The grumpy thread

[Guest Hooli]

 

 

Always wear a helmet on a (motor) bike and cannot see the appeal of head injuries from going wind in the hair. I do wear an open face lid on occasion, but even that makes me cautious/aware of the way I ride (too fast!)/

 

I ride faster in my open face lid than my full face. The way the full face distorts the noise so it all comes from below distracts me & I can't settle into riding properly. Hence it's only used in terrible weather.

[Cheggers]

On the other hand, I drive a 2CV. If I'm involved in a major smash, I can't pretend it's going to end well. Life is always about judging risk, and sometimes, we do just say 'sod it.'

This is so true. It makes me laugh to think of the amount of times we put the kids into their cosseting car seats, drove for an hour in our airbag-laden, crumple zone equipped safety cell only to stick them in a life jacket and harness and sail them across to France or the Channel Islands, out of sight of land and assistance for hours on end.

 

A life without some managed risk is a life without adventure, and adventure is a great teacher.

 

We come into this world with two buckets - A full one marked "LUCK" and an empty one marked "EXPERIENCE"

 

The trick is to fill the second one before the first one empties

 

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[michael1703]

I don't like wearing gloves riding a motorbike,no problem with wearing a helmet, though... having said that I've had a helmet come off in an accident, a rare thing to happen but I got knocked off in a race at silverstone and as my leathers gripped it twisted me head over heels backwards and scooped my head out of my helmet and then I head butted the kerb at luffield and had to have my head glued up.

 

The hatred of gloves comes from being a motorcycle courier for ten years, I just did it bare handed with handlebar muffs, I do wear gloves now though

[andy18s]

I ride faster in my open face lid than my full face. The way the full face distorts the noise so it all comes from below distracts me & I can't settle into riding properly. Hence it's only used in terrible weather.

Having had a low speed spill on a diesel covered inner city roundabout where the chinbar broke and made a absolute mess of my lower jaw (still got the plates in), I would Never recommend an open face for Any road riding at all......

[doobietoo]

At what point did we lose the right to do silly/ dangerous/ formally normal things? it really boils my piss when people think they have the right to stop me doing anything that might be the slightest bit "wrong" I have no problem with laws and rules that stop me doing things that put others in danger ie. smoking in public buildings or in cars with children and excessive speed near schools etc. but how does not wearing a seatbelt possibly affect anyone but myself? This whole risk averse thing has gone way too far IMHO and in many cases is actually bad for us, modern cars with restricted side vision because 5 star NCAP is a case in point and no one has done any research into how many serious accidents have been caused by this ridiculous design flaw under the banner of safety.

 The main problem I have is that no one is allowed to question these rules as the assumption is that these rules are "for your own safety" and anyone who doesn't agree must be an idiot and not to be listened to. The diesel emissions problem is a case in point and don't even get me started on food, margarine instead of butter anyone?  seems legit......    

[Cheggers]

AAAAA+++++ TOP RANT WILL READ AGAIN

 

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[Timewaster]

Not wearing the belt doesn't just affect you.

Worst case it will affect the paramedics, the fire officers, the casualty staff, the coroner, your family friends and colleagues, the other involved drivers and passengers and everyone stuck in the road closure during the investigation.

 

Hopefully none of those people are likely to be me so you go for it sunshine.

[cort16]

In the 70s no one used seat belts and lots of people died. The government has or had a responsibility to make laws that have the interests of their citizens in mind. The only way to get people to put them on was to change the law and therefore 20 years later people put them on without thinking .

As for not harming anyone what about families of people killed because they're too thick too know wearing a seatbelt is their own interests ?

[Cheggers]

And putting a seat belt on is hardly an inconvenience or major infringement of your civil liberties

 

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[Angrydicky]

I own and have owned a lot of pre-1965 cars without seatbelts and indeed, my daily driver A40 Somerset has never had any fitted. I've got some rather snazzy 1960s Kangol inertia reels to go in it, just haven't got around to welding in the mountings and fitting them. Doesn't bother me massively, I drive very carefully and trust my driving well enough to avoid idiots on the roads. If I had a family who needed carting around I would have fitted them by now, but because it's mostly just myself in the car, I'm not too bothered.

 

I don't find it a problem switching between cars with and without seatbelts though. If there's a seatbelt fitted, I wear it. I really don't see any point in not wearing it. I remember there were a couple of drivers at work who used to plug the seatbelt in to stop the warning buzzer going off, then sit on top of it. I could never understand that. Yes, they were doing multi-drop work, but plugging the seatbelt in after every drop is hardly a time consuming business, is it?

[cms206]

Stupidity is everywhere. Seatbelts didn't save me when I nearly broke my ankle in a Volvo FL6 17-tonner.

 

Primarily because although I wasn't wearing one, I did forget I wasn't in a Ford Cargo 7.5 tonner and therefore opened the door, swivelled and jumped, falling about 5 feet instead of the usual foot and a bit.

 

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[LostnotFound]

Isn't one of the main argument re seatbelts that as we still just about have the NHS fixing broken people does have a cost for all? I'm not saying I agree with it just there for the sake of argument.

 

I'm another that was brought up with seatbelts in the front of all cars at least so it's just a subconscious action to automatically put one on. I can't say I have anything against people that don't wear them, stopping people at most risking their own health would be mad whilst we don't bother to stop people on their mobiles who risk directly harming others.

 

 

 

Back on track I'm going to add to the daily weather moan, since getting my bike sorted and ridable there has been one day I've had off work over 4 degrees, fucking typical.

[doobietoo]

Isn't one of the main argument re seatbelts that as we still just about have the NHS fixing broken people does have a cost for all? I'm not saying I agree with it just there for the sake of argument.

 

 

 

On that basis you would do better to ban alcohol as one in ten A&E visits are as a result of the nasty stuff.....

[panhard65]

Wearing a seat belt is just second nature now and it does surprise me that some people still don't wear one if fitted. I would never go out of my way to fit belts in a car that doesn't need them as we all need a bit  of risk every now and again. The best example of how seat belts save lives was the crash in Paris that killed princess Di. There were 4 people in the car and only one survived, he was the only one wearing a seat belt. Why they make so much fuss over that crash and never mention that she was so daft that she didn't wear a seat belt in a car being driven by an alleged drunk at high speed. I bet the bloke in the Uno had his belt on. The child seat rules are another nightmare as there isn't much to go on. Yes the seats have to be approved and the correct seat used for age/ weight, but the expiry date means nothing in law. Surely if they degrade to such an extent then maybe they should be checked on an mot. The same goes for motorcycle crash helmets I only found out about expiry dates when I did my cbt a couple of years ago. Mine was actually older than the young lad who was doing his cbt on the same day. Apparently it is down to the polystyrene degrades and won't do it's job in an accident. Again the instructor said it was fine for me to use it event though it wasn't a good idea. I did buy a new one the next day. Why risk your life for no good reason.

[Cheggers]

On that basis you would do better to ban alcohol as one in ten A&E visits are as a result of the nasty stuff.....

I suspect you're bright enough to know this, but it's all about return on investment.

 

Getting folks to wear belts is a comparatively cheap and easy "win" with a quick and measurable impact.

 

Banning alcohol would be a major undertaking...Difficult to the point of impossible I suspect. Plus the government raises a lot of tax revenue from booze.

 

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[Lukas]

Somehow, all the marketing-stuff used on new cars to create an image in the head of the buyers does make me grumpy sometimes. 

 

Back then, cars created this image in the head of the drivers. Now, marketing-people do. 

[Timewaster]

I love those arguments that go: yes what I do is stupid but other people are stupider so go after them instead.

[Lacquer Peel]

Somehow, all the marketing-stuff used on new cars to create an image in the head of the buyers does make me grumpy sometimes.

 

Back then, cars created this image in the head of the drivers. Now, marketing-people do.

It's nothing new.

[DodgeRover]

Wearing a seat belt is just second nature now and it does surprise me that some people still don't wear one if fitted. I would never go out of my way to fit belts in a car that doesn't need them as we all need a bit of risk every now and again. The best example of how seat belts save lives was the crash in Paris that killed princess Di. There were 4 people in the car and only one survived, he was the only one wearing a seat belt. Why they make so much fuss over that crash and never mention that she was so daft that she didn't wear a seat belt in a car being driven by an alleged drunk at high speed. I bet the bloke in the Uno had his belt on. The child seat rules are another nightmare as there isn't much to go on. Yes the seats have to be approved and the correct seat used for age/ weight, but the expiry date means nothing in law. Surely if they degrade to such an extent then maybe they should be checked on an mot. The same goes for motorcycle crash helmets I only found out about expiry dates when I did my cbt a couple of years ago. Mine was actually older than the young lad who was doing his cbt on the same day. Apparently it is down to the polystyrene degrades and won't do it's job in an accident. Again the instructor said it was fine for me to use it event though it wasn't a good idea. I did buy a new one the next day. Why risk your life for no good reason.

Tbh I put my trust in my Fibreglass Arai helmet from about 1990 with detachable chin guard rather than a new cheap Chinese one made to the same supposed standard. It's kept in a black bag when not in use.

If I now had the money to spare that I had when I bought my original Arai I would buy another at whatever today's price would be - it was a couple of weeks wages at the time.

[LostnotFound]

On that basis you would do better to ban alcohol as one in ten A&E visits are as a result of the nasty stuff.....

 

Yep, or people playing football as they might break a leg, or people not playing football as the lack of exercise might make them obese and develop diabetes...

 

 Of course a cynic might suggest a major difference is the government take a significant amount of revenue from booze duty, where they don't make a penny from a non seat belt wearer. Unless it's made illegal and they can then be fined.

[Eddie Honda]

Anyone got busted for not wearing a seatbelt?

 

I generally do in a car unless maybe reversing, exceptions to this was a no front seatbelt 1964 Austin 1100 I used to bomb around in and a 1969 Reliant Regal (front belts not required in 3-wheelers until 1970). Spent some time as a taxi driver (so exempt, as not getting chibbed was higher up the priority list). Don't bother a lot of the in the lorry as even the latest Scanias we have don't have the seatbelt alarms set on them. Some rental ones of a certain spec did and would chime like fook over 25km/h but would stop after about a minute. I don't think those 2016 Scanias even have airbags, unlike the couple of Volvo FHs we had.

 

Anyway, in the long period when I didn't wear a belt very much, I got busted once - by Thames Valley traffic plod on a more or less empty M40 northbound between 1A and 2, plodding along at 65mph in lane one (smiley-faced Transit). £30. The last time before that I was merely jestured to "get it on" by Strathclyde Polis in Glasgow city centre by a horsey polis when driving a Disco.

 

to add in a grump: Why is it now £100 for the non-endorsable no MOT / no seatbelt when it used to be half that of a more serious endorsable offence that is the same FP amount? Totally disproportionate.

[myglaren]

 

 Of course a cynic might suggest a major difference is the government take a significant amount of revenue from booze duty, where they don't make a penny from a non seat belt wearer. Unless it's made illegal and they can then be fined.

Surely there is a £60 fine for not wearing one?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Just spent £788.40 having a new Transmission ecu , filter and flush on my E Class. It's transformed the drive, much smoother and doesn't keep changing from 6th to 7th when cruise control set. Also doesn't go into limp mode if you don't let it cool down for half an hour before restarting, all in all a success and apart from spending hard earned money, not a grump, you'd think.

But I still hate the fucking thing! Plasticky, cheap feeling, slow, handles like a barge. What makes it worse is that the £200 e34 520 auto I've been driving around in since Thursday really shows up how shit the Merc is.

You people who have the luxury of being able to use older cars all the time , make me so envious.

I wish I'd just kept my W211 Merc and just found a dodgy licensing authority that just take the money and let you work anywhere with any age car.

[Eddie Honda]

Surely there is a £60 fine for not wearing one?

No its £100 and has been for a few years.

[John F]

Eddie Honda, on 12 Feb 2017 - 12:16 PM, said:Eddie Honda, on 12 Feb 2017 - 12:16 PM, said:Eddie Honda, on 12 Feb 2017 - 12:16 PM, said:Eddie Honda, on 12 Feb 2017 - 12:16 PM, said:

Anyone got busted for not wearing a seatbelt?

 

I got done for no seatbelt in about 1995, in a chocolate brown Vauxhall Nova 1.2 Saloon, with my aged parents in the back. The plod were in an unmarked car, which is why I failed to spot them. They understood my excuse that I was far more used to riding motorbikes at the time & wasn't used to wearing a seatbelt, but I still got the £60 fine (as it then was). Fair enough, I suppose.

 

Amusingly, though, as I was heading back to the car the plod asked me to keep my speed below 90 mph...

[myglaren]

Shortly after she passed her test we were all out in my daughter's car.

Police car behind us and they pulled us over.  Cop comes to the driver's door and says "You must be Sarah then"?

 

She was gobsmacked at how they knew and said so.

 

"It is on the rear bumper" says the cop - she had forgotten having her name there in vinyl lettering.

 

Let her off with a bit of a talking to though.

[Cavcraft]

Get ready for TL:DR:

 

Just been to see an 'immaculate' Corsa with my son. Now, it's a 2004 car so clearly isn't likely to be so, but a phone call to the seller and it's 'completely unmarked and no faults'. Gets to his house, he comes out and I have to say was a right fucking weirdo. Probably well into his 60's, dressed very oddly with a garish tie and trousers that stopped 6 inches short of his ankles. 'I sell these part-exchange cars for a local garage and they give me £20' was his opening gambit, which we didn't believe.

 

Anyhow, straight off there's a decent dent in the boot he hadn't mentioned or photographed, so he's got the boot open and the tools and towing eye are sprawled across the carpet, and there's bits of rubbish everywhere. 'Look, see for yourself, the boot is immaculate, a sign the car has been cared for'. As he is saying this, I'm pointing out the cracked/scuff rear bumper and the overspray on one of the plastic trim clips. He'd clearly gone on about the supposedly immaculate boot to try and deflect from the damage, so we ignored his ramblings and mentioned the overspray. He took great umbrage to this and just said 'oh well then' and walked off up his drive. I called him back and said we hadn't finished looking at it yet, so instead he started some properly off waffle about how Corsas were the best selling car ever made, they had a cam belt (we told him it was a chain, which he denied until he opened the bonnet) and hen that cam chains never go wrong. I told him twice that they did and he said they would rattle if so, so I said 'like it did when we started the car then' and he ignored it. He went on about mechanics and we pointed out my lad is time served at a garage, but he ignored that too.,

The final straw was when he said 'everyone know the only thing you have to do is look at the dipstick as it would show had gasket failure' so we immediately twigged he was trying to hide something. Cue removing the extraordinarily tight oil filler cap, and guess what? Mayonnaised up the hilt, then excuses about condensation and (I kid you not 'Rolls Royces are exactly the same, open the bonnet of any Rolls and the oil filler cap will look like that inside'. As he says this my son goes to sniff the oil filler cap, the knobhead seller mentions bringing a mechanic and we repeat he is one. 'Well bring a proper one then' came the reply and once again he stormed off up his drive. This time we just laughed at him, and walked away.

 

Fuck knows why he was such an utter bellend and in fairness it could well have been condensation in the oil and the damage to the boot wasn't enough to put us off. He actually fucked the sale up from his bizarre attitude, we suspect it was because he though he could try and have us off and saw it was going to work. Had he not been such a prick he'd have been at home looking at a pile of cash, and my lad would have a silver Corsa.     

[garbaldy]

/\ I wouldn't have said pile of cash unless of course you where paying him in pound coins, £25 for the same corsa and it turned out to be the cam chain cover gasket causing the mayo.

[vulgalour]

The tyres on the Rover make me sad when it rains.  Yay understeer!  Yay twattish accidental wheelspinning!  I'm shopping for some better ones and the prices are making me sad too.

[MrDuke]

I'd rather be thrown out of a car than trapped inside it burning/drowning

 

If all our roads were on causeways and bridges, and we all drove Ford Pintos, that logic would be unbeatable. As it is, I'm assuming that every time you see a perceived hazard up ahead, you floor the throttle to ensure the impact is hard enough to throw you clear, after all you wouldn't want to headbutt the dash at 40mph and end up a dribbling vegetable. I'm sure if you speak to the local lass who was a (belt-wearing) passenger in a high-speed car/tree interface a few years ago, and opened her eyes to see the lifeless remains of her (freedom-loving) friend's face staring back at her from the top of the blood-smeared bonnet, she'd totally agree* with you.

 

Apologies to michael1703, that sounded a bit angry and wasn't directed solely at you - it just irritates me when people use trite excuses for their actions. If someone just said "I don't wear a belt in a modern cos I'm a bit of a selfish c**t" it'd be better. It's similar to people who use the fact that cycle helmets won't save your life if you're run over as good 'reason' for never wearing one.