What's pi$$ed me off today.........!!

crappy couple of months, shoulder problem means I havn't been able to ride for over a month , bunch of stuff in house needed repairing so the coffers are now dry, and to top it all, my brother in his wisdom thought it would be funny to cause traffic chaos today in ashford by parking his bike in the back of a van at 50mph .. think its time for a beer or 3

 

Can't get much worse, Deano! Is he ok?

 

yeah I think so, pretty lucky I guess -fractured his hip so having some plate and screws fitted in the morning, other than that alittle bruised

 

Poor chap. Give him our best!

 

oooh…crap Deano…hope he recovers quickly….that wasn't the Ninja was it… ?

 

Having been driven to Bristol and back today at well above the speed limits to find that I have just been done aproaching the Dartford Tunnel on Tuesday....57 in a 50 FFS!!! I havent even done my speed awareness course for the last one yet! Be warned people these cameraas that never used to be on are now on and working fine!

 

Tom they are on and working on the approach to the tunnels. The speed limits have been altered slightly I think? I was captured on Tuesday and the letter arrived today! Xmas clampdown I think?

 

Guys...the tunnels cams have been on for some time , my work collegue got done about a year ago....also new cams either side of the approach to clackett services which as far as i can tell are only on when the variable speed signs are illuminated , they are not over gantry mounted but are mounted to the gantry upright at the side of the road, hindehead tunnel on the A3 has variable speed cams ...M3 roadworks has working average speed cams as does the M4 copy the doubters who fly through at 65 and 70+ at your peril. what is really boiling my piss lately is overnight works.....surely they plan these things right? ...wrong .....i had to go to southampton the other night and knew they had a road closure on the M3 so opted for the A3 only to find a road closure in place at the A31 hogs back...and was diverted ...wait for it...to the M3 ......to exactly the junction they had put in place the M3 road closure and so was further diverted all the way through the back lanes to Hook, had i been on the bike i probably wouldnt have minded then agin i probably wouldnt have been on the major roads in the first place , but im in a van trying to work, i want to get there and back as directly and as quick as possible.

 

I have seen the Clackett service side gantry ones go off while there are no restricted speeds flashing.
TBH people who drive a lot on a daily basis, It is the law of averages that you will come across a mobile, or just forget where a camera is while just not concentrating, speed crept up, always on a sunny morning just after rush hour, not even really speeding, especially driving in areas you rarely go should invest in the mobile phone app Camera Alert data base, Free to download, it is updated all the time, for all Speed related cameras, it has a yearly subs that is worth it, I think they still give away Life time subs if you tell them of a new camera etc. just run the app while driving.
If I recall You do not have to Subscribe, just after a year the data base does not get upgraded.

 

• I think they must have lowered the speed they do you at , as I go past a camera in croydon, same speed every morning at 06:00 for nearly two years, and It flashed last week and a NIP arrived yesterday.

 

You can't help coming to the conclusion that there is something of a Christmas Crackdown. I suppose it's the manner of imposition which gets my goat: if announced the month before ("We'll be setting the cameras at exactly the legal limit to encourage people to take extra care") then I for one would shrug and get on with it. But when the changes are made without notice and everyone has got used to a certain leniency (almost 'custom and practise') then it amounts to a de facto lowering of the limit and gives rise to a growing suspicion that the Force is being sneaky. If tackled on the issue, I am perfectly sure that some uniformed Smugness Personified would mouth words to the effect that if everyone obeys the Law, they wouldn't have a problem.

Which makes the whole issue worse in my view. Without wishing to sound like someone's Dad (wait... I am someone's Dad) , I recollect that not too long ago, the policeman would flag you down, tell you to 'watch it', give your vehicle a quick once over to make sure it wasn't obviously dangerous, remind you of the necessity to change the bulb on that missing sidelight you've been meaning to fix for days now, and send you on your way with a wave. And (for me at any rate), that ticking off would last for years and would support my generally positive view of Les Flicks.

Without wishing to go too far , the recent TV programme chronicling the 'loss of honour of Christopher Jefferies' (Landlord in Bristol hounded by the media on suspicion of murdering a young woman who'd rented a flat from him) reminds me that there have been an increasing number of incidents where Police persons have acted badly. In that episode, the newspapers were (allegedly) tipped off by a Policeman that this slightly weird bloke had the opportunity, the means and (who knows?) probably the motive to kill her - 'stands to reason, especially as he's a weirdo'. The whole unhappy pattern of behaviour by some in the Press revealed by the Levison Enquiry (Jefferies gave evidence in that) contained episodes where officers exchanged information for cash payments; so-called 'Plebgate' (whatever the real truth might have been) included an officer swearing he had overheard something which he had not. Senior officers apparently put their heads together to try to minimise what they saw as loss of belief in the established assumption of probity in the Force, closed ranks and information was witheld from the enquiry.

I have seen TV programmes which feature people on the fringes of criminal society who have been brought up not to trust a Policeman - ever. I haven't really taken any notice before, but maybe that thinking is more widespread. If so, I feel myself becoming slowly more radicalised: as soon as junior and middle ranking instruments of the State begin to think they can be the Law, boundaries of civilisation are pushed further away from what is conscienable. I used to joke that the world is actually run by the World Association of Grade Threes: they have no responsibility to speak of, but, Boy, do they have power! You want to renew your company car? Good luck with that, unless the Grade Three in charge of such matters feels like it. You want another telephone line so you can run a business from home? You have to wait. For what? Until you have written in to a different department which will make a note of it and forward the request. But that was a month ago! What's your point, Sir? AAAAARGH!

Sorry to rant. I don't feel better now. There is a growth of Naughtiness and Dishonesty and I don't like it. And that's another thing...!

 

Makes me wonder if every car is done or whether it is a percentage? I have vehicles fly past me around clackets amongst other sections and no flashes. What really irritates me I get done a relatively low speed and everyday I drive around the m25 and everyday I see drivers on their mobiles!

 

Should we all worry about a rising police state, just take a long hard look at what is happening in the States. A couple more incidents of police brutality and gun law and I can see the protesters getting more angry and violent. Can lead to only one thing, anarchy and/or civil war, once started in the gun, gung ho, States, could get really out of control.
I always thought that sooner or later Merryca would become more isolationist and step back from world domination, any more crack downs internally and you can see it beginning to happen.
Wait a minute, ain't this a Bikey Foruuuum.
Still I suppose the big outside world will eventually affect even us dudes, keep on riding, Merry Grimble to you's all.