Owning an EV is pants

[dsimpkins]

I was thinking of going on holiday to North Wales, but once I saw the charging situation there I binned the idea. Went to South West Wales instead, which was much better served. Plenty of rapids around, and the Tesla Superchargers in Carmarthen were hardly used, fast, and cheap.

 

[Rolfe]

Roads with no pavements are one thing a dual carriageway is another

Carlops does have pavements, and quite a lot of the houses have narrow front gardens, but it's still very unpleasant walking along the pavements or stopping to chat to someone in their garden with HGVs thundering past only feet away. Strangely, it seems to me that the 20 mph limit is being better observed than the previous 30 mph one was.

I think drivers are now beginning to realise that while they are indeed driving on the A702 trunk road, it's also a village street where people live and walk and talk. There's no inherent reason why the desire of drivers to get on their way to Edinburgh or London should trump the desire of the people who live there to have a decent life.

Dual carriageways? I don't know the details, but that seems absolutely senseless on the face of it. I don't know of any dual carriageway that has a 20 mph limit round here.

 

[Seaton91]

Carlops does have pavements, and quite a lot of the houses have narrow front gardens, but it's still very unpleasant walking along the pavements or stopping to chat to someone in their garden with HGVs thundering past only feet away. Strangely, it seems to me that the 20 mph limit is being better observed than the previous 30 mph one was.

View attachment 30195

I think drivers are now beginning to realise that while they are indeed driving on the A702 trunk road, it's also a village street where people live and walk and talk. There's no inherent reason why the desire of drivers to get on their way to Edinburgh or London should trump the desire of the people who live there to have a decent life.

Dual carriageways? I don't know the details, but that seems absolutely senseless on the face of it. I don't know of any dual carriageway that has a 20 mph limit round here.

Not sure if it counts but the A720 Edinburgh bypass rarely gets above 20mph?!

 

[siteguru]

Some towns in Lanarkshire have adopted the 20mph Safer Villages scheme ... other than the main A71 (which remains at 30) all other roads in and around my town centre are now 20 limits.

 

[Rolfe]

I was born and brought up on the A71, at the top of the Horsely Brae, where all the big HGVs crash their gears as they top the hill. At least we had a wide front garden, but it wasn't particularly nice to be there. I'd support a 20 limit there.

It sounds as if Wales hasn't implemented the idea very well, but it's something that needs to happen. There are a lot of motorists who need to realise that the roads aren't their personal highway, and that other people need to have some priority too. Vehicles should probably be required to give way to pedestrians within these zones too.

 

[CharlesCarmichael]

I was born and brought up on the A71, at the top of the Horsely Brae, where all the big HGVs crash their gears as they top the hill. At least we had a wide front garden, but it wasn't particularly nice to be there. I'd support a 20 limit there.

It sounds as if Wales hasn't implemented the idea very well, but it's something that needs to happen. There are a lot of motorists who need to realise that the roads aren't their personal highway, and that other people need to have some priority too. Vehicles should probably be required to give way to pedestrians within these zones too.

There was a change in the Highway Code in 2022 to give more priority to pedestrians and cyclists. I believe that a lot of motorists will have no idea of this change.

New Highway Code Rules For 2022 Everything You Need To Know | Perrys Blog

New Highway Code Rules For 2022 Everything You Need To Know | Our Blog Section Is The Perfect Place To Stay Up-to-date On The Latest News And Insights On Cars And Driving. Call Your Local Perrys Dealership For More Information.

www.perrys.co.uk

 

[Mark Hewitt]

I was born and brought up on the A71, at the top of the Horsely Brae, where all the big HGVs crash their gears as they top the hill. At least we had a wide front garden, but it wasn't particularly nice to be there. I'd support a 20 limit there.

It sounds as if Wales hasn't implemented the idea very well, but it's something that needs to happen. There are a lot of motorists who need to realise that the roads aren't their personal highway, and that other people need to have some priority too. Vehicles should probably be required to give way to pedestrians within these zones too.

IME Wales has done it well - mostly. Whereas in England you'd have NSL/30/NSL and that's it. There's much more variety in there are often 40 limits where you'd expect a blanket 30, and 30 limits with 20 reserved for the central built up area.

 

[fnegroni]

Yeah speed limits in wales for me wasn’t an issue. I was used to 20mph limit in central London so no much change there.

 

[Bam Bam]

I was thinking of going on holiday to North Wales, but once I saw the charging situation there I binned the idea. Went to South West Wales instead, which was much better served. Plenty of rapids around, and the Tesla Superchargers in Carmarthen were hardly used, fast, and cheap.

Yeah I was impressed when in Pembrokeshire.

Booked a place with charging on site so didn't need charge, but several car parks we visited had DC50 and/or AC chargers.

 

[Rolfe]

There was a change in the Highway Code in 2022 to give more priority to pedestrians and cyclists. I believe that a lot of motorists will have no idea of this change.

New Highway Code Rules For 2022 Everything You Need To Know | Perrys Blog

New Highway Code Rules For 2022 Everything You Need To Know | Our Blog Section Is The Perfect Place To Stay Up-to-date On The Latest News And Insights On Cars And Driving. Call Your Local Perrys Dealership For More Information.

www.perrys.co.uk

I did hear about this indirectly, but it has never been widely publicised as far as I know.

 

[Caramaddy]

There was a change in the Highway Code in 2022 to give more priority to pedestrians and cyclists. I believe that a lot of motorists will have no idea of this change.

New Highway Code Rules For 2022 Everything You Need To Know | Perrys Blog

New Highway Code Rules For 2022 Everything You Need To Know | Our Blog Section Is The Perfect Place To Stay Up-to-date On The Latest News And Insights On Cars And Driving. Call Your Local Perrys Dealership For More Information.

www.perrys.co.uk

That is interesting, I did not realise you had to give way if you are turning INTO a road. I thought it was only if you were coming to a junction.

My concern is that a car following you may not expect you to stop before turning into a road and hit you in the rear. I appreciate it would be the other driver's fault for not keeping a safe distance.

Very useful - thank you.

A shame they no longer have public information adverts. I suppose that people are now using many different channels / social media that the message would be difficult to convey.

 

[Rolfe]

I've had a bunch of public information adverts come up for me on YouTube. There's one about speed cameras popping up every half hour at the moment.

 

[Archev]

I've had a bunch of public information adverts come up for me on YouTube. There's one about speed cameras popping up every half hour at the moment.

The Highway Code. The stuff of dreams. I found it difficult to take that book seriously. It described how a motorist about to turn left should stick their right hand out of the window and indicate left by describing an anticlockwise circle in the air. Or, if wishing to show following motorists that you were slowing down, flap your hand up and down. I was confused- it all looked the same and only ever happened properly in dry warm weather.
My Morris Minor had trafficators, wee orange lit up arms that could be switched on to point which way I might be heading.
So what you’re suggesting is that I need to update my library?

 

[Ian Key]

The Highway Code. The stuff of dreams. I found it difficult to take that book seriously. It described how a motorist about to turn left should stick their right hand out of the window and indicate left by describing an anticlockwise circle in the air. Or, if wishing to show following motorists that you were slowing down, flap your hand up and down. I was confused- it all looked the same and only ever happened properly in dry warm weather.
My Morris Minor had trafficators, wee orange lit up arms that could be switched on to point which way I might be heading.
So what you’re suggesting is that I need to update my library?

I've heard that's still a requirement in Norfolk ?

 

[Davn]

I was thinking of going on holiday to North Wales, but once I saw the charging situation there I binned the idea. Went to South West Wales instead, which was much better served. Plenty of rapids around, and the Tesla Superchargers in Carmarthen were hardly used, fast, and cheap.

??

Carlops does have pavements, and quite a lot of the houses have narrow front gardens, but it's still very unpleasant walking along the pavements or stopping to chat to someone in their garden with HGVs thundering past only feet away. Strangely, it seems to me that the 20 mph limit is being better observed than the previous 30 mph one was.

View attachment 30195

I think drivers are now beginning to realise that while they are indeed driving on the A702 trunk road, it's also a village street where people live and walk and talk. There's no inherent reason why the desire of drivers to get on their way to Edinburgh or London should trump the desire of the people who live there to have a decent life.

Dual carriageways? I don't know the details, but that seems absolutely senseless on the face of it. I don't know of any dual carriageway that has a 20 mph limit round here.

40 tons at 20 mph still results in being squished unfortunately

 

[fnegroni]

Tbh I learnt my lesson now. Next time I visit north wales I’ll stop before the border at Tesla and charge up to 90% and allow for charging at 7am from the only rapid charger available and keep it near 80% whenever I charge.

 

[Rolfe]

??

40 tons at 20 mph still results in being squished unfortunately

It's not so much about the danger of being squished - I don't think that has ever actually happened there. It's about the noise and the vibration wrecking the quality of life.

 

[dave99]

That is interesting, I did not realise you had to give way if you are turning INTO a road. I thought it was only if you were coming to a junction.

My concern is that a car following you may not expect you to stop before turning into a road and hit you in the rear. I appreciate it would be the other driver's fault for not keeping a safe distance.

this was talked about a lot at the time it came in, I still find it a ridiculous change and very much have the same fear as you that the person behind me won't be expecting me to stop half way around the corner. So I'm sorry pedestrians (and I am often one too) but unless you have started crossing I'll be taking care but continuing around the corner.

Also, its much quicker for me to continue around the corner allowing the traffic behind me to carry on flowing, than have to wait for people to cross the road (who also aren't sure if the car will stop, further delaying things) before all the traffic can get moving again, ridiculous. I hate crossing right at the junction anyway, just walk a few metres down the road and you only have to consider cars coming from two directions rather than 3

 

[Caramaddy]

The other interesting part I got from the post was that if you are turning left into a side road - you MUST give way to a cyclist who is passing you on the inside.
Am I correct in this?
All drivers will need to be extremely vigilant for cyclists undertaking you.

 

[siteguru]

Yes, it is true. By the same token, if you're already turning (having passed the cyclist some time ago, or the cyclist was way behind you anyway) then any cyclist proceeding forward must be mind-numbingly stupid.

Here lies Mr. Cyclist
"I had right of way" were his final words

?‍

But if you'd just overtaken the cyclist and then proceeded to turn then the mind-numbingly observation applies to the driver.