Driving standards are in melt down Options

[Claude]

That may be true, originally.
However, the English language is forever evolving. These days though, it is used more in the way I did.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/coin-a-phrase.html

D@mn evolution, I want to live in the past!

Fair enough though, I see your point, but if one day txt spk becomes the norm I will take pride in speaking/writing/typing English the way I was taught in school in the 1990s.

Anyway, back to driving standards and how we improve them...

If everyone following the Highway Code the world would be a better place, did anyone disagree with that?

Do the police enforce the HC or is it deemed an invaluable use of resources?

For example, one of my pet hates on our local routes (A34/M4) is those drivers who don't return to Lane 1 having completed an overtake. Has anyone ever seen or heard of someone being pulled over for 'lane hogging'? That said, I don't know of any 'collisions' which would directly result from a instance of lane-hogging, more so in the resultant heavier traffic. Even still, it would make me feel better if these people were 'educated' by a law enforcement agent.

[x2lls]

D@mn evolution, I want to live in the past!

Fair enough though, I see your point, but if one day txt spk becomes the norm I will take pride in speaking/writing/typing English the way I was taught in school in the 1990s.

Anyway, back to driving standards and how we improve them...

If everyone following the Highway Code the world would be a better place, did anyone disagree with that?

Do the police enforce the HC or is it deemed an invaluable use of resources?

For example, one of my pet hates on our local routes (A34/M4) is those drivers who don't return to Lane 1 having completed an overtake. Has anyone ever seen or heard of someone being pulled over for 'lane hogging'? That said, I don't know of any 'collisions' which would directly result from a instance of lane-hogging, more so in the resultant heavier traffic. Even still, it would make me feel better if these people were 'educated' by a law enforcement agent.

One indicator flash when half way between lanes.

[motormad]

D@mn evolution, I want to live in the past!

Fair enough though, I see your point, but if one day txt spk becomes the norm I will take pride in speaking/writing/typing English the way I was taught in school in the 1990s.

Anyway, back to driving standards and how we improve them...

If everyone following the Highway Code the world would be a better place, did anyone disagree with that?

Text speak is just that - A shorthand way of communicating on mobile devices when you only had 160 characters to send in one text. If you use your oh-so-important English when texting you end up paying two or three times for a single message.
Likewise if that receiving party is in another country they have to pay two or three times to RECIEVE that message.

Saying "c u l8r" is just as understandable as "see you later", takes less than half the characters. For me with my unlimited text policy I do not need to worry about using short hand and use decent punctuation and grammar nearly all of the time. However it is not anyones place to berate those who choose to communicate in a short-hand way. It's not really difficult to understand whatsoever.

Moving on from that, the highway code is very out of date anyway. No booklet can ever cover every single event that happens.
And driving is not hard, those people who think it is probably should not be driving.

[Nothing Much]

Pulled Over.

About 25 years ago a niece teamed up with a chap of greater age. They wanted to set up a gardening business so he took a driving test and despite being totally frightened of the whole thing managed to pass. Oh the freedom of the road!. They set off up the A1 thinking it would be more gentle than the M1.

They were indeed stopped and cautioned for driving at about 30 MPH. The police had to explain that they were a danger.
The Q was close to 40 miles.(txt hadn'y been invented then)

The other useless document was "Protect and Survive". We never had one through the door. Living and working close to Westminster, I guess the planners said don't bother with them. They are F****d whatever they do.
Strangely an old Anderson shelter was only recently moved from a neighbour's garden. I wonder if it would have been
worth a bob on e-bay.

We never bothered with Sat-Nav ( at the time I had an excellent navigator).
I would still rather go "The long way round" than have some uninvited female tell me I took the wrong exit.
So I think that they are a distraction as well for some. Also talking is another distraction. I don't like talking when on a motorway or dual carriageway. I mention it to begin so no passenger is offended. Jeremy Vine is OK.
ce.( my name in txt)

[Claude]

if that receiving party is in another country they have to pay two or three times to RECIEVE that message.

Receiving a mobile-terminated SMS while roaming outside of the UK does not cost the recipient anything the last time I checked.

Assuming the recipient is using a UK-registered mobile, and the sender is on a UK mobile within the UK, the sender will only be charged the standard text message rate, or it will be deducted from their bundle, if applicable.

[On the edge]

Nothing Much, tell your nephew in law to put a sign saying 'HORSES' front and back of his transport. He can then go as slow as he likes without being stopped!

[Nothing Much]

Sorry On the Edge, the snail was a dolt and the gardening came to naught.

That is another thing, mentioning horses and cycles.folk simply have to pass however narrow the lane or bendy
the country lane is.
ce.

[Berkshirelad]

Do the police enforce the HC or is it deemed an invaluable use of resources?.

A great deal of the HC is not law and cannot therefore be enforced. It is guidance.

It is enforceable only where it uses the verb 'MUST' as opposed to 'SHOULD'

[motormad]

Receiving a mobile-terminated SMS while roaming outside of the UK does not cost the recipient anything the last time I checked.

Assuming the recipient is using a UK-registered mobile, and the sender is on a UK mobile within the UK, the sender will only be charged the standard text message rate, or it will be deducted from their bundle, if applicable.

I think u r misin point.

If people choose to communicate in short hand, honestly, what the **** business is that of yours?

If you can't understand it then really, in this day and age, that's not their problem, it's yours.

My standards are based on my Mother's who phones me and asks me to go round to her house to get an MMS off the internet for her, as her phone can't recieve them. Desipte the word by word instructions she can't manage it.

Yet she can send a text and when she does she uses "text" speak, and yet she when she talks, she talks very poshly using lots of big pretentious words I don't understand.

Because a) it costs her less money and b.) it's much easier for her to send as she can send it five times faster than when she would to write it out literally.

Also honestly unless you have a qwerty keyboard it's almost always easier and quicker to text using Shorthand (for example old Nokia phones or cheaper phones available today).. P

Same goes for people from other counties, talking amongst themselves, and you hear people saying "why dont they talk in english?!"
What difference does it make to you!!!!!!

[Claude]

I think u r misin point.

If people choose to communicate in short hand, honestly, what the **** business is that of yours?

If you can't understand it then really, in this day and age, that's not their problem, it's yours.

My standards are based on my Mother's who phones me and asks me to go round to her house to get an MMS off the internet for her, as her phone can't recieve them. Desipte the word by word instructions she can't manage it.

Yet she can send a text and when she does she uses "text" speak, and yet she when she talks, she talks very poshly using lots of big pretentious words I don't understand.

Because a) it costs her less money and b.) it's much easier for her to send as she can send it five times faster than when she would to write it out literally.

Also honestly unless you have a qwerty keyboard it's almost always easier and quicker to text using Shorthand (for example old Nokia phones or cheaper phones available today).. P

Same goes for people from other counties, talking amongst themselves, and you hear people saying "why dont they talk in english?!"
What difference does it make to you!!!!!!

Calm down mate, you're getting a bit worked up over nothing.

It's no business of mine if other people choose to use txt spk, you're perfectly correct, I agree with you. Equally, it's no business of yours if I choose not to.

I never said I cared how other people chose to communicate, I merely advised how I would choose to use our language.

You imply that I can't understand txt spk but I never said that, I can understand it perfectly well. So that 'problem' I have doesn't actually exist.

All it is is personal choice, something we're all entitled to. I didn't say everyone had to do what I do, I just said what I would choose to do. Chill out

[motormad]

Calm down mate, you're getting a bit worked up over nothing.

It's no business of mine if other people choose to use txt spk, you're perfectly correct, I agree with you. Equally, it's no business of yours if I choose not to.

I never said I cared how other people chose to communicate, I merely advised how I would choose to use our language.

You imply that I can't understand txt spk but I never said that, I can understand it perfectly well. So that 'problem' I have doesn't actually exist.

All it is is personal choice, something we're all entitled to. I didn't say everyone had to do what I do, I just said what I would choose to do. Chill out

I'm actually very chilled out.
As I said elsewhere, I ate a whole tub of profiteroles to myself.

[Sherlock]

Second of at least 2 major accidents on the local A34 this week. http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2013/three-v...his-morning-wed

Given the excessive speeds, tailgating, dire lane discipline and generally appalling driving out there I'm surprised we don't see fatalities on our local racetrack every day. It's mostly unnecessary - compulsory black-box insurance linked to appropriate penalties would save hundreds of lives a year and reduce NHS costs by billions.

[x2lls]

No black box for me!!

A good number of the equivalent of pcso's would perhaps help, armed with dashcams.

[Andy Capp]

Or just not get one's knickers in a twist over something that isn't as bad as hyped? 'Thin end of wedge' springs to mind.

[Claude]

Sherlock - without knowing the cause for any of these accidents how can you suggest that black boxes will save lives?

Assume these accidents were caused by drivers slowing to 50mph then using their mobile phone, or changing a CD, or applying make-up. Does a black box offer a solution to the driver in front braking hard and the unattentove driver behind crashing into them or swerving to avoid them and crashing into something else?

Without knowing the causes for any accidents I don't see how a solution can be identified. A blanket speed limit of 40mph won't stop accidents on the A34, imho, sure, it may reduce fatalaties, but accidents (or RTCs) will still occur.

Does anyone know where I can source local accident 'cause' information, or suggest who I can ask for such data?