Today’s the big day, isn’t it? Good luck everybody….

Done the Cargobob, but I just get heavily headshot trying to rob a jet. Even managed to get one off the ground but got mashed down a few minutes after. :(

Got 13, and I knew nitrogen, no guess or anything. :)

Red flag with that?

I stand by it – reaction times are the same no matter what speed you’re travelling at, yeah? Whereas the speed of reaction required to respond to what’s in front of you is reduced the faster you’re going, on any given stretch of road. And energy is the square of velocity, so double the speed and you’ve got four times the energy/take four times longer to stop? I’m not good enough at maths to be able to say how much quicker you’ll be going when you hit something, but more energy in a crash is surely less desirable than less energy. Do tell me if I’ve got any of that wrong, but it therefore seems to me that, on any given stretch of road, in any given conditions, the faster you drive, the more likely you are to be involved in an accident, and the worse the consequences will be for you and whatever you hit. I’ll give you one exemption (driving too slowly ona busy dual carriageway or motorway is damned dangerous), but otherwise, I think it’s broadly not far off. I’m always prepared to be corrected, though.

That started way back in the thread when you attempted to argue that breaking a speed limit (any speed limit no matter how inappropriate) makes somebody a bad driver – bad enough that they shouldn’t be on the road if going on a course didn’t change their driving habits. Then when that assertion was challenged, you and others came out with a load of strawmen.

In response to –

Really? Doesn’t that depend on how good your driving standard is before going on the course? Maybe it’s those who require such a course in order to learn to drive competently who’s place on the roads should be in question.

I said –

I think by definition, if you’ve had to go on a speed awareness course, the quality of your driving is not as good as it could be, to say the least. If you take corrective advice on board, where’s the issue? If you choose to ignore the advice, then I’d say yeah, I question whether you should be on the roads.

It all ties in with people having an overoptimistic opinion of their own standard of driving, and I’m as guilty of that as the next person. The difference between me and the person who says “nah, I didn’t learn anything” is that I’m trying to change, hopefully for the better.
And yeah, I think there’s merit in that, too – if you’ve been caught speeding, go on a speed awareness course and come away thinking “nah, b0ll0cks – I ain’t changing”, then you ain’t really someone I’ll be overjoyed to share the road with.

The “arguing about different things” quote was in response to –

Its the legal speed limit and we may not like driving at its tough shit etc

Vs

80 mph is fine on the motorway

Both views apparently being held simultaneously by the same person. Its doublethink Orwell would be proud of!
Which is, I think, a different thing.

I do find it slightly creepy that Mrs Pondo teaches kids now who are too young to remember 9/11, but that’s just kinda how time works.

Do we find what annoying, and why is he just asking us cyclists?

I like to flake them and add them to a salad – tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, lettuce, add some nuts and seeds and away you go. A favourite lunch, when I can be bothered. :)

I got “unknown host” clicking on the link – have I unwittingly failed at the first? :(

250GTO for the road, 917K (in Gulf colours, of course) for track days.

Mrs Pondo persuaded me to start The Storyteller by Jodi Piccoult, and d’you know what? It weren’t bad at all! :)

Shocking. But sadly not surprising.

Speed governed lorry drivers.

Checkmate!
Ah – sorry, thought you meant absolute speed limit as an absolute speed limit (like 70 on a motorway), rather than a speed-governing device. Well – however you want to work it. :)

That really isn’t true.

It’s true for this topic, the speed thing, isn’t it?

No one is disagreeing with simple physics, but prevention is better than cure.

100% agree with that.

Give people an absolute maximum speed and they will drive at that speed, whether safe or not.

Ah – now that I’d argue with! :) Common experience suggests that a sizeable percentage of drivers do not stick to speed limits – I do miles down the M40 every day, if I sit at 70 I’ll be mostly in the inside two lanes, and the outside lane will be nose-to-tail with people going quicker.

Make people think about what is a safe speed to drive at, and they will drive at a safe speed.

Yep, 100% agree with that, too.

Inarguable. But part of the problem is, how do you judge quality of driving? Did your ex-wife consider herself a scary driver? Do any of us? Lots of people on here saying they don’t see a problem with doing 85 on a clear road on a clear day (me included) – are we actualyl qualified to make that judgement? None of us would do it if we were scared, or felt at risk of an accident, and I bet you could say that of every driver on earth right up to the point of things going out of control.

Are cameras there to measure “quality” of driving? Or are they there as a safety measure because drving quickly is more dangerous than driving slowly?

But you are happy for people to judge what a safe speed is below the limit?
Even though it could be a small fraction of that limit?

Not sure happy’s the right word – maybe say that I don’t have a lot of choice but to accept it… :) What I AM happy with, though, is that if they DO make a misjudgement at a speed lower than the posted limit, the consequences will be less severe than if they made a misjudgement at a speed over the posted limit.

Oh, ok – I doubt if any person on here can hand on heart say that they always stick to the limit – what the heck, it all started on the back of someone being caught speeding. But if your argument hangs on the paradox of people who speed supporting the enforcement of speed limits, fair enough – I just think we’re arguing about different things.

If you’re confused by that, you need to put the computer back in the box and send it back to the shop. :P

I’m a bit uneasy with the idea that we’re quailified to judge when it’s safe to do, say, 85 on a motorway – I don’t remember being tested for that! At the same time, I’m sure I’ve done it too – I’m just not sure I could argue that it’s in any way justifiable. It seems to me that, on any given stretch of road, in any given conditions, the faster you drive, the more likely you are to be involved in an accident, and the worse the consequences will be for you and whatever you hit. And if that lot’s not enough, think of the environment. :)

is that Ball sack, or just me?

Very little is done in GTA without a reason. :)

Lol at konabunny. :D

I think it’s a shame that as speed is much easier to quantify (and automatically detect and raise funds fine people) than quality of driving it has become the default measure.

I think there’s a reasonable correlation between speed and quality of driving. There are exceptions, of course there are, but as a general rule, I don’t think it’s being particularly outrageous to suggest that anyone doing 40mph past a camera in a 30 zone is driving poorly. I can’t think of a more cost-effective way of policing it, can you?

And I think it’s a misnomer to think that speed cameras are profit-making.

Really? Doesn’t that depend on how good your driving standard is before going on the course? Maybe it’s those who require such a course in order to learn to drive competently who’s place on the roads should be in question.

I think by definition, if you’ve had to go on a speed awareness course, the quality of your driving is not as good as it could be, to say the least. If you take corrective advice on board, where’s the issue? If you choose to ignore the advice, then I’d say yeah, I question whether you should be on the roads.

It all ties in with people having an overoptimistic opinion of their own standard of driving, and I’m as guilty of that as the next person. The difference between me and the person who says “nah, I didn’t learn anything” is that I’m trying to change, hopefully for the better.

Fantastic! :D

Saw an X5 in Banbury on Friday with N4KKA.

Edit – and a 911 with XX51DXX

Second edit – the 911 wasn’t in Banbury on Friday, it was on the M40 northbound a week or two back.

I found it really interesting – our guys went quite in depth on the relationship between speed and energy, and why the human body doesn’t respond well to being hit by speeding cars (hence all the “at 30mph, 80% of pedestrians hit by a car survive – at 40mph 80% die” stuff).

If you’ve done the course and come away without changing your driving habits, I’d question whether you should be driving.

8 man squad for the GB team. Isnt that as large as it gets?

Max is nine, but think it depends on how successful your national riders have been, so less successful nations have fewer, more successful nations have an extra rider.

Don;t ask me how they work it out – I didn’t think GB had been doing too badly of late!

If they can ditch Sagan, then Froome. If they can’t then Sagan.

I can’t wait either way – looking forward to TT too. :)

Honestly and no offense intended. – If I received an email like that, I would consider you a spineless wimp who I could take advantage of if I ever wanted.

In all fairness, that says as much about you as it does about him.

Jealous.com! :)

Depending on the outcome you’re after, i think that’s not a bad job- if you’re after reconciliation and a decent relationship with the people you’re gonna have to live next door to, top job. If you’re after fuming anger with the occasional unseemly outburst of shouting in the street, you should “give him a piece of your mind”, as suggested by a surprising number of feisty take-no-prisoner forum members. :)

Got a 56 plate, not got full sus but road bike or hybrid or ht all fit in easy enough with fronr wheel out, got mine and mrs pondo’s hybrids in at the same time with both wheels out. 60mpg and 30 quid tax.

I couldn’t say I would have done a single thing different. If you’re filtering, you’re kind of at the mercy of all the idiot box pilots, and there’s not a lot you can do if they insist on driving into you. Had a similar thing just last week on the road bicycle, riding across a t junction when a young driver made to turn across.me – if they hadn’t seen me, i couldn’t have stopped, i would have a lot less teeth right now.

Should you carry on? No one can tell you that – it’s risk v pleasure.

For my money the important thing is the intent – I wore a band as a gesture of support for cancer sufferers and the charities that support them and look for a cure. If other people have a different interpretation, that’s fine – what was important was what it meant to me.

Well in. :)

Merulana inn residence – near terminale train station/metro/bus, 15 minutes walk from colsseum, supermarket and places to eat on yer doorstep, really nice rooms.

You can’t simply pick just those facts that suit your own agenda.

I agree – the phrase

Pactice what you preach

springs to mind.

Fantastic stuff – he’s only a young ‘un, isn’t he? Sure I read rumours of him and his brother with Orica Greenedge next year….

“Attenborough has repeatedly said that he considers human overpopulation to be the root cause of many environmental problems. In The Life of Mammals, he made a plea for humans to curb population growth so that other species will not be crowded out. In 2009 he became a patron of Population Matters (formerly known as the Optimum Population Trust), a UK charity advocating sustainable human populations.

He has written and spoken publicly about the fact that, despite past scepticism, he believes the Earth’s climate is warming in a way that is cause for concern, and that this can likely be attributed to human activity.He summed up his thoughts at the end of his 2006 documentary “Can We Save Planet Earth?” as follows:

In the past, we didn’t understand the effect of our actions. Unknowingly, we sowed the wind and now, literally, we are reaping the whirlwind. But we no longer have that excuse: now we do recognise the consequences of our behaviour. Now surely, we must act to reform it — individually and collectively, nationally and internationally — or we doom future generations to catastrophe.”

Stunt Car Racer on the Amiga was ace.

Boom – what a game that was. How on earth is it not on phones now?

I’m sure if you asked him about population density in Europe, he would agree.

Anybody else done the tiathlons? Makes training stamina a bit more interesting – the third one took me half an hour to do! :)