Would / Could it happen today - ?

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ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Im still doing that kind of nonesense at 66. šŸ˜
Drink driving...?!!! :whistle:
 
I've been involved in finding scouts/guides who failed to turn up at their checkpoint, only to turn up somewhere else later. Completely unaware of the fact that they were in the wrong place.

That would be navigation by the lad I did the hike with.
He was the Patrol Leader and I was his Assistant Patrol leader.

Many years later my Dad was in the same Rotary club as my old Scout leader and he asked why I was the only one of my age never promoted to full Patrol leader
The answer was that Peter's parents contributed a lot to raising funds for, and generall helping out, for the Scout group so he had to be Patrol leader
But then he needed someone else in the Patrol who could jump in and make sure he didn;t **** things up too badly and fixed the problems he caused
I do remember vividly a Scout "camp" in Normandy - we were set off on a road somewhere several miles from a Chateau and told to hike to the Chateau and be there by a specific time - every Patrol did the same with different start points
He was in charge (!) and navigated. After a while I got worried and grabbed the map off him as we should have been going North and we were walking directly towards the sun at noon!!
He had had the map upside down!!!
 

Alex321

Veteran
Location
South Wales
So I think of it doesn't happen now it's down to a mix of exaggerated parental fears and increased road use. You will not convince me that drivers are worse now.

Accident statistics (ibn terms of KSI per million vehicle miles) have improved by a huge amount since those days. But how much of that is down to better safety designs for both vehicles and roads, and how much is down to driver standards would be almost impossible to measure.

But some things which have changed greatly must be mainly down to driver habits - as I remember from the late 60s and 70s, every year there would be several motorway pile ups involving dozens of vehicles (most often in fog), whereas nowadays those seem to be very rare - I can't remember the last time I heard of such an event.
 

Alex321

Veteran
Location
South Wales
Youā€™ll hear about motorways being blocked due to accidents every week of the year. This is now, not decades ago.

You do, but those are accidents involving usually no more than 2-3 vehicles, sometimes as many as half a dozen.

You just don't seem to get the pile ups involving dozens of vehicles any more. There have still been a few more recently, some as recent as 1997, but they are much less common.

I'm talking about these types of things
https://www.nytimes.com/1971/09/14/archives/pileup-of-200-cars-on-english-superhighway-kills-10.html
https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/125218/
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/b48e1bec-be01-4fad-94d3-8d799ccaed45
https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/...in Britain occurred early,the M-6 in Cheshire.
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
You do, but those are accidents involving usually no more than 2-3 vehicles, sometimes as many as half a dozen.

You just don't seem to get the pile ups involving dozens of vehicles any more. There have still been a few more recently, some as recent as 1997, but they are much less common.

I'm talking about these types of things
https://www.nytimes.com/1971/09/14/archives/pileup-of-200-cars-on-english-superhighway-kills-10.html
https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/125218/
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/b48e1bec-be01-4fad-94d3-8d799ccaed45
https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/232862/#:~:text=CLAIMS TEN LIVES-,The worst Motorway pile-up known in Britain occurred early,the M-6 in Cheshire.

Can you provide the articles for the pile ups in 1960/61/62/63/64/65/66/67/68/69/73/74/75/76/77/78/79/80/81/82/83/84/85

Cheers
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Not all roads. Just keep away from A
Often true, but some B roads and many unclassified roads are also very busy (and some remote A roads are not).

I am planning a new route and am finding it difficult to completely avoid busy roads. Some roads which are minor-looking on an OS map actually turn out to be faster and busier than expected when checked on Street View.
 
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Recently my partner who's done more on a bike than I has been saying that she doesn't feel safe on the roads near us. Every one a "quiet" unclassified or at most b road. They're actually quite busy considering.

Then due to a few particular reasons she had to do a 25 mile round trip by bike. Must admit that since moving 10 miles up the road to where we are now we've not done much cycling, more walking. Anyway, after that ride she was stiff but absolute loved it. Now she wants to get more local rides in.

As someone who believed strongly that the UK isn't any good for cycling safely, she now changed her mind about local area. Despite the higher amount of traffic, it seems it actually doesn't feel as unsafe as she had thought.
 
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