Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Gaffers on 23 September 2015, 10:58:28
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Well just had an incident this morning on my cycle to work in frogland. Approaching roadworks with trafic lights the light was red so after checking the road behind was clear I took the primary position in order to protect my space at the lights. Just as I arrived at the lights a car appears on my left and cuts in to my space, making contact and going past the traffic light (still on red) I had to work hard to not fall and hit the concrete structure in which the traffic light was being housed. The contact was a glancing hit and caused my brake lever leaving a large scratch along 3/5 of the side of his car.
I stopped and put my bike in a safe place and approach the car. It took 3 requests for him to finally wind down the window and I told him that he had just crashed in to me and that he needed to pull in so we can assess damage. Despite the fact I am fluent in french he said "What?" so I repeated it a second time. He just looked at me confused, it was then I smelt the alcohol and saw his eyes. I said that I was going to call the police and he then sped off through the red light and in to the oncoming traffic. This traffic had to take emergency action to avoid him making contact. This guy was clearly drunk and was a real danger to other users.
Cue 30 minutes on the phone with the police, there is now a local police alert and al lthe gendarmes are looking for him. They are coming around later for a copy of the video.
Close shave, could have been worse.
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A close shave indeed Matt, and thank goodness it wasn't worse. Lets hope that they catch the idiot before he kills someone. :y
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It seemed to me when I was in Brittany a few weeks ago that drink driving is more common in France than in Britain. :-\
Glad you survived Guff! :y Another life gone, how many have you got left? ??? ::) ;D
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Close call indeed :o Sounds like no lasting damage though which is a relief :y
Hopefully the scratch on the car will simply polish out... (with careful applications of the drunken arses head when they catch up with him).
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I was always under the impression that it was against the law in France to drive when NOT pissed :o
Well you learn something new everyday ;D ;D
Glad your okay Matt :)
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Another life gone, how many have you got left? ??? ::) ;D
Lost count a long time ago!! ;D
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It seemed to me when I was in Brittany a few weeks ago that drink driving is more common in France than in Britain. :-\
It's wierd here, the actual limit is lower than the UK, but there is more discretion applied by the Police and Judicary. Sentences are less harsh too unless you cause injury or death where the punishment is inherently extremely severe drunk or not.
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It seemed to me when I was in Brittany a few weeks ago that drink driving is more common in France than in Britain. :-\
It's wierd here, the actual limit is lower than the UK, but there is more discretion applied by the Police and Judicary. Sentences are less harsh too unless you cause injury or death where the punishment is inherently extremely severe drunk or not.
The French have always interpreted the law differently :y
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Glad you are okay. Was he drunk from the night before or the petit dejeuner with generous Calvados chasers at the local Les Routiers with the regular truck drivers? ::) ::) ::) ::)
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Aren't most French drivers slightly recovering from lunchtime vino?
Even so, the standard of driving far exceeds the UK :(
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But glad he came off worse :y
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It seemed to me when I was in Brittany a few weeks ago that drink driving is more common in France than in Britain. :-\
It's wierd here, the actual limit is lower than the UK, but there is more discretion applied by the Police and Judicary. Sentences are less harsh too unless you cause injury or death where the punishment is inherently extremely severe drunk or not.
The French have always interpreted the law differently to suit themselves! :y
As Rods points out it's not unusual to see tradesmen, truck drivers etc tucking into their lunch with a bottle of wine, especially at the 12 Euro set lunches which includes a bottle of plonk! ::)
I believe certain trades get a government voucher which subsidises their meals. :-\ If so it explains all the white vans parked up outside the cafe at lunchtime in the little town in Brittany where I stayed. ;)
Aren't most French drivers slightly recovering from lunchtime vino?
Even so, the standard of driving far exceeds the UK :(
I'm really not convinced about that to be honest TB! :o :-\ ;D
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Even so, the standard of driving far exceeds the UK :(
That might be true for motorway driving.
But anywhere else, and especially on country roads, it simply hasn't been the case for the 25years I've been driving in France.
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Even so, the standard of driving far exceeds the UK :(
That might be true for motorway driving.
But anywhere else, and especially on country roads, it simply hasn't been the case for the 25years I've been driving in France.
My experience differs. Maybe as every cock around here drives a VW or Audi, they are just programmed to drive like tits ?
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Though I would agree French city drivers are a little unpredictable...
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About 15 years ago I would have disagreed with TB, but these days he is correct. The French haven't got any better, the Brit have just gotten worse quicker. ie they are less sh!t than us.
I am still always really impressed by the lengths french lorry drivers generally go out of their way to give me loads of space when I am cycling. I am not talking about a couple of feet, most give me the legally required 1.5m regardless of the road type and space. That's pretty impressive when you consider the weight and size of the vehicles they pilot and is in direct contrast with how british lorry drivers treat cyclists.
The van drivers here are on a par with ours in terms of being selfish, agressive, egotistical maniacs. More than one has an indentation from my left fist hand.
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Even so, the standard of driving far exceeds the UK :(
That might be true for motorway driving.
But anywhere else, and especially on country roads, it simply hasn't been the case for the 25years I've been driving in France.
I'd agree with that. Their lane displine on the motorways is far better than ours, no sitting for miles & miles kms & kms in the outside lane cos the vehicle they next want to overtake is miles kms away
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....
Despite the fact I am fluent in french .....
I'm stil impressed with this ....... I can manage 'hello' & 'thanks' :-[ :-[
Glad you're unscathed from your bump. :y
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Even so, the standard of driving far exceeds the UK :(
That might be true for motorway driving.
But anywhere else, and especially on country roads, it simply hasn't been the case for the 25years I've been driving in France.
That's not too hard though given that French motorways have much less traffic than ours. ;)
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....
Despite the fact I am fluent in french .....
I'm stil impressed with this ....... I can manage 'hello' & 'thanks' :-[ :-[
Glad you're unscathed from your bump. :y
:y
I am sure i am not the only OOFer who speaks a foreign language .
As for the bump, i am wondering if the roadworks actually saved my life. If they werent there i may have found myself in an area not wide enough for car and bike side by side and thus i cringe to think what he would have done there.
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I am sure i am not the only OOFer who speaks a foreign language .
I can speak foreign fluently....... ::) After a few beers! :y ;D
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I am sure i am not the only OOFer who speaks a foreign language .
I can speak foreign fluently....... ::) After a few beers! :y ;D
Apparently there are those who can speak northern too :o
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I am sure i am not the only OOFer who speaks a foreign language .
I can speak foreign fluently....... ::) After a few beers! :y ;D
Apparently there are those who can speak northern too :o
That's no big deal; the hard part is finding someone who will listen to northern 8)
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(http://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/56329761.jpg)
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(http://24.media.tumblr.com/a0c2ceef666d3c8210af4580d23134ad/tumblr_mghc457uGA1ry10fwo1_500.gif)
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I am sure i am not the only OOFer who speaks a foreign language .
I can speak foreign fluently....... ::) After a few beers! :y ;D
Apparently there are those who can speak northern too :o
I can speak 'northern' fluently :y, but even after nearly 9 years I still struggle wi' Wiginese ???
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My experience differs. Maybe as every cock around here drives a VW or Audi, they are just programmed to drive like tits ?
..unless they detect that they're on an emissions test cycle. ::)
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I am still always really impressed by the lengths french lorry drivers generally go out of their way to give me loads of space when I am cycling. I am not talking about a couple of feet, most give me the legally required 1.5m regardless of the road type and space. That's pretty impressive when you consider the weight and size of the vehicles they pilot and is in direct contrast with how british lorry drivers treat cyclists.
I didn't realise we still had British lorry drivers? :-\ :-X
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Well just had an incident this morning on my cycle to work ...The contact was a glancing hit and caused my brake lever leaving a large scratch along 3/5 of the side of his car.
Hopefully the scratch on the car will simply polish out...
whose side are you on? personally i hope the scratch rusts and 3/5th of his car side falls off ;D
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Well just had an incident this morning on my cycle to work ...The contact was a glancing hit and caused my brake lever leaving a large scratch along 3/5 of the side of his car.
Hopefully the scratch on the car will simply polish out...
whose side are you on? personally i hope the scratch rusts and 3/5th of his car side falls off ;D
Matts. Clearly. Hence the bracketed part of my post that you so carefully edited out ::)
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yeah right ::)