Been making a fair few night time trips this last week or so. The journey according to Google maps is 102.5 kms each way. One way has always been dark, I'm no stranger to night time riding, usually making at least one night journey a week.
Some observations....... Some car drivers are lazy pricks, they cannot be bothered dipping their headlights. This I find dangerous and makes visibility difficult. Then there are a heap of vehicles with only one headlight or one headlight and a park light on the other side. But wait there's more. I am noticing a number of cars with one headlight on high beam and the other on low. Is this a Chinese headlamp bulb issue with the pins or connections round the wrong way ?
Then we arrive behind cars.....one friggin taillight !!
When riding on the Expressway the lanes and edges are lit by different coloured Cats Eyes, this works great, yet when on major Highways, these are 100kph limit roads and often with plenty of bends, they in my humble opinion are poorly marked. Cats Eyes down the center and a painted Fog Line on the edges, sometimes this is also a Rumble Strip. Could easily be better marked.
So with these gripes in mind and our Governments stated crackdown on the road toll, which has nearly reached one a day. They do very little to change these issues.
There has been a huge increase in the Cheese Grater Median and Edge Barriers. Motorcyclists saying can we have solid concrete ones please...... "don't hit them" is their reply ..... Now that's a good idea !!
They cut down trees when some scumbag has stolen a vehicle, run from the coppers and then ring barked the tree.
I had occasion to speak with a Traffic Engineer on this matter, he said the (I like this word) alleged offender didn't deserve to die just because they left the road. Why not ?? Stops them re-offending.....Happy Deal.
So common sense, road marking and some simple things like the policing of car lights could make the motorcyclists journey somewhat safer.
I know, I know.... he deserves that ticket, he needs that ticket to help him slow down and stay safe. Road Policing at its finest !!
........ our suicide rate here in NZ is twice that of the road toll. Cannot be very important though, not much is ever done or reported about it. Cannot be fined. Sad.
Regards lights - we have that issue also in the UK - a mixture of poorly adjusted headlights and cheap imitation bulbs available on the market which purport to be premium brands causing the issue.
Strangely the lights which now seem to blind me the most are those LED lights which cyclists use, no laws for where they should be fitted and quite often can be blinding, especially when they mount them on their helmets, or have an array across the front of their bikes "so they can be seen" or when riding in groups. Often more blinding than car headlamps.
Yes true that Barmy. We have a mountain bike track nearby and those light are intense.
I hear ya Col, bloody madness. It's not the trees fault some twat decided they'd have a go at out running the coppers & crashed. As for the traffic engineer to have that mindset, it's fecken staggering!
You want to run the cutter you have to pay the price! Unless of course if you live on the 'poorer' side of town! You can drive without a licence & not get fined, but instead get directed to where you may obtain a licence, same for a Warrant of Fitness & Registration, no fine, just directed to where you should go to obtain these things! Yeah right!! On the other side of town, bang 'em for everything and anything! It's just madness, is there 1 law or 2 (or 3 or 4) ?? Either it's against the law & penalties apply if you don't comply or it isn't. This 1 rule & set of standards for 1 group of people & another set of rules for a different group should not be tolerated let alone condoned by the government & the police!
How do ya think I'd go if I said, I'm not paying my rates this year, or I'm not paying my bike rego this year? but still want to ride my bike & use water & refuse collection etc etc. Not very far I'd say.
Anyway, rant over (for now), beer o'clock.
There has and always will be a different set of rules for the rich/famous and the poor :furious:
fired up, i love it. diff. rules, sure are. frogwits allowed on the road without insurance really bugs me, if they wreck our toy, no insurance, go to court, $1 a week until its payed. so wrong. as for headlights, so many bad ones. ever been followed by a factory hid light in merc or honda, just cant see. ever been followed by a bike with home fitted hid. nightmare. not legal in oz unless self levelling fitted. the worst is the cars with low level lights fitted, on a rainy night they just reflect off road, another cant see a thing.