Suspended Sentence For Taxi Driver "Blinded By The Sun".

[classic33]

But hitting another road user as a result isn't.

That's just the driver thinking, and feeling, that everything else on the road will simply move aside.

 

[classic33]

You must have been blinded by low sun in the north, then(!)

Not whilst heading north, around 6-7am in the morning. In January or June.
And if I've felt that the sun is affecting my forward vision, I've stopped as soon as it was safe to do so.

 

[Alex321]

... and what's weird - and apparently hard for most internet posters to understand - is that you can BOTH be right!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes. And in that case, we were both right.

 

[DRM]

I absolutely detest driving anywhere within the BD postcode area, it is the wild west, the standard of driving is beyond appalling, if anyone remembers watching Police Interceptors on TV when it was filmed around Bradford & Leeds may have thought it was exaggerated for TV, believe me it was dumbed down, an example, Scotchman Road has traffic calming chicanes in, it's a 20mph limit, I saw a learner driver, going along, perfectly correctly, being followed by an Audi and a Golf VR5, which as they cleared the last chicane halfway along Scotchman Rd, passed the learner driver either side, then raced each other to the bottom of the road, this bit is at a 30 mph limit, doing in excess of 60 mph

 

[MidnightRider]

Being grossly inconvenienced is far better than killing an innocent person,

Yes of course, but unfortunately the practicalities do tend to get in the way, however much in a nicer perfect world they would not. In a perfect world, farmers would not get sucked into machinery, but it happens despite years of farming experience. Police cars would not strike pedestrians when rushing to save someone else. The world, very sadly, is not perfect. That is not a glib statement, but a very sad and realistic one. Most of us know how awful it is for a loved one to be injured or die.

Many drive the roads up in the Cotswolds due to employment requirements which can be pretty inflexible and encorage risks. Personally I do my best to avoid driving the roads at the worst times for light, but its hard to win even with some flexibility available. I often feel in danger up there due to others reckless driving. Daytime (and often after dark too) the ex city folk drive like manics often doing 60-70mph on bendy country lanes they perceive as 'wide open roads' compared to city restrictions. Dusk / night covers the roads up there in road kill, which is heartbreaking to see - badgers, varieties of deer, foxes, lots of rabbits and pheasants - It can be awful to view on the worst days and most of those were probabally avoidable. My worst day caused me to pass 3 dead deer a fox and 2 badgers in less than half an hour. I have lost count of how often I have slowed to let animals get into a hedge. I try to drive as if a horse, cows, cyclist may be around the next curve, but I am often overtaken at high speeds by people who seem to have no concept of herds of cows or blind bends or bikes. I certainly don't fancy a deer or similar through the windscreen (I once met someoe who hit a horse, a story not for the faint of heart). He was lucky to survive but was traumitised for years and also physically scarred. The poor horse died. It had out at full speed from behind a hedge.

It has been said to cause headaches, and disrupt your vision however.

Interesting. I did wonder, as lots of programs, cinema etc now put up strobe effect warnings for those with epilepsy. The strobing is a similar effect to driving some of the lanes autumn onwards. It defiitly makes it harder to see as your eyes have fractions of seconds to adjust between dim/glare/dim/glare. Its really horrible driving conditions.

dazzle can be reduced significantly if drivers can be bothered to keep their windscreeens scrupulously clean (inside and out) rather than having accumulations of road grime and that smeary film from offgassing of the interior materials

+ Yes, agree totally. Sunglasses help a bit, but not with the strobing effect itself and they can make the lower light moments darker, therefore harder to see at times - its all a judgement of compromise.
Another issue is going in and out of tunnels of trees, less strobe of course, but suddenly in a dark tunnel after very bright daylight. This is more a clear summer day problem, due to leaf density.

A much better solution than moaning that we'd "all be motionless until dusk"

I was not 'moaning' it was a practical/realistic observation when it was suggested people should just stop and wait (effectively) until the sun moved (or rather the Earth rotated sufficiently). I am not belittling the dangers of the road for anyone in trying conditions. However stopping in difficult light waiting for the sun to disappear or 'move' - in certain locations the road really could become impassable for several hours at times and most people just do not exhibit the patience to sit and wait 20 minutes to several hours for better lighting. Human nature is such.

Just 'stopping' can be a danger in itself, with risk partly blinded drivers would be running into the backs of non moving vehicles. Its often not safe to stop on country roads and even short waits/pauses can be dangerous in some locations. Its not like in a city where you can just pull into a side street. Its not helped when idiots drive at 60+ mph on 2 lane narrow roads or mad fast in single car width roads - its a hazerdous environment with load of bends, hedges you cant see over and often no laybys or pull-ins for miles.

I would point out I am not saying its wrong to stop, driving with as much care as possible is obviously paramount at all times, but stopping cold on some types of roads/locations can be a potential killer in itself. Its all a balance of circumstances. Sadly, sometimes people get that judgement wrong. Most people do not intend to get it wrong and if they do, pay for it emotionally or physically for all the rest of their lives. Its not only about jail sentences, some sentences are even worse.

Again, I am not commenting on any aspects of the case quoted, my comments are general.

 

[matticus]

A much better solution than moaning that we'd "all be motionless until dusk"

I was not 'moaning' it was a practical/realistic observation when it was suggested people should just stop and wait (effectively) until the sun moved (or rather the Earth rotated sufficiently). I am not belittling the dangers of the road for anyone in trying conditions. However stopping in difficult light waiting for the sun to disappear or 'move' - in certain locations the road really could become impassable for several hours at times and most people just do not exhibit the patience to sit and wait 20 minutes to several hours for better lighting. Human nature is such.

You've quoted me out of context; I was NOT suggesting people stop. I was responding to the suggestion that
DRIVERS SLOW DOWN
... in those situations.
You're being rather absurd in countering this with talk of:
" the road really could become impassable for several hours at times"