Disabled or Family Spaces

[Jimmy Choo]

I stick to the rules on spaces regardless of the time - if it’s late night and quiet, then chances are there’ll be a normal space pretty close too.

This.

That.

Rev also has some very sensible ideas about this.

I have only parked in a disabled space once. I had my disabled friend in the car and she had brought her badge thing with her. I still felt a bit funny about it.

[NotoriousREV]

I'll let Jobbo off on account of his gout. This time.

[Jobbo]

I bet you all stick to the speed limits too.

[GG.]

Jobbo is probably be more deserving than some who hold blue badges...

I never park in disabled spaces out of principal (i.e. the principal of obediance to the system ) but I definitely know what Jobbo means in relation to some merely being there to satisfy planning regulations. IKEA seems to be a particularly bad example, I expect simply because of the size of their car parks - they have perhaps 20 parent and child spaces which are always, without fail, full and then maybe 40 disabled bays with no more than a handful occupied.

It is difficult to make a moral case for not using them if the probability of inconveniencing a disabled person is nil. The counter of that is obviously if everyone took that view it would be down to the individual to assess the risk of actually inconveniencing someone - what percentage or number of available spaces makes it too much of a risk? Let's just say that system of treating people as intelligent functioning adults is unlikely to work

Anyway, if I need to get my car park kicks I just take my 2 year old son to Sainsbury's in the back of the 911, park in a parent and child space and then easily fit a weekly shop in the front boot and drive away in smug satisfaction that I'm DIR and the bloke next door in his new diesel Q5 with a half empty boot and one child seat is massively DIW.

[Sundayjumper]

I stick to the rules on spaces regardless of the time - if it’s late night and quiet, then chances are there’ll be a normal space pretty close too.

Exactly. I've never been forced to use a reserved space when when it's late and deserted and all the normal spaces are full.

If it's busy, don't use them. If it's not busy you don't need to use them, you're just being lazy. Simple.

Can we also have a thread about when people think it's OK to ignore the speed limit, and correlate people's view between the two threads ?

EDIT - dammit, Jobbo beat me to it on the speeding thing.

[mik]

There is a good story on the Lotus forum about a bloke with an Evora getting an ear full from an angry mum for taking up P&C space with his sports car. He took this in silence, and then flipped the seat forward to let his neice & nephew out of the back.

But i cant find it, so just imagine another mildly amusing story and smirk at that instead.

[dinny_g]

Using or Not using these spaces is a question of Integrity.

Speeding is not.

Hope that helps

[Jobbo]

Clearly nobody else has been involved in laying out an industrial estate where every unit is drawn with 3 disabled spaces and one normal space outside - for the simple reason that the planning authority will not allow more than 4 parking spaces per unit. The owner of the building can then fit 7 employees' vehicles there.

Any hand-wringing at this terrible outrage?

[Rich B]

Maybe we can include whether people are ok with murder too - everyone on the internet is only allowed to have one view on breaking laws.

[GG.]

As for speeding (all of the below subject to prevailing weather conditions) my two cents:

motorways: always by generally a significant margin;
dual carriage NSL: very nearly always and by a significant margin but less than an m-way;
A road NSL: nearly always;
50 limit: nearly always;
20 limit: nearly always other than outside schools and narrow side roads with poor visibility between parked cars and not exceeding 30;
B road NSL: mostly; and
30 limit: generally not other than some dual carriageway inner city roads and then not by much.

[NotoriousREV]

Using or Not using these spaces is a question of Integrity.

Speeding is not.

Hope that helps

That's an interesting viewpoint. If you've hit and killed a child, doing 35mph in a 30 zone, I think the parents might disagree with you. And yes, I speed.

[dinny_g]

As do I but Motorway only - never in 30/40 /50 or 60 zones.

And never more than 79mph

[GG.]

Really? Never on a 50 limit dual carriageway?

How about those on and off ramps where it says "maximum 30/40/50" - they are a target to beat by as significant a margin as possible, no?

[Sundayjumper]

Maybe we can include whether people are ok with murder too - everyone on the internet is only allowed to have one view on breaking laws.

Drink-driving is a good one too. Mostly harmless, except when it's not. Just like speeding.

I'll drive at 90mph if I think it's safe.

I'll drive after five pints if I think it's safe.

Yeah ?

[dinny_g]

I'm not making any comment on anyone else's driving by this but no, I don't.

Got caught doing 34 in a 30 zone about 12 years ago and the Speed Awareness Course for that was a real eye opener for me. Then about 8 years ago, I got caught doing 82 on the M40 and 79 on a Dual Carriageway down near Portsmouth in relatively quick succession.

I now stick to Speed Limited / Cruise controlled 79 on the Motorway and never (knowingly) exceed the limit elsewhere but my car warns me when I exceed the limit so it's rare I'm overdoing it these days.

NCG obviously...

[JonMad]

Send me your wrath. I parked in a disabled space in my local Tesco to use the cash point. There were two free disabled spaces next to it. The cash point was next to the disabled space, and there was no queue, so I was parked there about 45s max. The kids were in the back of the car so I didn't occupy another space (regular, or P&C) and they could sit safely in the car with my eye on them.

I await your fire breathing wrath

And no, generally I don't park in disabled spaces. The P&C spaces are very useful. It makes me happier using the Megane with the kids at Tesco because of its long doors. My parents have a blue badge and it peeves me that they use it really when they needn't. (I think the condition upon which they wrangled it is not justified).

[GG.]

The interesting thing is phone use whilst driving is by far and away a more pressing and serious issue in town centre driving than speed limits.

I think the essence of the creeping blanket of 20mph limits is that realistically very few people exceeded 30mph by a significant enough margin to really penalise them. Now it means that if you're doing 35 in a 20, it is most likely only 5mph over a reasonable speed but you're actually doing 15mph over (and nearly double) the legal limit and you're nudging magistrate territory. The number of lives saved will be negligible.

[mik]

The blanket 20mph limits in Glasgow city centre get right on my tats. Cos they are stoopid. And they cannot be environmentally advantageous either. Learners are probably advised to keep their car in 2nd to help avoid going over or something....

[GG.]

It often simply means that on a very open traffic free road, with someone in front of you doing 19, you end up overtaking (in what should be a 30 limit). Clearly that isn't safer for anyone but its an inevitable result. The (over) cautious now also CREEP mile by aching mile an hour from a standstill up to 18 or 19 miles an hour to ensure they don't go over by 1mph and KILL ALL THE CHILDREN!!11!1!!!!!

Couple that with the new ULEZ zone that will charge anyone inside the north and south circular another tenner or so a day to drive any petrol vehicle older than '06 or diesel older than '15, London is fast become the most hostile place for driving this side of downtown Delhi.

[drcarlos]

My eldest showed me this last year:



Don't think you'd get away with getting in your car doing this.

Carl.