On the road.....

[VEGAS]

I see allsorts of p!ss poor driving on a daily basis.

The satisfying thing is. I can do something about it.

A few weeks ago I was on the M60 in Manchester driving an unmarked BMW 5 series. I was doing 70 mph and was making progress. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw an idiot in a Porsche Boxster come right up my chuff and hang off my bumper. Whilst chatting on his phone!

He was completely oblivious that he was tailgating a Police vehicle.

He flashed me repeatedly to move over.

I moved over.

He came past. And shot off.

His average speed was 112mph.

He came off at the next junction and we lit him up and pulled him over.

He had no idea it was an unmarked Police car.

No ticket was issued. His driving went beyond that. He was reported for summons.

He told me that he was late for a business meeting that could result in him losing an important contract.

I told him that he was lucky he had'nt killed someone with driving like that. He can explain his actions to the magistrates. I would imagine a ban is on the cards.

I have never seen anyone look so pale when he got out of the car.

Bikers are another story. There are many good roads for bikers in the North West. One such road is the Cat & Fiddle run between Buxton & Macclesfield.

I think its up there with the most dangerous roads in the country. Many bikers have met their maker on that.

[DaveB]

No ticket was issued. His driving went beyond that. He was reported for summons

.. Excellent

I've done that Buxton run once. All the guys I went with were Buxton locals and knew where the hell they were. I, on the other hand, had no idea where I was so my recollections of it are hazy. Trying to keep with a bunch of loonies was all I could concentrate on

My brother-in-law was one of the first motorway units on the M62 when that opened (he reckons driving the then under-powered/over heavy Range Rover caused his ultimate early retirement). Now, Range Rovers are not inconspicuous are they!! They were poodling along at 69mph (as you do) when this Roller came past at a fair lick. They followed for some time noting his average was 93mph. The bloke eventually stopped and when asked why he didn't stop earlier, he said he knew he'd been seen so what was the point It turned out that this bloke was the head honcho at the local building society.. unfortunately where my brother-in-law had his account and shortly after, they were refused a mortgage! A futile gesture really as they moved their money and the building society lost commission/money on the deal.

ATB

DaveB

[jonesey2k]

They have average speed cameras on the A537 now IIRC.

I don't even bother trying to keep up when out & about, I don't have the experience, skill or the bottle to go as fast as some of these loonies. I ride within my own skill level and I'm always the last at the meet point I once saw an RS125 go past and it was never seen again...

I've got chicken strips and I'm proud!

[speedbird591]

I'd been up to Skye for a break with the second Mrs Speedbird and it was late afternoon and we were driving along a deserted, quiet, narrow highland road. We passed through an a shuttered and empty village when suddenly a madman in green overalls leaped from the side of the road waving his arms at us to stop. We were both far too worldly wise to fall for that sort of thing. The first thing you learn when visiting foreign cities is to catch nobody's eye, keep your head down and keep walking.

We cleared the village and congratulated ourselves on avoiding robbery, murder or worse. As we climbed up over the heathery hills, we rounded a corner and came across an accident involving a car and a van. Nobody was seriously hurt but there was blood and obviously we stopped to help. I asked the blood-stained van driver if he needed any help. 'No thanks,' he said. 'My mate's just gone down to the village to get some, he'll be back soon.'

Ian

[DaveB]

It's the way ya tell 'em

ATB

DaveB

[jonesey2k]

Actually, that's just reminded me of a couple of years ago. Me and my Bro was at a gala on the Severn Valley Railway and they were running the trains all night. We had a day rover ticket so we thought it would be fun to ride back and forth along the line all night but was knackered and called it a day at about 4 in the morning. We got off at Bridgnorth and drove back to the campsite. On some country road just past Eardington Halt in the middle of nowhere a man walking down the road wearing only underwear appeared in the headlights. He turned round and tried to thumb a lift but we both said "f*** that!" and sped off.

Would have been rubbish to be in his situation but as you say.... you've got to watch yourself.