Drove over a central traffic island!

shaun_from_Africa

alfie1950 wrote: »

Should have gone to Specsavers...��

They did but unfortunately there was a kerb outside:

Stu_Wilkie

spadoosh wrote: »

Are you saying you guess where thigns are at night, just close your eyes and drive? Do you just guess where the unmarked side of the road is or are you observant of it? I cant imagine you just ping pong off kerbs when it goes dark, do you?

Um, I'm not following you.

foxy-stoat

Stu_Wilkie wrote: »

Um, I'm not following you.

From that I would assume that not every road has white markings near kerbs or the edge of the road.

Stu_Wilkie

General_Applause wrote: »

I think you are totally to blame.

You keep saying 'dark' and 'poor lighting' and, yet, there are streetlights to the left, right and opposite the junction and one just a few yards into Marchburn Drive, plus your own headlights. Are you claiming that none of these streetlights were operational?

'Slightly cut the corner'? That first island is set back from the junction a good 6 foot. That is not 'slightly'.

Have you seen what is happening to your estimated speed as your story unfolds? Hmmm.

Yes and I'm going to to stick with 'poor lighting'. There were streetlights and they were on, but they were pretty dim. And my point is if you combine that with the almost non-existant white road markings and an unmarked concrete island in the middle of the road which is fairly obstructed from view due to being 4 inches off the ground, then you have a situation which is more ambiguous in my opinion. And at what point in that manouver would my headlights clearly illuminate the object I made impact with?

With regards to me cutting the corner, I did indeed slightly cut the corner. The trajectory in which I hit the island at is not accuratly depicted in my illustration. I would say that I missjudged the center of the road I was turning into more than cutting the corner massively because I could barely see any markings.

And finally, with regards to your conspiricy theory regarding my fluctuating speed, I don't know how fast I was going. I do know it wasn't 70, or 60, or 50, or 40, or 30 and even not 25. I would say the max speed I'm guessing I went round that corner is 20, which is perfectly reasonable to tackle a junction at if the road is clear. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it, or not.

Stu_Wilkie

foxy-stoat wrote: »

From that I would assume that not every road has white markings near kerbs or the edge of the road.

Ah, ok. Got it.

Stu_Wilkie

spadoosh wrote: »

Are you saying you guess where thigns are at night, just close your eyes and drive? Do you just guess where the unmarked side of the road is or are you observant of it? I cant imagine you just ping pong off kerbs when it goes dark, do you?

I always try and employ initiative and common sense whilst driving which has enabled me to avoid ping-ponging down almost every road I've ever driven down. And of course not every part of the road network has white lines and markers on it but some parts of the road greatly benefit from them. I'd go as far as to say that some are almost necessary.

What if we didn't have any lane or junction markings on the M6? What would inevitably happen? And who would be to blame when it does?

unholyangel

OP I'm probably one of the more believing posters normally, I tend to the give the benefit of the doubt that people are telling it like it is. Normally. Not always.

I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt but what you've said, the layout etc just keeps leading me back to you not paying enough attention/being complacent. Also, (apologies if i've misunderstood your meaning of 4" high and being illuminated) do you realise that dipped headlights aim down, towards the road?


Don't get me wrong, I'll never claim to be a perfect driver. I've been on a dual carriageway in the left lane when the car in front suddenly swerved into the right lane to avoid a rock (didn't quite manage though) and I didn't have the same option as there was a car next to me in the right lane. Come to a stop round the bend and theres a row of cars all changing their tyres because they'd hit the rock. The first thing I did was to walk back up the road and remove it. Since then, I've always paid more attention to any potential hazard on/in the road.

Stu_Wilkie

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

They did but unfortunately there was a kerb outside:

That picture is gold.

waamo

alfie1950 wrote: »

Should have gone to Specsavers...��

Do you know who I bumped into in Specsavers?
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Everybody.

Stu_Wilkie

unholyangel wrote: »

OP I'm probably one of the more believing posters normally, I tend to the give the benefit of the doubt that people are telling it like it is. Normally. Not always.

I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt but what you've said, the layout etc just keeps leading me back to you not paying enough attention/being complacent. Also, (apologies if i've misunderstood your meaning of 4" high and being illuminated) do you realise that dipped headlights aim down, towards the road?


Don't get me wrong, I'll never claim to be a perfect driver. I've been on a dual carriageway in the left lane when the car in front suddenly swerved into the right lane to avoid a rock (didn't quite manage though) and I didn't have the same option as there was a car next to me in the right lane. Come to a stop round the bend and theres a row of cars all changing their tyres because they'd hit the rock. The first thing I did was to walk back up the road and remove it. Since then, I've always paid more attention to any potential hazard on/in the road.

Nah, I get it. I'm by no means the worlds greatest driver either. The probability of avoiding this incident could have been raised had my senses and awareness been razor sharp. And, believe it or not, part of my reason for posting and asking all this is that I don't want to make one of those completely gluttonous claims that people seem so keen to make nowadays. I really hate the thought of being one of those twits.

Yes, I'm aware that dipped headlights point down My point in the earlier post was that my dipped headlights really didn't have much of a chance to illuminate the 4" tall island due to where I approached the junction from. That, alongside the barely visible road markings.

Dunno. Maybe I'm digging down into a hole of erroneousness that I can't get out of. Might just give up on this one.