I do have a people carrier which I try to drive and park on the road - the kerb can be a useful guideline for this process....! ;-DMy sons have experienced drivers aiming their vehicles AT them, deliberately, with the intention of knocking them off their bikes. I would like cyclists to use the pavement as well as pedestrians, but carefully, and to get off if they need to. If a cyclist is on the pavement and behaving sensibly (not weaving in and out of people) they should be left to get on with it.Using the mobile whilst driving is the pits. If you are stuck in a non moving jam of cars then I don't think it matters. Speed camera's? They remind me to check the speed I am going at, so I am pleased they are obvious now. I try and keep to the speed limit because the roads are so congested and an accident at speed cuts everyone’s chances of survival. It is difficult to read the road and all the hazards the faster you go, and even more difficult to stop. Lots of the side streets should be 20 to bring speeds down without the cameras. The cameras referred to on the Gt West Road were hard won to cut down on speed (hence the brakes also commented on) because there had been several fatalities at the point they have been installed. A great deal is assumed by people who have not had the experience of an accident. Normally death or walk away, or a short spell in hospital and then walk away but the reality can be severe disablement/head injuries and an incredible impact on the life of everyone around them. The soaps on TV don't help with their actors being too important to do anything other than a few shots in a hospital bed (and don't they all have glamorous bed linen on TV now!). My son was responsible for a camera being installed after he wrote to the Police about cars going through a set of traffic lights and how difficult it was for him to cross the road. They named the camera after him (at least that is what they told us). He was invited up to their road safety unit and shown around the cars/motorbikes/stingers (is that what they are called?) and the camera monitoring control centre.What I have been surprised about recently is a couple of my sons friends who at 18 have not long passed their tests. I have been hearing tales about how they have been caught speeding by Police and given warnings - I s'pose it is difficult to balance being a police constable these days. As they have not long been driving I would have preferred to hear that they had been called in for some informal training - young lads are not the worse accident risk for insurance claims for a reason!
Sarah Felstead ● 7475d