Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

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recumbentpanda
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by recumbentpanda »

Rheon2's darting badger notwithstanding, I do find it disturbing that so many motorists in this story apparently failed to see and avoid hitting relatively large objects in the road.
Psamathe
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by Psamathe »

axel_knutt wrote:Beware, someone is booby trapping the roads around Tiptree with concrete blocks and barbed wire:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-35206183

Wasn't there a big problem with people throwing bricks from bridges at cars on the A12 in that area a few years ago ? And did they ever catch those people ?

Ian
Vorpal
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by Vorpal »

Psamathe wrote:
axel_knutt wrote:Beware, someone is booby trapping the roads around Tiptree with concrete blocks and barbed wire:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-35206183

Wasn't there a big problem with people throwing bricks from bridges at cars on the A12 in that area a few years ago ? And did they ever catch those people ?

Ian

Yes. It was children.
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beardy
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by beardy »

Ch Insp Nick Lee said it was "very fortunate" no-one had been injured".


I agree but I dont suppose he was thinking of pedestrians and cyclists who may have been unfortunate enough to be sharing the road with these drivers.

The Police also said that drivers should be vigilant, I agree with that, if only this attitude could be maintained without the need for concrete reminders on the road.

The fact that so many drivers hit these things isnt surprising, the old adage of being able to stop in the distance you can see has long since been dropped from what is expected of a normal driver, as is evident in the thread about drivers ridiculously low and non-existent sentences.
reohn2
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by reohn2 »

Familiarity breeds contempt,as the old saying goes.
It's never more true than when driving.

I have a saying borrowed from a Monty Python sketch 'always expect the unexpected' it serves me well,though if I'm completely honest at times my guard can drop,especially when I'm tired.

I was thinking about this thread earlier.
In the the video clip which was in darkness,there's a distinct possibility the driver was on his/her way home from work,tired,overtired even,mind wandering,there could be an element of 'I can't believe what I'm seeing' involved.
Add to that the familiarity aspect,if say you've ever driving down the same road every day for a working year that drive could equate to 600 times,a third or even half of which could be in darkness,if nothing happened for the 200 to 300 odd times of dark driving,the mind can be forgiven for thinking it ain't going to happen this time?
The contempt of familiarity.
I'm always on alert when driving lonely country roads in darkness as IME locals tend to know if and when there's 'likely' to be no one about,but I could be the unlikely one.
Mainbeam(dipped when appropriate)whatever,helps with being seen sooner.

I'm not making excuses for anyone,just putting possible human psychology case forward,and perhaps even in the future should the technology ever come to fruition the case for driverless or even semi-driverless cars.

There's a lot of 'should-ing' but not too much 'could-ing'

Here's a 'shouldn't have happened' story.
Fit man,by all accounts and previous lifetime and lifestyle experience,goes for a ride on his bike and during that ride has a heart attack.He's rushed to hospital and stabilised,admitted and all the tests carried out,he has a slightly raised Troponin level(not high by H/A standards at all).They carry out an echocardiogram,which reveals the heart is working like a gud 'un,no valve problems,no evidence of any thing untoward,cholestorol level is only slightly raised at 5.5,BP is steady and normal heart rate in the low to mid fifties constantsly,occasionally going up slightly when nurses fuss around him :wink: .
An angiogram reveals this guy has the cleanest arteries the consultant has ever seen and complements him on them,and his lifestyle/diet/exercise regime.
The patient is kept in for observation,and allowed home after 4 days,he's put on blood thinning and anti platelet meds,given an angina spray to use if and when,plus statins......
He awaits a further scan to check for any (slight) chance scarring of the heart muscle.

That was me four weeks ago,and I didn't expect it,not one bit.

The brown stuff happens as they say :?
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Brucey
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by Brucey »

blimey.... I hope you are OK now R2.... all best wishes from me.

cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phil Fouracre
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by Phil Fouracre »

Likewise, glad you're ok
Similar story for me! Off paragliding with mates, been flying for decades, glorious weather, everything looking great. Came round from coma three weeks later, and off work for three years. Surgeons said I should never have survived.
As you say, the brown stuff happens!!
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity
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Vantage
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by Vantage »

+1 from me too.
Glad to know you're still around John. :)
Bill


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AlaninWales
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by AlaninWales »

+1 R2, I've had a couple of mates who had similar. Stuff happens but it's the fitness which pulls you through.

On the original subject, there's a hill near here I drive along frequently. A year ago, the car had a worn/dry bearing, only noticable on rough road above 40ish, I told the mechanic to take it up that road. On returning (having confirmed the bearing noise), he was shocked that I drive up that hill at 40 - in fact I drive up parts of it at 60 and other parts at sub-20. Driving to what can be seen to be clear (not what cannot be seen to be obstructed). rounding a corner there a month ago, there were horses (plural, no riders) in the road, so I stopped without alarming them, put them in a field and went looking for a house where an owner may be. No drama, no blame, no boasting but if you hit what is clearly visible in the road, it is the driver's fault. I've also stopped for a playful litter of fox-cubs before now.

If you can't stop because of the driver too close behind, you should have slowed further to control that driver's speed too!
reohn2
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by reohn2 »

AlaninWales wrote:If you can't stop because of the driver too close behind, you should have slowed further to control that driver's speed too!


Whilst I can only agree,as I pointed out up thread we are as human beings not infallible,there is an amount of bad habitual behaviour(as well as good :wink: ) inherent in humans,we are non of us perfect,or immortal FTM :shock: :wink:

BTW thanks everyone for the well wishes,much appreciated :)
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MartinC
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by MartinC »

R2, sorry to hear about your problem. Hope all is well and recovery is complete.
Vorpal
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by Vorpal »

AlaninWales wrote:If you can't stop because of the driver too close behind, you should have slowed further to control that driver's speed too!


Tha's all fine, and it's my normal tactic, but if someone comes up behind you, there is still a brief time in which something could occur before you (and the following driver) necessarily slow down. I don't recall the specific circumstances of my brick incident; it was 13 or 14 years ago, now. I was aware of a car close behind mine and was already slowing when I saw the brick. I presume that the driver had 'caught up' to me just before the incident, but I don't now remember for certain that this was the case.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
beardy
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by beardy »

It makes sense that those slowing down for a bend are going to be rapidly caught up by those who prefer to slow down on the bend (if at all).
It is* a requisite to drive in anticipation of being able to stop in the distance you can see but not to second guess your tailgaters. I am pretty sure that far more harm will result from going even slower than from hitting a bit of road debris.

Not that I would have any reservations at all about introducing a tailgater to my towbar, if the thing infront could justify my actions. Far better they learn on a big car like mine than on a cyclist or motorcyclist.

* Though I hear an ever increasing number of cases where the liability has been partially or more applied to the obstruction.
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Mick F
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by Mick F »

MartinC wrote:R2, sorry to hear about your problem. Hope all is well and recovery is complete.
+1
Exactly.

Get even well-er soon. Best wishes to you and your family for the New Year.
Mick F. Cornwall
AlaninWales
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Re: Booby Trap Warning: Tiptree, Essex

Post by AlaninWales »

Vorpal wrote:
AlaninWales wrote:If you can't stop because of the driver too close behind, you should have slowed further to control that driver's speed too!


Tha's all fine, and it's my normal tactic, but if someone comes up behind you, there is still a brief time in which something could occur before you (and the following driver) necessarily slow down. I don't recall the specific circumstances of my brick incident; it was 13 or 14 years ago, now. I was aware of a car close behind mine and was already slowing when I saw the brick. I presume that the driver had 'caught up' to me just before the incident, but I don't now remember for certain that this was the case.

Indeed and I'm not claiming to be perfect either, just that whenever I've had such an incident (there've been a few, fortunately no-one hurt), I've looked towards my own actions for the remedy. Considering who I am (for the most part) conversing with here, I think that is the general approach of most in this conversation. So 'criticism' is just that: Constructive raising of a different approach (and - as an advanced driver (not IAM any longer I believe) recently remarked to me: AD is about giving permission yourself to drive at the correct speed for the circumstances, which may be slower than others would).
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