold of an automotive revolution.

It isn't.

We now have to compete with Europe as well as Korea and Japan and the like but the Chinese are miles ahead - especially when it comes to electric vehicles.  They are even after a share of our London buses.  Autocar have finally decided that I don't have an ad-blocker after all so I can share this story now.

If Autocar thinks that you have an ad-blocker you won't be able to read this so I'll give you the gist.

This is the BYD BD11...

The Chinese hope that this EV will be the replacement for the hybrid Wrightbus New Routemaster - which I was surprised to learn was only built from 2011 to 2017.  A thousand were built - in the UK - before the company went into administration.

Charging is possible at up to 500kW via a pantograph connection which sounds fun, trolleybus anyone? - but you can plug it into the mains too.  A usable range of more than 400 miles is being suggested.

BYD UK's commercial vehicle managing director Frank Thorpe said he "hopes" it can replace Wrightbus's New Routemaster as the default London bus.

Seems legit.

Let's have a heated debate!

This was the most read BBC News article this afternoon - an electric bus caught fire. It's still on their front page.

There was no mention on the front page yesterday of this bus fire:

It was on their local Gloucestershire page.

Why not the front page though like today's one?

Anything to do with it not being in London?

That won't have helped but let's be honest, it was almost certainly because it wasn't an electric bus.  I've raised this bias before.  Not sure what it will take to change this.

Talking of electric vehicles, don't we all hate electric scooters?  Usually ridden with no care and attention either on the road (ignoring the rules of the road) or on the pavement (ignoring the safety of other pavement-users)

That is why the Mayor of Paris found it so easy to get them banned.

And people riding them look like tossers.

However, according to The Conversation, e-scooters are actually displacing four times as much demand for oil as all the world’s electric cars at present, due to their uptake in China and other nations where mopeds are a common form of transport.

So they are a good thing!?

Talking more of electric vehicles, The Tyre Extinguishers have been at it again.  This time targeting a Tesla Model X in Bristol.  The news sites seem perplexed that an "anti-gas-guzzler" pressure group would target an electric car but they did point out back in 2022 when I last gave them a mention, that their beef was more with SUVs - a sentiment I agree with albeit for completely different reasoning. To quote them from today's story,

"Electric cars are fair game. We can't electrify our way out of the climate crisis. The danger to other road users still stands, as does air pollution (PM 2.5 pollution is still produced from tyres / brake pads). A child killed by an SUV doesn't care if its (sic) electric or petrol."

Their grammar isn't too hot - that "(sic)" was added by drive.com.au together with another one where they talk about "SUV vehicles"

But then the electric side of the argument did point out that regenerative braking produces no brake dust - a fair point well made.

And drive.com.au also point out that, 

"Under Victoria's Litter Act of 1987, it is an offence to place leaflets on any vehicle, as the leaflet could be blown away by the wind or disintegrate in rain – with fines of more than $950 applicable for each instance."

Victorian law doesn't apply in Bristol but the potential for bits of paper (and don't forget the trees they were made from) could be floating around the River Avon doesn't sound very climate-friendly.

Three different stories for debate in one article - who would have thought that electric vehicles could be so controversial?

Entitled People

Yesterday, I posted about an entitled person.

Here's two more:

The first one is a Conservative police and crime commissioner married to a Conservative MP.

The second drives a Range Rover.

Or did until she got banned today.

They have both committed motoring offences.  I have marginally more sympathy for the first one of these - Caroline Henry who has been charged with five (YES FIVE!) speeding offences between March and June last year - the story, as reported by the BBC, is here.

However, those five offences were all between 5 and 10mph over the limit in a 30-Zone.

I speak as someone caught doing 37mph in a 30-Zone.  I got a speed awareness course which did educate me quite a bit and I now have to accept that 37mph is dodgy in a 30-Zone.

Normally, you can spot the fixed cameras and the mobile vans miles off - I was caught out by a van parked on the opposite side of the road in the dark.  So I don't understand how anyone could be caught 5 times including twice by the same camera.

The fact she drives a "silver Lexus with a personalised number plate" doesn't make her any more palatable and the fact she is a Conservative explains why she isn't looking to resign despite her promise to "reduce crime with action, not words".  Another example of her arrogance is that she ignored the advice of her solicitor and wrote to the Court stating that she was sorry, ashamed and embarrassed which may sound like contrition but made his job a lot harder.  Mind you, he's a solicitor so who cares?

The second woman is Sherrilyn Speid who,despite her name, didn't commit a speeding offence. No, she nudged climate change protesters with her car because they were blocking her route to take her child to school.  Her solicitor "challenged the driving ban as it would mean Speid could no longer shop for her mother, who has multiple sclerosis, drive to work, or drop off her son at school or football."

I suspect that she is rich enough to order an Uber but if not, then how about doing what unentitled people do and get on a bus?

The High Road

So high you need a ladder.

I'm sharing a short bit of dashcam footage today from the M53.

It came not long after the electronic signs were telling everybody to slow down to 40mph.

Not that anybody did.

It was because of a broken-down bus on the hard shoulder - not because of this guy:

Here's a still:

I did a quick search on the Internet just to make sure that nothing untoward had come to him.

It looks like nothing untoward has come to him.

But ladders on the M53 is certainly not a new thing.

This one is from (despite the time-stamp) 2018:

Looks like a bit of sensible driving from the dashcam-owner and another driver has allowed the ladder-loser to safely retrieve it and it is probable that an accident has been avoided.

 

Meanwhile, somebody else lost a ladder in 2020 - the comments under the post on the Motorway Police Facebook Page are brilliant.

Open Door Policy

What is the difference between in-laws and outlaws?

Outlaws are wanted.

One of my in-laws posted this video on Facebook yesterday:

Several questions and his driver's side rear door were raised.

Did you see the price of the petrol there?  I paid 131.7 a litre yesterday at the local Asda and thought that was bad - interestingly the same price for petrol as for diesel.

The slightly bigger question, though, is "Why was it being driven along with the bloody door open?"

The driver must have known - apparently there are loads of warning gongs that go off if you try to do that sort of thing.

Had the door mechanism failed?  Was he showing off?  In either case, you'd think he might allow a bit of extra space for the overhang when driving through London traffic.

It must have been quite traumatic for the bus driver so I feel ashamed for laughing at my favourite comment added under the Post:

"Typical bus driver, never looks where he's going!"

Flight of Fancy

 Caught this twerp on my Dashcam yesterday morning:

I assumed, going by the fact that it was a small Fiesta with a big exhaust pipe that it would be a young lad - a boy-racer if you will.

I was right.

When I pulled alongside him at the next set of traffic lights, he was replete with hoodie and vaping cigarette.

So why have I got a grudging respect for the one driving the car in this next video?

Is it because he achieves air IN A HYUNDAI SANTA FE!?

It's probably because I'd quite like to have a go at that myself.

Given the damage, I think I would also wish to be using somebody else's Hyundai Santa Fe:

This article by Car+Driver writer Ezra Dyer covers the story in an entertaining manner.

Although, if you want an even more impressive jump, you need to check out the Tower Bridge Website.

Is Boris a Girl?

I saw this picture on facebook ages ago:

It amused me.

 

And dare I say that there is an element of truth in it?

 

Yes I know there will be plenty of exceptions but, speaking as a bloke, I think that cars are better than bedrooms.

 

Anyway, serial adulterer, liar and our next Prime Minister Boris Johnson obviously hasn't got the memo:

I wasn't even aware of this story until they showed a photo on Mock the Week last night.

 

Worse still, it appears that he drives an aging Toyota Previa.

 

And I dread to think what the inside of his bus must have looked like:

I Don't Watch "I'm A Celebrity"

Well, I did briefly when Johnny Rotten was in there.

But that's just the sort of anarchic rebel I am.

 

Anyway, this year they've got Harry Redknapp, the scary woman from The Chase and Noel Edmonds.

 

Or, as I prefer to call him, former Top Gear presenter Noel Edmonds.

 

Unusually, the BBC are covering an IACGMOOH story today.  Here it is.

 

It is how Noel may have got himself in trouble with Bristol City Council for a second time for driving in their bus lanes.

 

Here is an actual Bristol Bus Lane sign:

It's on Highwood Road in Patchway, quite close to the Coniston Road junction.  It was a Sunday.

 

Now that sign clearly has a picture of what is allowed to be in that lane - a bike, a bus and the word "taxi" because whoever designs these signs couldn't differentiate between a taxi and an ordinary car so gave up.  It's one of those things like motorway matrix signs not being able to animate fog so they just have the word "Fog"

But I digress.  Back to Noel.

 

In order to speed up his journeys around Bristol, Noel bought a taxi, a proper black cab, and used the bus lanes.  The council decided that because he wasn't a licensed taxi, he should be fined so they sent him a ticket.

 

Noel said, "Fair enough", paid the fine and bought a bus.

 

But Bristol Council has now said their bus lanes are only for licensed buses - which is the argument they used for the taxi and I don't think is very fair - the word "licensed" does not appear anywhere on the sign.

 

To get around it, though, all Noel needs to do is find an old licensed bus maybe from another part of the country, and lease it for his personal use.

 

And in case Bristol City Council say it has to be a Bristol bus, he should make sure it is one of these: 

It was built by The Bristol Bus Company.

Mercedes Bends (the rules)

A couple of Mercedes self-driving stories caught my eye today.

Looks like they've been a bit naughty in their advertising Stateside.  Autoguide have the story here.  Mercedes have been forced to pull a TV ad for the E-Class in  which a narrator says,

“Is the world truly ready for a vehicle that can drive itself? Ready or not, the future is here.”

The ad also shows the driver removing his hands from the steering wheel, leading to the argument that people will believe the car is full self-driving.

Meanwhile the small-print caption on the ad states,

“Vehicle cannot drive itself, but has automated driving features. The system will remind the driver frequently to keep hands on the steering wheel. Always observe safe driving practices and obey all road traffic regulations.”

Hmmm.  I can see why it was dropped.

This doesn't bode well when the you read the second story, found in Car+Driver here.  The headline reads "Mercedes-Benz and Tesla See a Future in Electric Self-Driving Buses"  The story goes on to talk about The Mercedes-Benz Future Bus, a semi-automated city bus with a technology suite that can allow it to journey up to 12.4 miles without a need for the driver to touch the steering, accelerator, or brake pedal. The Future Bus can spot obstacles and pedestrians, follow lane markings, and function as part of a new Bus Rapid Transit system.

It looks nice too...

 

I wonder what the small-print says - this bus won't journey up to 12.4 miles without a need for the driver to touch the steering, accelerator, or brake pedal and it can't spot obstacles and pedestrians, follow lane markings, and function as part of a new Bus Rapid Transit system?

And I bet it can't do what this Chilean bus-driver did:

Fuelsaved

Remember back in the optimistic days of Spring 2014 when Tesco started hinting at its forthcoming Fuelsave promotion?

Well today is the last day that you can spend all of those Fuelsave savings.

No, it didn't have a big impact on my life either.

Anyway, to make up for it, Sainsbury's kick off their new fuel/moneysaving promotion.

The Telegraph report it thusly:   Sainsbury's launches '5p a litre discount'

The deal is that Sainsburys give you 10 Nectar Points for every litre of fuel you buy off them.

But they already give you one point per litre anyway. And Nectar Points, being mostly rubbish, are only worth a halfpenny anyway.  And, given that this only lasts for October, and they've stopped giving points for re-using carrier bags and they've stopped selling two packs of crumpets for £1 - well, I'll not be retiring this month.

Still, here's a nice picture of an old bus in a Sainsburys filling station:

 

I'm presuming it was an open-top BEFORE it went under the canopy.

Bayern Munich Have a New Coach

Here's the proof...

Now, while we're on the subject of silly videos, here's one from my youth...

Traffic Jam

Well, Traffic Marmite actually.

Love it or hate it, I'm quite ambivalent about it really - in fact I can't remember the last time I tried it. I also feel the same about the M1. And this story combines them both. It brings a new meaning to "being stuck in traffic." It's only 8:20 in the morning so I'm sure some pictures will emerge during the day but I've got to go to work so I'll not be publishing them.

There have to be some jokes here though and some marketing opportunities - like the last time this happened...Cadburys took out adverts saying how "Nothing Fills a Hole like a Double-Decker"