I've Been Driving Through a Storm Lately

Rapper TuSimple has never performed a version of Jim Steinman's classic work "I've Been Dreaming Up A Storm Lately"

Here is Steinman himself performing it as part of the Pandora's Box album Original Sin.

I've been driving through a storm lately.

This was scary because there was a car behind me and another alongside me so I had no choice but to hit the water:

Here, you will hear me swear when I realise I've got into completely the wrong lane - then I overtake a truck.  If you don't like my swearing, you can enjoy Despacito which is unfortunately by Justin Bieber.

I'd got into the wrong lane by being in "auto-mode" where I was heading along a familiar route but going somewhere different to usual.

Imagine if that truck had been autonomous.

Actually, TuSimple is not a rapper.

He is also not Sainsbury's in-house clothing brand for people with learning difficulties.

He is actually an autonomous truck start-up.  Were you wondering where I was going with this?

Car+Driver have the story here.  It also includes a YouTube video - it is a much longer video than mine and the music is much naffer.  Don't bother watching it all - it's enough to know it's a truck driving itself through a storm and the speeds are quite concerning:

But, as Gerry Marsden said, "When you drive through a storm, hold your head up high."  which is actually from Carousel by Rogers and Hammerstein.

Is that enough musical genres for one Post?

I'll ask Stormzy.

Feeling Congested

Where in Australia is this?

Everyone seems to driving Volvos...

...on the wrong side of the road.

Then I spotted the sign on the far side of the road, "ULLEVI MOTET"

Ah, the picture has been reversed and that should read "IVELLU TETOM".

But hang on, that doesn't make sense either and the E and L's would need to be backwards.

So I looked up Ullevi Motet on Google and found we were in Gothenburg, Sweden.

That would explain the Volvos.

I probably wouldn't have given this article in Australian car site CarAdvice.com.au a second glance if it hadn't been for that photo.  It is about New South Wales using V2I (vehicle to Infrastructure) technology to turn traffic lights green for large commercial vehicles (lorries) travelling about Sydney.  It's all about reducing congestion and pollution in the city.

Sounds very much like my story last year about the same technology being used for patient transport ambulances.  So it comes with the same problems and associated risks.

The commenters on the story keep talking about the M4 motorway which again made me question the Australian-ness of the story given that the M4 is the motorway here in the UK that links South Wales to London.

But apparently there is another M4 motorway in New South Wales.

I think that road should be called "New M4".

But it isn't.

Perhaps Sydney should be looking at the other end of our M4.  The London Congestion Charge seems to be a more effective method of controlling traffic.  The BBC asked if it was working back in 2013, ten years after it was introduced. The concensus is good although it does seem to depend on who you talk to.

Meanwhile, over in Paris, they are going for the shutting off roads to traffic at certain times option.  Successive mayors have been implementing these prohibitions for a while now - I criticised one back in 2012.  The BBC cover the latest score there today.  Here's a picture of it looking more Australian:

Rocket Crash

Look at the aftermath of this accident!

 

Some of those cars have been reduced to small, crumpled cubes of metal.

The story has been unfolding in The Liverpool Echo today.

Actually, they already looked like that before the accident.  They were being carried on a scrap metal truck which got caught up with another truck and a few other vehicles.  Both the trucks overturned causing traffic chaos around the Rocket Interchange (named after the Rocket pub named after the steam locomotive) at the end of the M62 motorway in Liverpool.

I bet some of those cubes have now been in two serious accidents.

Fortunately it looks like no significant injuries were sustained.

No idea yet as to the cause of the crash.

maybe one of the drivers got distracted by a nearby advertising board.

Americans Are Poor Tippers

Actually they don't know what tippers are.

This is a Tipper:

According to this Car+Driver story, Americans call them "Dump Trucks".  This particular one is a Mercedes Benz Arcos and it is up for sale.  It will probably cost about £100K.  I won't be putting in a bid because it is in Bicester which is a long way to go from here and also I can't afford it and have absolutely no use for it whatsoever.

I probably could afford the one from the Car+Driver story though:

 

As you can see, it is also a Mercedes Benz Arcos and it will be about £150 when it goes on sale next month.

Hope His Air-Brakes Work

This is impossible, right?

Apparently not.

 

What you are looking at is a picture of an articulated lorry jumping over a Lotus F1 car - including driver!

 

FoxNews had the story yesterday.

 

Well, the story is true - but the picture misleading.

 

This is what actually happened: 

They broke the World Record for the distance jumped by a tractor & trailer unit and also the suspension of the tractor unit.

The F1 car was racing alongside (or behind as the photographer was looking) the jump and would have been flattened if it had been where the photographer initially wants us to believe it is.

Still very impressive.

Here they are receiving their World Record certificate.

I knew there had to be some interesting F1 news somewhere this week.  (Sorry Lewis, only joking, well done to you too)

This Guy Needs A Bridging Loan

That picture of a collapsed bridge is taken from this MSN story about a Chinese truck driver fined £15.5 million for driving a seriously overloaded truck over a bridge which collapsed under its weight. This could affect his no-claims discount. It doesn't state whether or not there was a sign at the bridge with a max weight limit - something I would put as crucial to his guilt. But, in any case, it is a fine excuse for me to publish these photos I found on Google Images:...and my particular favourite...