The joy of pressing PUBLISH
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gunhilltrain
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They are called level crossings in Britain. Anyway, YouTube has endless numbers of accident videos of all kinds. ("Fails.") Some of them come from dash-cams or security cameras. Dash-cams seem to be mandatory in Russia, but they are becoming more common in this country. Thus mayhem of all kinds has abundant footage to be seen.
gunhilltrain
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As firefighters say, "This could be the day." When driving, things can go wrong in an instant, and anyone can become a Darwinian victim. Of course, polls show that the majority of people think that they are better-than-average drivers. It's always the other guy's fault.
Yes, that train driver was totally too slow on the breaks there. He only stopped a mile and a half down the tracks. If he'd have been a good driver, he'd have only dragged the crushed, broken remains of that car three-quarters of a mile down the track.
gunhilltrain
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Someday, you may be the motorist who messes up at a grade crossing, especially one that doesn't have gates. More likely it will be something else. Apparently American drivers will have a reportable accident every thirteen years or so, assuming they drive the average of 15,000 miles per year or whatever the figure is. You do drive, don't you? I dont know what the stats for England are, because I assume the annual driving mileage is less.
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Yes, I do. Crossings in England (where I live) tend to have big flashy red signs, so I hope if I ever have an accident, it won't be with something with 1,000 times the mass of my vehicle. But who knows.
gunhilltrain
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I wasn't just talking about grade crossings; I also was referring to all auto accidents. Between 1973 and 2020 I had, I think, four reportable accidents - I had to notify the police and the insurance company. One of those was striking a deer, so maybe it was the deer's fault.
It doesn't have to be a train. Trucks (lorries) and buses are not as heavy as a train, but they weigh more than your vehicle does. Anyway, you haven't had any accidents yet? (Or missed a red light or stop sign?) How long have you been driving?
alohadave
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My dad used to say 'he with the most mass wins'.
No accidents yet. About 25 years, including some time in my youth working as an IT installation engineer, averaging about 1,500 miles a week. Quite a lot of driving in London... that's an interesting experience. Couple of advanced driving courses and some track days. About 20 years on motorbikes. Few hours in behind the controls of a plane and a few less behind the controls of a helicopter. I also had a bicycle when I was younger.
My wife gets used to me saying 'he was too slow to give way to'.
gunhilltrain
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Sorry, I wasn't trying to give you a hard time. I realize that you were being tongue-in-cheek about the train issue. That's why I use more and more emojis.
I've heard that London cab drivers have to really study to know their way around. Doesn't look (from a map) like the easiest place to find anything. Or any other place in the U.K. for that matter.
https://www.p.city-walks.info/London/London-Attractions-Map.jpg
MrPixel
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California Proposition 473 Warning: Extreme thread drift.
You guys are making me thing really hard about my last traffic accident. If we discount the deer hit two years ago - a "not if, but when" occurrence around here - there was a snow/icy slide into a fencepost in 1995. Previous was 10 years earlier, and that was a big one from an idiot move by the other driver; totaled two cars and sent their passenger to the ER. That's it. Not bad for 53 years of driving.
Knock on wood.
You guys are making me thing really hard about my last traffic accident. If we discount the deer hit two years ago - a "not if, but when" occurrence around here - there was a snow/icy slide into a fencepost in 1995. Previous was 10 years earlier, and that was a big one from an idiot move by the other driver; totaled two cars and sent their passenger to the ER. That's it. Not bad for 53 years of driving.
Knock on wood.
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That's ok. I did feel a little like I'd been called in by the Metropolitan Police for a driver awareness course, but these forums lend themselves better to some discussions than others.
gunhilltrain
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"California propositions on such a winter's day." Driving has inherent risks built into it. But people have been injured falling in their own bathtubs. There are no guarantees of anything.
MelissaBaby
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Damn, I sure derailed this thread.
gunhilltrain
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Oh yeah, the "joy of pressing publish." My theory is that once a thread is played out and everything that can be said is said, people will find some new topic, perhaps more interesting in their minds, to keep it going. I've been guilty of that a number of times. I should just go to, say, a railroad site (there are several of them) but it's so easy to just stay on Lit forums (and only about three of those).
Kumquatqueen
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Average UK miles annually per car dropped from about 7500 pre-Covid to round 5400. Cars under 3 years old (mostly company cars and cabs etc) drive over 10k/year.
London black cab drivers have to pass a test called The Knowledge, on how to reach loads of landmarks and any street in zones 1&2, plus one quadrant of outer London. Takes about 3-4years to study.
London driving is very different to elsewhere because it's hard to get over 15mph but you keep having to predict whether a car coming the other way will have space to make way for you, as most streets only have space for 1 vehicle in between parked cars on both sides. I've had a few prangs in 25 years, but all were going at under 5mph. That lamp-post leapt out at me, I swear!
There's still some ungated level crossings without phones, which National Rail is trying to put footbridges over for pedestrians (some without step-free access, grr...) but I'm not sure if we still have road level crossings without gates nor phone. Maybe on some slow branch lines, but not on 140mph main lines.
In other news, I forced Google Docs to play with my phone and just hit Publish. I was tempted by LW but went for Group Sex instead as it's about different types of non-monogamy. It's got gay sex in so will probably score terribly.
London black cab drivers have to pass a test called The Knowledge, on how to reach loads of landmarks and any street in zones 1&2, plus one quadrant of outer London. Takes about 3-4years to study.
London driving is very different to elsewhere because it's hard to get over 15mph but you keep having to predict whether a car coming the other way will have space to make way for you, as most streets only have space for 1 vehicle in between parked cars on both sides. I've had a few prangs in 25 years, but all were going at under 5mph. That lamp-post leapt out at me, I swear!
There's still some ungated level crossings without phones, which National Rail is trying to put footbridges over for pedestrians (some without step-free access, grr...) but I'm not sure if we still have road level crossings without gates nor phone. Maybe on some slow branch lines, but not on 140mph main lines.
In other news, I forced Google Docs to play with my phone and just hit Publish. I was tempted by LW but went for Group Sex instead as it's about different types of non-monogamy. It's got gay sex in so will probably score terribly.
MelissaBaby
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Dude, you were posting train crash porn in Post #10
gunhilltrain
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True, maybe I was already unconsciously tired of the thread. Crash by James Ballard had people who were not merely looking at car crash porn, they got aroused by actually being in an accident, and I believe they deliberately caused them for that purpose. I've never seen the movie, but I've read the book, which is weird enough. Could be recycled for a story on Lit somewhere.
P.S.: You had the truck analogy in post #2, which inspired me I guess. And that was indeed somewhat connected to the topic.
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gunhilltrain
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I've heard of The Knowledge. In New York for a while, many drivers didn't last three to four weeks in the job, total. I almost quit after the first three or four hours.
alohadave
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The first time I took a cab in Manhattan, I told the driver the name of the restaurant we wanted to go to. I figured it was a well known place and cabbies would know it. He had no clue. Trying to find the address of a place with really slow cell service, pre-smart phones was a pain.
I know now to have the address ready.
gunhilltrain
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At the some time starting in the 1980's, I think, the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission required that new drivers had to attend a "school" or training course at their own expense. It think this requirement still stands and I think it takes four weeks. I don't know what information is taught at these places.
When I started in 1978, there was virtually no orientation or training at all. People were just given a car and sent out on the streets. The only knowledge I had was what I had already known as a resident and pedestrian, and I was 23 at the time. There was no GPS and no cell phones. I had a city map unfolded on the seat, showing whatever borough I was in at the time. I had a couple of street atlases too, and a kind of guidebook put out by a publishing company. That was it, until I started to commit things to memory.
I knew some large hotels from having lived lived in the city (the Plaza, the Waldorf-Astoria, ans such). Others, like The Drake (now long gone) I found out about from eventually dropping somebody off there. The only restaurants I knew were ones I had been to in college, and most were in The Village. The first time I had to go to Sardi's, I didn't know where it was.
I have an interesting story about one of the atlases I'll give some other time.
P.S.: In the 1970's, I'd guess that 25 to 30% of the workforce turned over every year.
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Phantom300
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Just submitted one tonight. 45K words. Been a long road to get this one done. I'm satisfied, exhausted and nervous.
Tomorrow, I'll re-re-re-re-re-review my entry for the On The Job event.
Tomorrow, I'll re-re-re-re-re-review my entry for the On The Job event.
Emilymcplugger
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Yeah, you did.
Thankfully today is publish day so I only check my phone 200 times to watch the readership metric go up.
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