The Blog of G

What with my recent nowhere-near-fatal-accident and “that” pile up not so long ago, it’s fair to say that road safety has taken a more prominant place in my thoughts. I have a 110+ mile commute to and from the office so I drive a bit, it’s fair to say and the standard of driving I encounter on a regular basis is appalling. I’m not talking about speeding either.

Let’s start with the basics, Mirrors, they let you see whats coming behind you. It’s handy to check before you switch lanes or pullout in to traffic. Next up, indicators, they give other road users an “indication” of when we are about to change direction, you know like when your about to turn at a junction, switch lanes or even when your pulling out of a parking space.

I mean, the only thing’s that you ever hear of causing accidents in the news is speeding and drunk driving and if there really was a will to sort it out it could be quite simple and without resorting to draconian measures that grandad proposes, funny and all as they are. Although there is some sense in the drivers license that starts the car idea.

A more cost-effective solution would be to require all road vehicles to carry a GPS tracking chip, heck you can have these fitted to your car so it can be found easily if it’s stolen, simply use the technology to record only the times that a driver is exceeding the speed limit. The costs could be easily offset with the savings in paying the Gardai to sit in the hedgerows with there hairdryers. The government would still have the cash cow for speeding tickets, cause lets face it there will always be people who speed.

I remember hearing about an insurance company on the radio who offer discounted premiums to younger drivers once they have just the type of system I propose installed. The digital maps with the relevant speed zones indicated already exist so why can’t this be implemented? All it would need would be some politician to pick up on the idea, hell we can Eliminate smoking in public buildings why can’t we do this?

So, that’s speeding taken care of, simple as that, maybe an extra few quid on the price of your car but so what in the name of eliminating all those crashes caused by speeding.

So what about drunk drivers? How do we rid the roads of them… I think I might have an idea…

A while back I posted about an upcoming event where Nick Heidfeld and BMW were arranging to do some laps of the Nordschleife in a modern F1 car and I was thrilled by the prospect but also concerned that the parties involved wouldn’t have the cohones to give it a lash.

Well surprise, surprise there’s no new lap record, not even close, you can read about it here.

I’m thoroughly disgusted, I consider it a missed opportunity of gargantuan proportions, a tragedy, I’ve managed a faster lap than that in a Ferrari 355! (approx. 7 minutes 40 seconds from memory) All be it a virtual one in PGR3

So, on Wednesday, I’m driving back to the office after an early lunch. Minding my own business and all that, as I cross the river, I see there’s a line of traffic stopped ahead and decided to stop myself. Just as I come to a halt, I’m thinking, “Dum-De-Dum-d’SMACK! WTF???”

Yup, the driver in the car behind me had for some reason decided that he didn’t want to wear out his brakes or something and drove into the back of my car. Suddenly, it was as if someone had pulled the chain and flushed the great day that I was having.

Before I’ve even unbuckled my seat belt the other driver is at my door apologising, I get out to have a look at the damage and sure enough his car needs a bit of waxing and mine needs a new bumper, boot-lid, light cluster various other bits and prolly a lick of paint and some dirt to make it look like it did 2 minutes previously.

Details were exchanged etc. etc. and I went back to the office, called my insurance company and arranged to have some one look the car over for an estimate on the repairs. Once that was done, I got on with my days work and finished a bit early to go get the estimate sorted (Thanks Bosses )

I woke up Thursday and my necks locked up and sore as hell, off to the doctor I go. Thankfully it’s just some muscle issues and nothing more serious, got some medication and off back to bed with me for the day. The Doctor warned me one of the pills would make me drowsy but that was an understatement. within 20 minutes of taking it I was asleep not drowsy, out cold!

My necks still too stiff today for me to look in my mirrors, so no driving for me. At least it’s not sore anymore and at this late stage of the day it’s starting to get a bit more movement, so here’s hoping that I’ll be waving my head around like some bimbo valley girl again in no time.

Barcamp Dublin kicks off tomorrow morning with registrations at 9.15am, in The Digital Exchange on Crane street. My previous Barcamp visits (Cork & Waterford) were eye opening affairs. There is so much going on in Irish Tech circles that I would never have heard about, blogs I wouldn’t have discovered and people I would not have met if it were not for Barcamp, if you have any interest in the Technology sector Barcamp is a great way to explore it. So be there or be a shape with 4 equal length sides and 90 degree corners

If your looking for more info and how to sign up, check out the Barcamp Dublin Wiki and Blog