As delivered at BBC Radio Bristol this morning:
I was thinking the other day about the arbitrary nature of our concept of speed. Can I pack it into my 285 words and 1 minute 45 seconds?
1 mile was originally the distance covered in 1,000 paces.
An hour is one twenty fourth of the time it takes for the moon to orbit the Earth.
So exceeding 30mph means you travel more than 30,000 paces in the time it takes the moon to go 1/24th of the way round the earth.
Of course this is not covered in a speed awareness course. That would be silly.
But my own speed awareness advice stems from when I read some of the great stories of the Hebrew Bible; what Christians call the Old Testament. There I find a different concept of time.
When strangers are invited to 'Stay and eat with us' instructions are often issued to the servants to make bread and prepare the fatted animal. This is not, by any definition, fast food. Rest, care of the animals and conversation would all take place whilst waiting for the food to be ready. Nobody phoned for pizza or popped down the chippy.
A thousand new labour-saving devices since the Bible and we fill the time saved with (beat) extra labour. What changed? Why are we so anxious to be at our destination a little faster?
I can't give a detailed answer except to recite a list of qualities of Christian behaviour St Paul lists. He says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Did you spot the ones that would make us all more speed aware? Perhaps peace, patience and self-control. It would be a start.
This was followed by a brief discussion on whether this vicar had a clean licence (I do but it hasn't always been so) followed by the revelation that I am much older than I look.
Showing posts with label Motoring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Motoring. Show all posts
Monday, December 07, 2015
Monday, January 19, 2009
Driving Licences
A circulated email told me this. Worth checking.
Unwitting motorists face £1,000 fines as thousands of photocard driving licences expire.
Thousands of motorists are at risk of being fined up to £1,000 because they are unwittingly driving without a valid licence.
They risk prosecution after failing to spot the extremely small print on their photocard licence which says it automatically expires after 10 years and has to be renewed - even though drivers are licensed to drive until the age of 70.
The fiasco has come to light a decade after the first batch of photo licences was issued in July 1998, just as they start to expire.
Motoring organisations blamed the Government for the fiasco and said 'most' drivers believed their licences were for life.
A mock-up driving licence from 1998 when the photocards were launched shows the imminent expiry date as item '4b.'
They said officials had failed to publicise sufficiently the fact that new-style licences - unlike the old paper ones - expire after a set period and have to be renewed.
To rub salt into wounds, drivers will have to a pay £17.50 to renew their card - a charge which critics have condemned as a 'stealth tax' and which will earn the Treasury an estimated £437 million over 25 years.
Official DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired this summer, so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding.
With another 300,000 photocard licences due to expire over the coming year, experts fear the number of invalid licences will soar, putting thousands more drivers in breach of the law and at risk of a fine.
At the heart of the confusion is the small print on the tiny credit-card-size photo licence, which is used in conjunction with the paper version.
Just below the driver name on the front of the photocard licence is a series of dates and details - each one numbered.
Number 4b features a date in tiny writing, but no explicit explanation as to what it means.
The date's significance is only explained if the driver turns over the card and reads the key on the back which states that '4b' means 'licence valid to'.
Even more confusingly, an adjacent table on the rear of the card sets out how long the driver is registered to hold a licence - that is until his or her 70th birthday.
A total of 25million new-style licences have been issued but - motoring experts say - drivers were never sufficiently warned they would expire after 10 years.
Motorists who fail to renew their licences in time are allowed to continue driving. But the DVLA says they could be charged with 'failing to surrender their licence', an offence carrying a £1,000 fine.
AA president, Edmund King said: 'It is not generally known that photocard licences expire: there appears to be a lack of information that people will have to renew these licences.'
Unwitting motorists face £1,000 fines as thousands of photocard driving licences expire.
Thousands of motorists are at risk of being fined up to £1,000 because they are unwittingly driving without a valid licence.
They risk prosecution after failing to spot the extremely small print on their photocard licence which says it automatically expires after 10 years and has to be renewed - even though drivers are licensed to drive until the age of 70.
The fiasco has come to light a decade after the first batch of photo licences was issued in July 1998, just as they start to expire.
Motoring organisations blamed the Government for the fiasco and said 'most' drivers believed their licences were for life.
A mock-up driving licence from 1998 when the photocards were launched shows the imminent expiry date as item '4b.'
They said officials had failed to publicise sufficiently the fact that new-style licences - unlike the old paper ones - expire after a set period and have to be renewed.
To rub salt into wounds, drivers will have to a pay £17.50 to renew their card - a charge which critics have condemned as a 'stealth tax' and which will earn the Treasury an estimated £437 million over 25 years.
Official DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired this summer, so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding.
With another 300,000 photocard licences due to expire over the coming year, experts fear the number of invalid licences will soar, putting thousands more drivers in breach of the law and at risk of a fine.
At the heart of the confusion is the small print on the tiny credit-card-size photo licence, which is used in conjunction with the paper version.
Just below the driver name on the front of the photocard licence is a series of dates and details - each one numbered.
Number 4b features a date in tiny writing, but no explicit explanation as to what it means.
The date's significance is only explained if the driver turns over the card and reads the key on the back which states that '4b' means 'licence valid to'.
Even more confusingly, an adjacent table on the rear of the card sets out how long the driver is registered to hold a licence - that is until his or her 70th birthday.
A total of 25million new-style licences have been issued but - motoring experts say - drivers were never sufficiently warned they would expire after 10 years.
Motorists who fail to renew their licences in time are allowed to continue driving. But the DVLA says they could be charged with 'failing to surrender their licence', an offence carrying a £1,000 fine.
AA president, Edmund King said: 'It is not generally known that photocard licences expire: there appears to be a lack of information that people will have to renew these licences.'
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Polite Traffic Signs
Driving through the Cotswolds yesterday we came to the outskirts of a village where the traffic calming measures had been so heavy we were amazed they didn't have stingers on the edge of town. The sign that bade us farewell said, 'Please continue to drive carefully.'
Got us thinking that did. If only a little extra courtesy and reality was exhibited by sign writers we would be more willing to conform. How about:
Are you quite sure those headlights are dipped?
Be real nice and let one car in each
Overtaking is iffy for a mile or so
It's a bit awkward if you park here
The car coming towards you ain't stopping. You however have a choice.
20 miles 'til the next Jimmy
Got us thinking that did. If only a little extra courtesy and reality was exhibited by sign writers we would be more willing to conform. How about:
Are you quite sure those headlights are dipped?
Be real nice and let one car in each
Overtaking is iffy for a mile or so
It's a bit awkward if you park here
The car coming towards you ain't stopping. You however have a choice.
20 miles 'til the next Jimmy
Friday, July 07, 2006
Gozo/Malta written driving examination
1. What action should one take on approaching a marked pedestrian crossing area?
Keep a look out as you may have to swerve to avoid pedestrians
2. Which side of the road should you drive in Malta/Gozo?
The best side
3. What does it mean when the car in front is indicating to the left?
It will shortly carry out any one of many possible manoeuvres none of which involves the left in any way
4. What does it mean when the car in front is indicating by hand signal to the right?
The driver has a sweaty hand and is cooling it in the breeze
5. Where can you park in Gozo?
Anywhere provided passing vehicles can still fit through the gap with 0.001 of a millimetre of space either side
6. What does the 'no overtaking' sign indicate?
Look out for oncoming vehicles on your side of the road
7. How do you fry an egg in Gozo?
On returning to your car from the shops with a box of eggs break one onto the dashboard and eat 30 seconds later.
8. What action should you take in the event of a minor accident?
Leave the vehicles where they are, no matter how inconvenient this is to the rest of the islands' motorists, until someone from the accident department has visited to measure the scene.
9. What should one do in the event of being caught in a minor traffic jam?
Shout and gesticulate out of the window for a few seconds, then sound your horn for several minutes, then overtake the whole queue and make matters far more congested by ending up facing a similarly frustrated motorist coming in the other direction
10. What is the national speed limit?
Imaginary.
Keep a look out as you may have to swerve to avoid pedestrians
2. Which side of the road should you drive in Malta/Gozo?
The best side
3. What does it mean when the car in front is indicating to the left?
It will shortly carry out any one of many possible manoeuvres none of which involves the left in any way
4. What does it mean when the car in front is indicating by hand signal to the right?
The driver has a sweaty hand and is cooling it in the breeze
5. Where can you park in Gozo?
Anywhere provided passing vehicles can still fit through the gap with 0.001 of a millimetre of space either side
6. What does the 'no overtaking' sign indicate?
Look out for oncoming vehicles on your side of the road
7. How do you fry an egg in Gozo?
On returning to your car from the shops with a box of eggs break one onto the dashboard and eat 30 seconds later.
8. What action should you take in the event of a minor accident?
Leave the vehicles where they are, no matter how inconvenient this is to the rest of the islands' motorists, until someone from the accident department has visited to measure the scene.
9. What should one do in the event of being caught in a minor traffic jam?
Shout and gesticulate out of the window for a few seconds, then sound your horn for several minutes, then overtake the whole queue and make matters far more congested by ending up facing a similarly frustrated motorist coming in the other direction
10. What is the national speed limit?
Imaginary.
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