Conference terri::cars_uk

    
    	It's a long time since anyone added to this topic!
    
    	Looking at .13, one has to remember that the thinking and braking
    times in the Highway Code were "dreamed up" at about the time when four
    wheel brakes (on cars, not motorbikes! 8^)) were a fairly new thing on
    ALL cars and the figures have never been updated.  
    
    	Most cars today can approach and a few can even exceed 1g of braking 
    on a dry road with todays brakes/tyres/Road surfaces.  This makes a 
    mockery of the Highway code braking section figures!
    
    	The thinking time part of the figures relates to a reaction time of
    about .7 second which is pretty slow!
    
    	I still recon the 2 second rule is emminently sensible though as a
    general guide.
    
    	Regarding the M25, using the 2 second rule, this limits the maximum
    throughput at 5,400 vehicles per hour.  Since the traffic trying to use
    this road is well in excess of this during large parts of the "normal"
    day, is it any wonder that it is now refered to as "the worlds largest
    car park!"
    
    	Anybody want to comment about these?
    
    				Malcolm.

    
    Malcolm,
          not wishing to be pedantic :-) (but why change a habit of a
    lifetime)... the braking distances in the highway code are "safe
    braking" distances. Different people see this differently. My idea of
    safe is "with little or no stress/effect to either driver or
    passengers". 
    
    To practise safe braking technique place/stick 1x1 pint container to
    dashboard of vehicle. Place into container .75 pint of H�0+* (tap
    water) now drive smoothly so as not to spill ANY water, during
    accelerating, stoping, deviating course etc.
    
    
     Alan.
    
    ps the Highway code "braking distances" have not been changed because
    the mesurement for their calculation has not changed (as above).

�                -< 1G force...wheres your kids afterwards..?? >-
    
    Hopefully, still strapped into the seats...
    
    J.R.

    	Well, i'm not too sure what can be counted as a safe distance in
    measure nowdays... as far away as possible i would have thought!
    
    	On a recent trip to Munich, driving along at about 90-95mph on a
    Swiss autoroute there was suddenly a traffic-jam! 2 cars infront of
    us (we were in an Espace) SLAMMED on their brakes, i done likewise 
    and the person behind me had to swerve towards the central reservation
    so that the car behind him would stop OK.
    
    	In this situation, i don't know if i was 2 seconds between cars,
    and i don't really care, but it sure as hell was toooo close anyway.
    It definativly made me nervous for the rest of the trip!
    
    	I always find these kind of arguments mildly amusing... a friend
    here always leaves his braking till REAL late... when questioned he
    replies "Yea, i've got ABS"... he doesn't seem to realise that the
    poor bugger behind him may not! 
    
    	Until ALL cars have the same standard of brakes etc i don't think
    anyone can generalize this rule... after all, isn't it better to teach
    our younger drivers this? Because it's always better to be safer than
    sorry.
    
    
    					Lewis.

    The one thing to remember about ABS is that all it does is turn your
    brakes OFF.
    
    Should it go wrong.......
    
    Cheers Ian...

	�     Should it go wrong.......
    
    Failure state of ABS is off, so the brakes will simply lock up.
    Allegedly!
    
    Funny about the comment about people behind not having ABS. This
    assumes that the person behind waits for the one in front to brake
    (or at least uses that information as a guide). Some will argue that 
    using your brakes at all is a last resort, but I agree that braking
    helps other road users to be aware of what's going on ahead.
    
    Mark
    

The highway code states (and I'm paraphrasing here so no pedantry please)
that it takes a car 90 yards to stop from 60mph.
A Porche 911 Turbo does it in 90..
..feet. :-0  wow !

mike.

	And the 25+ year old landy in about 900.............

    I was surprised at the one month prison sentence that a 21 year old
    single mother got for giving a false name and address when stopped
    by police for not having road tax.
    
    Whilst this was of course totally wrong, does the punishment fit the
    crime ? Especially when you consider the ridiculous punishment of a few
    hours community service that some of the louts on the Police STOP!
    video received for endangering their own lives, and the lives of the
    police and general public.
    
    Royston

    What authority do 'Transport Police' have. I always thought they were
    British Rail security rather than an arm of the police force. If so
    what gives them the right to drive round in marked transport police
    cars with blue lights ?
    
    Just curious.
    
    Royston

    It is my understanding that they are a police force like any other but
    they have "British Rail" as their beat rather than Manchester or other
    town/city.
    There is also the Atomic Energy Police who carry arms and guard nuclear
    establishments.
    
    I wonder what happens to the Transport Police in Rail privatisation?
    
    Andrew

    Wot .50 said.
    
    I had a long chat with these chaps when my wife's car was knicked from
    a BR station. They actually (IMHO) do a better job, as (presumably) BT
    enforce different rules on them. For car theft, they actually do
    something, they fingerprinted the car when it was found, for example!
    
    Greg

    I'm still confused. Andrew mentioned that they are like any other
    police force but I thought there was only one official police force in
    the UK. Arn't the transport police more of a security group ?
    The point I'm trying to make is what right do they have to use blue
    lights on a marked up 'police' car. Could Digital set up a 'Viables Car
    Park Police Force' with suitably uniformed 'policemen' in a marked car
    etc. ?
    
    Royston

    I think they are an 'official' police force - there is a Trivial
    Pursuits question which is something like 'what is the only national
    police force in the UK?', or somesuch, the answer to which is the BR
    Transport police.
    
    Mikef

    Well maybe there is only one police force - split into many parts eg
    Metropolitan, North Yorkshire etc. I believe that the Transport Police
    are on a par with these other "divisions". They are not on a par with
    Group 4, Securicor.
    The British Transport Police have powers of arrest etc like any other
    police force, they just specialise in transport related crime.
    
    Andrew

    If that's the case Andrew that clears up my confusion. I just thought
    that the Transport Police was an arm of BR rather than The Police
    Force.
    
    Royston

    No, I think the county (and presumable metropolitain area) police
    forces really are separate forces, not divisions of the same force.
    
    Andrew

	-.1 is correct, there is NO national police force. For most of
	the UK the County Council is also the local Police Authority,
	although some Counties share an authority (e.g. Devon & Cornwall).

	Ian (ex Sussex Police Authority).

    re: blue lights for all
    
    what gives the dial-an-ambulance services the right to blue lights ?