BBC Headline - "Lots of accidents caused by snow and ice"
 

Heard this on the Radio 4 news, talking about the emergency services being very busy in Kent overnight.
Anyone else struggle with this headline? :tuttut: Discuss.

Or, alternatively, "Lots of people who can't drive in good weather, causing accidents by trying to drive in bad weather"

It's abysmal out there, it was never like this in my day :tuttut:

My sentiments exactly. The quality of peoples driving nowadays is diabolical.

I actually covered 484 miles in the bad weather. From Wigan, via Chepstow, to Warminster and back to Wigan via Leyland.
I even left the M4 at Junction 17 to head South on the A350 on Friday morning. That was where BBC News were broadcasting reports of dire weather.
OK it was snowing and some of it sitting on ice and I did not have winter tyres on.
Only one problem and that was an idiots fault. Line of traffic in the nearside lane stopped at a roundabout where I wanted to turn right. I used the correct approach and used the offside lane with indicator flashing. A white van driver seeing that I was coming through pulled out in front of me and stopped on the skew because he lost grip. I thought sh1t but my trusty 8 stopped without any problem even though it was slushy snow on hard packed ice. Then when he actually managed to move he went straight ahead.
As you have already commented, problem is the standard of driving.
My return from Warminster took less than four and a half hours. Better than summer driving time.

The Yoof of today have never really had any decent snow in may parts of the country. 20 odd years ago it was pretty regular to have some snow in the winter and with that we got experience driving in bad weather conditions.

Today, the small amounts of snow in a blue moon cause chaos due to lack of experience and of course stupidity/naivety

I take your point.
Perhaps I'm being a miserable old know it all.
I taught both my kids to drive and started them rather early. In those days we could still drive on the beach at Southport and Ainsdale.
My son used to sit on my knee at four years old. I did the actual driving but he did the steering using the external mirrors whilst reversing down a three hundred yard narrow fenced drive.
And when they passed the test I took them for a longish motorway drive. Part of that I made them be a bit spirited and even speeding. Bloody 70mph crap

My dad taught me to drive on Spike Island in a Morris Oxford. He probably had bald tyres on it because the back end would come out on most wet roundabouts. It taught me "Dab of oppo" for sure. New tyres were always a revelation!

There are more cars on the roads definitely these days, as people are having to commute greater distances and public transport can't offer a reasonable alternative. Certainly the case for me, my current office is 84 miles away.

I think driving standards are poor in general - people are very aggressive, both sexes, and seem to think everything is a competition. It might be a result of all the congestion, the UK has the most congested cities in Europe.

Worst example recently was again a roundabout with the lane for 1st left exit congested, where folk where going past in the right lane, then just pushing across to turn left - never mind lapping the island, just taking the absolute pee. No wonder folk go mad.

Soon after passing my test, around 17 or 18, I owned an Morris Ital ('facelift' Marina) which did that all the time, regardless of tyre condition. In fact it would do it in the dry too with anything more than a sedate driving style. Thinking back, it seems like I spent more time going sideways than I did going forwards in that car, but it certainly taught me to drive and how to control a skidding car. It was like learning to drive on a skid pan.

The main reason the Ital/Marina was so bad (apart from the utterly terrible build quality and front torsion bar suspension) was that it had a 'live axle', with rear wheel drive and leaf-spring suspension. As a result, when cornering on anything but the flattest of roads, rear tyre contact was very poor. I suspect the Morris Oxford had a similar rear setup.

I remember the Ital, it had a snazzier grille filler. The Marina door handles were used on Lotus Esprits for decades after. We had a new Marina estate as a hire car when my dad took us on holiday to Wales in his annual week off.

One year we had a new Maxi. The windows fell inside the doors when we wound them up. That was a problem as it was halfway around Knowsley Safari Park.

At least the Ital was designed in the 70s, the Oxford had fins and a main beam button on the floor next to the clutch. It did have a fold-down armrest in the rear seat which I thought was majestic. And a starting handle.

It cost my dad £500, I spent that yesterday on new discs and pads. I still need to find a boot motor and an alarm siren, and work out why it drips water on your feet when it rains. I suspect it'll be blocked aircon drains - the Oxford would be laughing, if it's engine hadn't seized on the M6.

The "live" axle just means it supplies power, as opposed to just being an axle. I imagine your diff had been welded i very much doubt it had LSD. But fun all the same. Also cross ply tyres will help get the ass end out but are / were quite dangerous but were fitted to a lot of cars of that era.

As most of you old guys learnt to drive when you had to light a fire 2 hours before you wanted to go anywhere, do you think that the drivers aids have helped to reduce the driver skills. ABS, TC, ESP, brake assist, bloody cutting fuel when you left foot brake.
Anyone that has learnt to drive in a car less than 30 years old probably hasn't locked up one wheel going straight on at a hedge at 20 not being able to stop :ROFL: