Rapid Training

I was reading Gary's "is it me" yesterday when I noticed a newspaper carried a two page story of a US driver who had his Toyota go wrong. The article concentrated on the last words of the driver as he sped towards a junction. They were able to do this because he called 911 (US emergency services) to report the problem.

I was astounded that the paper didn’t mention that instead of using his phone, the driver could have turned off the engine, or maybe selected neutral or perhaps tried the handbrake

Can I voice the opinion that some drivers maybe more dangerous than any car.

I guess I should be grateful that this driver used the phone direct rather than posting a message on his facebook

Ewan Hoosarmy
Illegitimi non carborundum

Keeps me in a day job!

Just wanted to take the opportunity of this post to say how much I agreed with Gary's rant in the newsletter. Undoubtedly it's an age issue but I find myself getting more and more irate with the way society seems to going and the attitude that we must insulate all and everyone from every risk. Jeremy Vine seems to draw out more than most with this crazy attitude.

It snows and we blame the Council for not clearing the roads.
It snows and some children in our local school wouldn't go out to play because they said "Mummy wouldn't want me to get cold and wet."
Something goes wrong and we look for all and everyone to blame - especially the manufacturer - anyone else rather than take personal responsibility.
Accidents happen and we grow stronger by overcoming adversity and demonstrating initiative.
Our parents generation who survived the Blitz simply wouldn't understand it all.

That a driver should get out his phone and cry for help rather than taking action to control his runaway machine is a damning statement of a society unable to fend for itself, always looking for someone else to do something rather than take responsibility for solving the problem ourselves. Of course he could have switched the engine off, put it into netural, even attempted to engage 'Park' while yanking on the handbrake, driven it off the raod, taken some action: instead he rings 911. Ye gods.

One of the reasons I like riding a bike is because I am responsible for all my actions. What happens is almost always completely the consequence of my actions, which are my own responsibility. With the capability of modern machines it's unlikely that I'm not be in some degree at least responsible for any mishap, in my view. Can't go blaming the caar drivers, the road, the bend etc etc

Fellow bikers aren't immune from this blame others attitude either. Following someone filtering through heavy semi-static traffic on the M25, he was struggling to handle his bike at slow speed and shaking his fist at any driver who wasn't completely in the centre of his lane, requiring the rider to manoeuvre more skillfully around them: bags of room, but not enough for what he thought was entitled to.

Hey, it's not just Gary who can rant... off to mutter into my beer from the rocking chair

Blimey competition

You two related to Fazerman??