One eyed wonders

[Walker570]

Has anyone else noticed the number of 'one eyed wonders' driving at night, looking like a motor cyle coming towards you. Almost as bad as those who HAVE to drive around with their fog lights on which invariably are badly set up.   I drove back from the other side of Grantham the other night and counted fifty two with only one headlight in a little over 70 miles.  OK some did have a sidelight on that side but there where a few with just one nearside dipped headlamp.   Of course now we have no PC Plod around they do not get checked.  In my last five years in the job we had a pad of forms, if I remember, called Revocation Forms.  If we saw a vehicle which had a malfunction or a dangerous body part sticking out, instead of reporting a traffic offence we issued one of these forms and they had to remedy the problem and produce the form duly stamped by a garage to the effect it had been put right within seven days.  Worked a treat, particularly on these 'One Eyed Wonders'.  Obviously if they didn't then the follow up would be a court appearance. 

Edited January 25, 2019 by Walker570

[gotgcoalman]

Notice it a lot.

Head lights/tail/brake lights not working.I do a basic walk around every time I get in my work motor.

The amount of obviously illegal tyres on cars boils my piddle.

 

[figgy]

VDR Vehical Defect Rectification forms.

Not just one eyed wonders bit cockeyed to boot, only one but it manages to blind you.

I wish plod would pull the tossers who put fog lights on in rain and when very light mist that you can see through clearly for half a mile distant.

The clue is in the name fog light. For when you can't see the cars in front of you.

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by figgy

[TIGHTCHOKE]

But there are not enough Police about these days to stop people and issue the defect rectification paperwork!

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, have noticed this more in the last few years, as TC mentioned not enough Police to do the stop and fine those driving with faulty lighting , same can be said for illegal parking, its either down to poor car maintenance, lazy owners or high cost of repair, 

[spandit]

It's why I think foglights should be inhibited above a certain speed. If you need them then you shouldn't be driving fast

[Walker570]

1 hour ago, spandit said:

It's why I think foglights should be inhibited above a certain speed. If you need them then you shouldn't be driving fast

Good one, spot on.

[oowee]

The one that gets me are the auto dip lights. My wife has them on her disco and they are dazzlingly bright. They are also set pretty high (in tolerance) and you just leave them on beam and they do the rest. It's clever but they dip at the last second and are late when approaching from behind. 

[Westward]

Considering that the police have close to twice the number of serving officers and about 10 times as many of what they describe as "civilian" staff compared with the mid 60s, I have to wonder why they only appear when there's some sort of incident. If they can find eight officers and 5 cars to attend a single vehicle accident, then surely they can have a few traffic officers cruising the roads to deal with unroadworthy vehicles and idiot drivers. Gosh, there might even be fewer accidents if they did!

Oh yes, forgot about the 5 hours of paperwork each time.

And yes, muppets with their foglights on when it's not foggy are right up on my list of pet hates.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

1 hour ago, Westward said:

Considering that the police have close to twice the number of serving officers and about 10 times as many of what they describe as "civilian" staff compared with the mid 60s, I have to wonder why they only appear when there's some sort of incident. If they can find eight officers and 5 cars to attend a single vehicle accident, then surely they can have a few traffic officers cruising the roads to deal with unroadworthy vehicles and idiot drivers. Gosh, there might even be fewer accidents if they did!

Oh yes, forgot about the 5 hours of paperwork each time.

And yes, muppets with their foglights on when it's not foggy are right up on my list of pet hates.

Blimey if those figures are correct where are they all hiding?

[moondoggy]

9 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Blimey if those figures are correct where are they all hiding?

They are all in the cities dealing with the drunks, smack heads and shop lifters.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Possibly, I do try not to go too near to any of them.

[stu64]

I know two people who genuinely think that front fog lamps are daytime running lights. Had quite an argument with one about it!

[Davyo]

You see quite a few around,there is a guy in our Village had one headlight out for weeks.Saying that some cars are a right pain to change something as simple as a bulb.My MX5 is a nightmare,you can get at them but you take a lot of skin off your knuckles in the process.Plus you can't see,so its a case of contortions and feeling about.One car i had you had to take the headlight out just to change the bulb.Why do manufactures make it so difficult to access something that has to be changed as soon as it goes pop.A simple bulb change should take no more than a few minutes.It more like a 15/30 minute job on most modern cars. I think some people say "its too much of a chew,ill leave it till the weekend"

 

[figgy]

You will find them all in the donut shop 😉

[Wb123]

I got a shock a few months back when a mate pointed out one of my headlights was out (I had no idea, but now suspect it may have been out for a rather long time given the improvement fixing it made).

That said changing the bulb turned into two hours of contortionist antics as a sadist octopus had designed the thing (presumably to justify the suggestion in the user handbook that changing the bulb is a main dealer job). Given the price of a main dealer for an hours work I can see why many would leave it till mot time to fix. 

[Rossco89]

On 26/01/2019 at 12:19, Westward said:

Considering that the police have close to twice the number of serving officers and about 10 times as many of what they describe as "civilian" staff compared with the mid 60s, I have to wonder why they only appear when there's some sort of incident. If they can find eight officers and 5 cars to attend a single vehicle accident, then surely they can have a few traffic officers cruising the roads to deal with unroadworthy vehicles and idiot drivers. Gosh, there might even be fewer accidents if they did!

Oh yes, forgot about the 5 hours of paperwork each time.

And yes, muppets with their foglights on when it's not foggy are right up on my list of pet hates.

Is that factual? My local force would be half the size it was even in the 90s?

[norfolk dumpling]

We have a bloody awful new bypass north of Norwich - the NDR - with dreadful roundabouts and **** lighting and tonight some one eyed banker nearly took me out. Never any fuzz about until someone breaks down and then you find eight suddenly blocking lanes putting up dozens of sign.

[Walker570]

On 27/01/2019 at 16:30, Rossco89 said:

Is that factual? My local force would be half the size it was even in the 90s?

In 1990 my shift put out two instant response cars, double manned, three Mike Area cars, single manned, usually a Sergeant out and about and often our Inspector would turn out once his paperwork was completed. Add to this two Traffic cars, double manned plus often a traffic Sergeant and a couple of motor cylists in daytime as well, all in one relatively small Division population wise.  Paperwork was minimal back then and we prided ourselves in turning up to a job ASAP certainly within minutes.  We knew our toerags and cruised the areas we knew they liked to frequent just to keep the pressure up.

OH and don't forget the Dog Man a very important addition.  PLUS on Friday and Saturday evening 10pm to 2am we would have a riot van out with a crew of six plus a sergeant.

Where in heavens name have they all vanished to. If I see a uniform or a marked police car these days I put it down to global warming.

Hah!   I've forgotten the CID but nobody ever knew how many of them were on duty as they worked all sorts of split hours.

Edited January 28, 2019 by Walker570

[billytheghillie]

Call them Cyclops up here.

[ratchers]

One of my wifes DRL lights was out so I told her and she said No worries its going in for an MOT, garage phoned up to say its not fixable as its the whole headlight unit to replace!!

£200 thank you very much.

Also have you noticed how many people drive at night thinking they have their lights on when its actually just the front Daytime Running Lights, no rear lights on.

[team tractor]

1 hour ago, Walker570 said:

In 1990 my shift put out two instant response cars, double manned, three Mike Area cars, single manned, usually a Sergeant out and about and often our Inspector would turn out once his paperwork was completed. Add to this two Traffic cars, double manned plus often a traffic Sergeant and a couple of motor cylists in daytime as well, all in one relatively small Division population wise.  Paperwork was minimal back then and we prided ourselves in turning up to a job ASAP certainly within minutes.  We knew our toerags and cruised the areas we knew they liked to frequent just to keep the pressure up.

OH and don't forget the Dog Man a very important addition.  PLUS on Friday and Saturday evening 10pm to 2am we would have a riot van out with a crew of six plus a sergeant.

Where in heavens name have they all vanished to. If I see a uniform or a marked police car these days I put it down to global warming.

Hah!   I've forgotten the CID but nobody ever knew how many of them were on duty as they worked all sorts of split hours.

My mrs isn’t allowed to drive without a sergeant. She’s passed the driving but as she’s a special she’s got to be accompanied by a sergeant.

 

shes trying to become a regular but we had to drive 4 hours up north for her assessment. She failed by 1% for staffs but would of passed for Warwickshire   . Over . Over 100 went in and only a few passed .

we heard 15 and only 1 passed in another course. This is not police but a general course to get on the course .  

All this but my mrs is out on the beat unpaid doing the same job . 

 

Dont forget that tamworth, Lichfield and now Burton is closing too.

all people arrested will be going to stoke on Trent  . Arrest a drink driver and it’s a 2 1/2 hour drive to test them . 

45 minutes ago, ratchers said:

One of my wifes DRL lights was out so I told her and she said No worries its going in for an MOT, garage phoned up to say its not fixable as its the whole headlight unit to replace!!

£200 thank you very much.

Also have you noticed how many people drive at night thinking they have their lights on when its actually just the front Daytime Running Lights, no rear lights on.

I find a lot drive with no lights because the dash is lit up and they think the lights are on. Fords are really bad for it.

Edited January 28, 2019 by team tractor

[Walker570]

I would not survive half an hour today. I certainly did the right thing to retire early.  In 1974 the powers that be decided the police force would be enhanced by having Uni graduates joing and have fast track promotion ...sergeant in three to four years inspector in 5 -6 etc etc.  When I joined you had to prove yourself to make Sergeant in 10yrs of working on the front line.

I worked from that day with colleagues who couldn't make a decison until they had checked on their CVs if it would effect their promotion. In fact in my opinon is the Service went downhill from there on. Then of course we had a certain Rt Hon Mrs May as Home Secretary and she finished it off altogether. No sour grapes on my part , I joined to be out on the streets working on the front line and retired at 50yrs with an exemplary record, working a night shift on my last day out on the streets answering calls from the public for help.  When I joined part of the oath I swore, was to "protect life and property." 

[figgy]

6 hours ago, ratchers said:

One of my wifes DRL lights was out so I told her and she said No worries its going in for an MOT, garage phoned up to say its not fixable as its the whole headlight unit to replace!!

£200 thank you very much.

Also have you noticed how many people drive at night thinking they have their lights on when its actually just the front Daytime Running Lights, no rear lights on.

The DLR has got me on occasion, thinking my lights were on as the dash was lit up like when you put your lights onbut no backights as drl. Now I just leave my lights on dipped back lights are on during the day too. If a bulb goes out on the Volvo the dash warns you to the point I carry a spare bulb in the glove box, headlight has to come out to change, but just pull two long pins, five minutes to do.

Wife's are on automatic so she don't have to worry.