26-Dec-2007
I thought today was BoxING day
But now I know that I must have mis-heard and it is actually should be BOX IN day.
Here is the view from the back of car #1 in my driveway this evening.
The red Mazda to the right is actually parked overhanging the pavement to the extent that a pedestrian cannot use it.....they would need to walk into the road. It appears to have been forgotten, but it is actually illegal to park on the pavement, but I guess that we have become accustomed to seeing that style of parking. You will see that the pavement is completely blocked from the second picture. This car is parked so far back because there is another car in front of it on a single car driveway.
And here is the view looking from car #2 . It may not look like it from these images, but I can absolutely assure you that I had zero chance of getting either of my cars out of my driveway this evening had I wanted or needed to.
Now I know that this is Christmas and there tend to be more cars around, and I am not entirely unsympathetic to that, but this is not just a Christmas phenomenon around my way.
Only the other evening I had to maneouvre my XC90 with just a couple of inches to spare either side to get out....and I am really annoyed that had I scratched one of the offending cars, I would likely have been held to blame.
But I am even more annoyed that the Highway code has been forgotten..... Pavements are for pedestrians, not for cars!!
When I had to have two cars (and I do need two cars because my wife and I work at different ends of the country), I actually had the foresight to think about neighbours and buy a house with a double driveway....and by that I mean that I went for a side by side driveway approach to a double garage, yet frequently I still cannot get either car out of the driveway without knocking first on neighbours doors....or equally annoying, having to decide which keys to take on the basis of which car I am being allowed to get out of the driveway.
So yes, I am annoyed and frustrated because I have spoken with neighbours very civilly about this in the past, but still the issue keeps cropping up....remember that neighbour with the single driveway? They have around 5 cars belonging to family members which are often clogging up this street. We even had a broken down one towed back here from a non-resident family member hich has been parked in the street for the better part of the last week, adding to the problems.
Yet, for all that, there is an even more important message than saying that David Cameron is somewhat inconvenienced and aggrieved by this extreme example of congestion.
Thr truth is that in probably every street in the country, someone has parked selfishly to save themselves a few steps to their intended destination and parked where it was convenient for them without fully considering the potential impacts. I am willing to bet that most people base their parking decision around whether they have left enough room for a normal family car to pass down the road.
That is not the right tests to apply....try these instead:
1. Have I left enough room on the pavement for a pram to pass? If not, then I am selfishly endangering a child by forcing their parent to take the pram out into the road ...... and funnilly enough, the pram goes out first into the road before the parent has a chance to assess whether the road is clear, putting an infant at risk because of a driver's selfish lack of thought.
2. Can an Emergency Vehicle get through? Maybe I just have a different sense of perspective, but my friend DENIS the fire-engine looks a hell of a lot wider than a normal car, and I have lost count of the number of times that I have squeezed through a gap in my car, the gap being caused by cars being parked directly opposite each other on the road. If the road is the only way in and you have blocked access to emergency services, then you may be directly contributing to someone's death if you delay vital access.
3. Would I want to try and get my car out through the gap I left?
So.....please pay heed, park sensibly and considerately at all times. I can just about live with nuisance, but I couldn't live with someone's death on my conscience for sake of walking a little bit further than I might otherwise have preferred.....COULD YOU?
Please park safely and considerately,
David Cameron
Webmaster of Food with Passion, Selection Box and others.....
Here is the view from the back of car #1 in my driveway this evening.The red Mazda to the right is actually parked overhanging the pavement to the extent that a pedestrian cannot use it.....they would need to walk into the road. It appears to have been forgotten, but it is actually illegal to park on the pavement, but I guess that we have become accustomed to seeing that style of parking. You will see that the pavement is completely blocked from the second picture. This car is parked so far back because there is another car in front of it on a single car driveway.
And here is the view looking from car #2 . It may not look like it from these images, but I can absolutely assure you that I had zero chance of getting either of my cars out of my driveway this evening had I wanted or needed to.
Now I know that this is Christmas and there tend to be more cars around, and I am not entirely unsympathetic to that, but this is not just a Christmas phenomenon around my way.
Only the other evening I had to maneouvre my XC90 with just a couple of inches to spare either side to get out....and I am really annoyed that had I scratched one of the offending cars, I would likely have been held to blame.
But I am even more annoyed that the Highway code has been forgotten..... Pavements are for pedestrians, not for cars!!
When I had to have two cars (and I do need two cars because my wife and I work at different ends of the country), I actually had the foresight to think about neighbours and buy a house with a double driveway....and by that I mean that I went for a side by side driveway approach to a double garage, yet frequently I still cannot get either car out of the driveway without knocking first on neighbours doors....or equally annoying, having to decide which keys to take on the basis of which car I am being allowed to get out of the driveway.
So yes, I am annoyed and frustrated because I have spoken with neighbours very civilly about this in the past, but still the issue keeps cropping up....remember that neighbour with the single driveway? They have around 5 cars belonging to family members which are often clogging up this street. We even had a broken down one towed back here from a non-resident family member hich has been parked in the street for the better part of the last week, adding to the problems.
Yet, for all that, there is an even more important message than saying that David Cameron is somewhat inconvenienced and aggrieved by this extreme example of congestion.
Thr truth is that in probably every street in the country, someone has parked selfishly to save themselves a few steps to their intended destination and parked where it was convenient for them without fully considering the potential impacts. I am willing to bet that most people base their parking decision around whether they have left enough room for a normal family car to pass down the road.
That is not the right tests to apply....try these instead:
1. Have I left enough room on the pavement for a pram to pass? If not, then I am selfishly endangering a child by forcing their parent to take the pram out into the road ...... and funnilly enough, the pram goes out first into the road before the parent has a chance to assess whether the road is clear, putting an infant at risk because of a driver's selfish lack of thought.
2. Can an Emergency Vehicle get through? Maybe I just have a different sense of perspective, but my friend DENIS the fire-engine looks a hell of a lot wider than a normal car, and I have lost count of the number of times that I have squeezed through a gap in my car, the gap being caused by cars being parked directly opposite each other on the road. If the road is the only way in and you have blocked access to emergency services, then you may be directly contributing to someone's death if you delay vital access.
3. Would I want to try and get my car out through the gap I left?
So.....please pay heed, park sensibly and considerately at all times. I can just about live with nuisance, but I couldn't live with someone's death on my conscience for sake of walking a little bit further than I might otherwise have preferred.....COULD YOU?
Please park safely and considerately,
David Cameron
Webmaster of Food with Passion, Selection Box and others.....
Labels: emergency, HSSE, parking, safety
27-Nov-2007
Bought a bike this Christmas? Check it NOW!!
I have just recieved a bike from Toys R Us which I ordered for my daughter's birthday, the order and delivery from Toys R Us not going without problems.
As is customary for delivered bicycles, the bike required some construction, having been packed (wedged!!) into a fairly flat box. The bike looked great in the shop demo version, but now appears to be a mass-produced import. The exact model was a 20" Sparkler Full Suspension Bike.
When we unpacked the components and looked to start to assemble the bike, we were horrified to find damage to both front brake cables - with one the plastic sleeving was stripped, leaving the cable exposed and liable to rusting. The second cable is in even worse condition, with the wire braiding of the cable frayed and like wire wool, with obvious risks that it could deteriorate and snap at any time.
I shall be returning this bike to store and will be asking for a full refund. I don't want a bike from a manufacturer that could care so little about the way the bike was packed and could recklessly endanger my children.
But the funny thing is that we were lucky....had we gone to a store that pre-built the bike for us, I doubt that we would have noticed these problems as we needed to give it a thorough going over to spot the defects.
So...whether you are putting the bike together yourself or getting a retailer to pre-build it for you, the moral is to check it and to keep on checking it over yourself for any damage or wear and tear that could pose a safety risk.
I truly believe that the brakes on this new bike could have failed quite quickly with disastrous results and I caution all parents to be vigilant this Christmas for any hidden dangers within the wrapping paper.
Have a happy, but safe Christmas,
David Cameron
As is customary for delivered bicycles, the bike required some construction, having been packed (wedged!!) into a fairly flat box. The bike looked great in the shop demo version, but now appears to be a mass-produced import. The exact model was a 20" Sparkler Full Suspension Bike.
When we unpacked the components and looked to start to assemble the bike, we were horrified to find damage to both front brake cables - with one the plastic sleeving was stripped, leaving the cable exposed and liable to rusting. The second cable is in even worse condition, with the wire braiding of the cable frayed and like wire wool, with obvious risks that it could deteriorate and snap at any time.
I shall be returning this bike to store and will be asking for a full refund. I don't want a bike from a manufacturer that could care so little about the way the bike was packed and could recklessly endanger my children.
But the funny thing is that we were lucky....had we gone to a store that pre-built the bike for us, I doubt that we would have noticed these problems as we needed to give it a thorough going over to spot the defects.
So...whether you are putting the bike together yourself or getting a retailer to pre-build it for you, the moral is to check it and to keep on checking it over yourself for any damage or wear and tear that could pose a safety risk.
I truly believe that the brakes on this new bike could have failed quite quickly with disastrous results and I caution all parents to be vigilant this Christmas for any hidden dangers within the wrapping paper.
Have a happy, but safe Christmas,
David Cameron
Labels: brakes, safety, sparkler, Toys R Us
05-Oct-2007
Seat Belts: Why do we not care outside our own car?
I have just returned from a trip to the States which involved a couple of hotel stays and trips to my company sites.
It is absolutely drummed into us that personal safety is paramount and we have "Golden Rules" covering wearing of seat belts in road vehicles.
On a hotel courtesy shuttle in the Naperville area of Ohio, I learned that a fellow passenger was a work colleague in another part of our Group. When I pointed out that she should know better from her safety indoctrination and company safety culture that she should have fitted her seat beltbefore moving off, I was told in a matter of a fact way that "I like to take a risk" and there was no attempt to wear the available seat belt.
To be frank, I was dumbstruck at the response and didn't challenge further, but her laissez-faire attitude could have put the driver of the shuttle at risk (she was sat immediately behind him) and I suppose me too if we were side-swiped as I was sat alongside her.
What amazes me is that we have a near 100% take-up of seat belt wear when we are in our own cars yet everyone thinks that they are above average skilled drivers and presumably safer than average (obviously something is wong when greater than 65% of us think that we are above average), yet we don't think it that important to wear seat belts when travelling in other public transport with a driver of unknown skills.
Come on folks, if we all truly believe that we are above average drivers, then you have to accept that statistically we are getting into vehicles driven by below average drivers.
So.... belt up....and shut up!! Put your seat belt on when you are challenged without being a smart Alec (or Alexa) and putting fellow passenger's lives in danger.
It is absolutely drummed into us that personal safety is paramount and we have "Golden Rules" covering wearing of seat belts in road vehicles.
On a hotel courtesy shuttle in the Naperville area of Ohio, I learned that a fellow passenger was a work colleague in another part of our Group. When I pointed out that she should know better from her safety indoctrination and company safety culture that she should have fitted her seat beltbefore moving off, I was told in a matter of a fact way that "I like to take a risk" and there was no attempt to wear the available seat belt.
To be frank, I was dumbstruck at the response and didn't challenge further, but her laissez-faire attitude could have put the driver of the shuttle at risk (she was sat immediately behind him) and I suppose me too if we were side-swiped as I was sat alongside her.
What amazes me is that we have a near 100% take-up of seat belt wear when we are in our own cars yet everyone thinks that they are above average skilled drivers and presumably safer than average (obviously something is wong when greater than 65% of us think that we are above average), yet we don't think it that important to wear seat belts when travelling in other public transport with a driver of unknown skills.
Come on folks, if we all truly believe that we are above average drivers, then you have to accept that statistically we are getting into vehicles driven by below average drivers.
So.... belt up....and shut up!! Put your seat belt on when you are challenged without being a smart Alec (or Alexa) and putting fellow passenger's lives in danger.
Labels: driving, HSE, HSSE, safety, seat belt
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