Fair cop

“The Council of the London Borough of Ealing believes that a penalty charge is payable for an alleged traffic contravention…” It was quite right. I knew when I stopped on that box junction that I shouldn’t. I had driven round the block after spotting number one daughter crossing the road. I was afraid she would dart into Lidl’s and disappear. I expected the white van to clear the junction but it didn’t. I dislike snooping cameras but you couldn’t argue with this one. It had video if I tried to argue, and I suspect the Council wouldn’t be impressed with catching number one daughter. I should have been paying more attention. I won’t do it again.

The lights are going out

Nobody knows if Sir Edward Grey actually said, “The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our time.” He might have said “lights”, or “in our lifetime”. According to his memoirs he was looking out of a Whitehall window, on 3 August 1914, at a lamplighter on his rounds. As foreign secretary on the eve of the First World War he might have been more explicit. We’ll never know.
Now the lights are going out again. It’s getting on for a hundred years since Grey and once more we are into collective madness. It’s not the eve of war, but there are sure to be casualties. Lights on motorways, main roads, and town centres are being turned off to meet carbon emission targets. The M1 between Luton and Milton Keynes will have no lights from midnight until 5 in the morning. Street lights on pavements and cycleways, in city centres and residential streets will be dimmed or darkened to whoops of joy from footpads and burglars. There will be slips and falls by the infirm or unwary. To some, unlit streets will represent a curfew. An official wrote patronisingly to a complainant; the council, apparently, could not “provide tailored street lighting for each individual’s particular needs”.
The new black-out worries safety and motoring organisations, which say economic and environmental benefits are over-stated, warning that less street lighting will lead to more accidents and more crime. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa) said: “The presence of lighting not only reduces the risk of traffic accidents but also their severity. Surveys show that the public is in favour of street lighting as a way of improving road safety and that, if anything, it needs to be improved.”
Paul McClenaghan, commercial director at Halfords, said: “Poor lighting or none at all can make it very difficult for motorists to see hazards or objects clearly at night. Added to this Government figures show that road accidents increase in the week after the clocks change, so it is clear that extra vigilance is needed at this time of the year, from motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.” Paul Watters, head of roads policy at the AA, told The Daily Telegraph: “We do know that most accidents happen in the dark, it’s also comforting for people, especially if they arrive back from somewhere in the night, when they have got a late train. There are suggestions that it increases crime. Motorway drivers don’t like changing situations, from light to dark and dark to light, but I don’t think we would argue for no lighting at all. It is extremely comforting for drivers, especially in bad weather.”
Switching-off motorway lights means that 70 per cent of the network is now unlit. Sections of the M1, M2, M27, M4, M48, M5, M54, M58, M6, M65 and M66 are now unlit from midnight. (top) Bugatti Royale 41.111 with designer Jean Bugatti. French textile manufacturer Armand Esders ordered it without headlamps. He did not intend driving it at night on roads lit or unlit.

Car Fires

There is nothing the Guardianistas on the Today programme love more than a good scare story. This morning it was rising food prices and 138,000 Toyotas going on fire. Even its interviewee on the price of wheat was cautious about its effect on the cost of a loaf. Scott Brownlee did a decent job of saying Toyota’s recall concerned a window switch in danger of melting, and 138,000 Rav4s and Corollas were not about to incinerate themselves. Silly woman presenter kept claiming Toyota’s press release said there was a fire risk. It said nothing of the kind, but in her efforts to show how nasty big corporations are she exaggerated, and Toyota had to issue an amendment.

Toyota Window Switch Recall: Clarification On Media Reports Of ‘Fire Risk’ Issue Toyota has today announced a recall of 138,000 Yaris, Auris and RAV4 cars in the UK. This involves the electrical contact in the driver’s side Power Window Master Switch (PWMS), which may over time come to feel ‘notchy’ or sticky during operation.

If commercially available cleaning lubricants are applied to the switch to address the notchy or sticky feel, the switch assembly may overheat and/or melt. In the USA, issues of melting or erosion are categorised under ‘fire’ by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. If a car's power window switch feels notchy, owners should not attempt to address the issue themselves with commercially available lubricants. Toyota engineers have conducted various simulation tests, including using commercially available lubricants. In no instance did a fire result. There has been only one case related to this issue in the UK, and no reported accidents.

Trouble was, this is the second recall of door window switches in as many days, and Honda’s press release was more alarmist. Honda said it would be trying to contact everyone who owns a Swindon-made CR-V, “because of a potentially dangerous defect that could lead to it catching fire”. The problem was spotted after one owner in Britain, and four in the United States said they could smell burning. It seems to be a faulty seal on a master switch inside the driver’s door that controls the automatic windows. If liquid seeps inside, it could overheat and the door could catch fire. Are they all using the same switch? The same supplier? The same door trim manufacturer? I think we should be told.

The pictures are of a Volvo that caught fire on a Scottish road. It started as a small conflagration under the bonnet (top), but as I watched the car comprehensively destroyed itself, with much crackling and banging as windows broke and fuel ignited. Another memorable car fire I watched was when a colleague in the Glasgow motor trade was trying to sell a VW Beetle (old air-cooled sort) to an overweight Glasgow lady. She thought she would try the back seat but was so heavy that when she sat down the batteries underneath shorted out through the seat springs. The upholstery caught fire, then the whole interior, the paint blistered and the tyres caught light. The fire service came and put it out. She didn’t buy the VW.

Brake:

I do not often agree with this road safety charity, but it is right to worry over 999 drivers being somehow above the law. Blue lights already make them too self-important. Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC thinks, “police officers, ambulance drivers, and firefighters sometimes need to drive in a manner that would not be acceptable to others.” He believes prosecution, “unlikely to be appropriate in cases of genuine emergency, unless the driving is dangerous or evidence indicates a high degree of culpability.”

He claims, of course, that his proposals should not be taken as a licence for emergency workers to act as though immune from prosecution. Pious rubbish. Emergency workers already have sensible leeway, but they have far too many accidents. Between 204 and 2012 there were 265 fatalities during, or after, “police related road traffic incidents.” In 2009 police owned up to 3357 accidents. Founding fathers of the IAM, like Bob Peters, class 1 police drivers proud of their exemplary fast and safe driving, would have rejected Starmer’s absurd proposal. Where next? Exemptions for all citizens in cases of genuine emergency? Dashing back to turn the gas off? Letting the cat out? Some emergency Braking is required.

Too many flashing lights.

Two enormous tractors with huge wheels just went through the village with yellow front flashers, like aircraft strobe lights, and rotary-style blinkers each side. Ambulances that used to have one flashing blue light are now lit up like Christmas trees. No self-respecting wide load goes without a police escort and fairy lights. Construction trucks, long loads, dumper trucks, road-sweepers, dustbin lorries, road-menders, every amateur emergency service now has a blinking light on the roof.

Two problems. So many sparkling warnings devalue the currency. They should be reserved for real emergencies, like the ambulances, and not stuck on every truck to give the driver a sense of well-being. It’s fine for AA patrols on the hard shoulder, but some construction sites look like Guy Fawkes nights even when everybody’s parked.

Second. The old Roadcraft manual used to warn police drivers about Red Mist, the sense of urgency that comes with an emergency call. It’s now a Flashing Blue Mist and gets to the adrenalin of any driver, it seems, with an alternating light.

They ought to be rationed. Licensed. Drivers with sparklers should be held to account for every occasion they are switched on. Too many look upon them as a Turn-On.

Road Casualties

It’s motorcyclists we need to control. Overall deaths and injuries are up, car victims down. “Vulnerable road users” are suffering. Cyclists – dead and injured up 13 per cent. Motorcyclists – up 8 per cent. Child pedestrians – up 14 per cent. Car users killed or badly injured – down 4 per cent. Loose talk about 40mph limits on country roads looks like political window dressing. It is born-again bikers, with not enough training or experience, and not regularly riding on their immensely fast and extremely noisy machines that are worsening the figures. Cars are getting safer. Brakes, handling, airbags and increasing use of safety belts have all helped, and although there is scope for improvement, and IAM-style qualifications should be encouraged, let’s scrutinise the figures before drawing sweeping conclusions and imposing a whole set of restrictions that won’t work.