Crazy dopey selfish ignorant stupid moron thread

[ruffgeezer]

Double the MOT fee and do it every other year. Employ traffic police with the savings. Too sensible an idea.

 

Err... Charging twice as much half as often? Where are the "savings" there, that surely just nets the same amount saving the princely sum of fuck all.

 

Presumably, the operation of the MOT scheme costs the state something. Having 50% less work should make the scheme cheaper to operate by at least a third. Given no changes in income, these are the "savings" that I was talking about.

 

Yes, but the scheme is still active 100% of the time, irrespective of the 1year/2year thing.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

The point was that the administration would be reduced because of the smaller number of transactions, so the scheme would cost less to operate per annum.

 

However, I obviously don't have the figures to hand.

[gtd2000]

When I started driving in the 1980's even a 5 or 6 year old car could be decidedly ropey - this isn't the case now - hell most folks would bitch if their 10 year old car was starting to rust!

 

Sorry to knock out the foundation of your argument gtd but someone I know has had rust perforated panels replaced on their Merc whilst it was still under warranty.

 

EFA.

 

Of course I only buy Asian built cars but I have noticed some very rusty Mercedes cars but most of them have been around the 10 year mark.

 

Were these panels just wings or structural elements?

 

I still think it's fair to say that the majority of cars on the roads are in far better condition than in years gone by.

[gtd2000]

When I started driving in the 1980's even a 5 or 6 year old car could be decidedly ropey - this isn't the case now - hell most folks would bitch if their 10 year old car was starting to rust!

 

Ummm ?

 

Is the MoT really that bad, if I didn't trust the local garage I'd use one of the council MoT stations that don't carry out work.

 

The figures given by the Association of British Drivers in a BBC story on the M5 crash are interesting: 1.2 fatalities per billion vehicle-kilometres on British motorways compared with 2.2 in Germany, 2.5 in Denmark, 4.2 in Austria and 4.5 in the USA. I'd say that some of this safety is down to the MoT, even if the system whenup to two years a mini-Mot (Tyres/lights/exhaust/brakes) every year would give me some piece of mind (not for my cars but for the others).

 

The KA is a very poor car when it comes to corrosion - I saw a 2005 model at the local petrol station in Galashiels during the summer with pretty much a completely rusted panel next to the tank filler!

 

I'm not sure that the MOT has anything to do with the accident statistics, places like Germany and Austria are very much controlled by very efficient types, in many cases you are not allowed to modify your vehicle from the factory specifications - without spending lots of money for approval? I'm sure the Germans would wrinkle their noses if you suggested that the TUV test is inferior to the MOT.

 

I always found British drivers to be a pretty decent bunch on a global scale....standards have dropped in recent years, too many mongs are now behind the wheel on overcrowded roads. Try driving on the Autobahn and see how long you can stay in the "fast lane" without some fucking knob-head in either a BMW, Mercedes or Porsche sitting virtually on your bumper flashing his lights at you while you pass another vehicle at 120MPH...

 

That's probably the reason they have higher accident rates - the truth is most folks (or is that Volks?) are driving at 70-80MPH. The irony is that they supposedly have a higher standard of driving test - which through my jaded eyes means more Government fees to con the motorist out of his money. (By the way have you seen how much it costs to get a full fucking motorcycle license in the UK these days - what happened to the £25 Star Rider program and a year on a 125 before moving up to something a bit more perky???)

 

In 1994, I once drove a 1969 Mazda in Zimbabwe with a piece of string for an accelerator, no drivers side door and only one working brake on the drivers side front wheel - that made for an interesting drive but we did get to our destination in one piece

 

Perhaps we need more vehicles like this in the developed world in order to cut accident rates?

 

Years ago, there was a statistic that showed cyclists who wore cycling helmets have more accidents - they reason they have more accidents is due to the confidence factor that the helmet provides, so they take more risks.

 

When I was working in Holland in 2008~2009 there was a report that motorists who had taken advanced driving courses, with extensive skid pan sessions etc., had more accidents than those who were not trained - again this was due to overconfidence in their abilities and driving too fast.

 

I know that in my own experience each and every time I fucked up in a car or on two wheels it was simply down to being an idiot. Fortunately, I learned this all by the time I was 19 years old - touchwood!