jack: (Default)
On Friday, I had a puncture on the motorway as I was driving to Liv's the first problem I've had away from home.

The steering wheel was vibrating and something was wrong but I didn't know for sure if it was serious or not. Later on (when I was fortunately not going very fast, and in the middle lane with a clear left lane), I heard something go "bang", and then the tyre going "bump-bump-bump".

Fortunately, the car still controlled ok, so I was able to come onto the hard shoulder and stop quickly. And fortunately, I had my RAC number in the glove box, and they were able to come fairly quickly.

And fortunately, it was the left side wheel, so we could replace it without going into traffic. He was able to put on the spare quickly and easily, and I drove carefully to Liv's. I wasn't at all sure there *was* a spare.

And on Saturday, we went to a garage and were able to fit a replacement on the spot. I hadn't realised that was quite so easy.

Retrospective

I was really pleased the first time I had to deal with a problem on the motorway, it was straight-forward, taken care of easily, and I was able to get it all sorted out in less than 24 hours, and I was annoyingly late, but didn't miss anything time-critical, and hopefully if it happens again it won't be scary.

And I feel a little smug that I coped OK. Even a year ago, I likely might have panicked, not sure if I could find my RAC membership, not sure if they'd be able to fix it, not sure if I was a bad person for owning a car without being able to fix it myself, not sure if I could get a tyre in a weekend away from my home city, etc, etc. But it was all fairly easy.

Although I feel silly -- surely this is something everyone else just knows? Many people must learn by paying attention when their parents fix something like this. On the other hand, I'm shocked when people can't do basic arithmetic or can't use a web browser -- most people have some but not all basic life skills, and it's probably worth just accepting that, not pretending that the ones you have are vital and the ones you don't are stupid.

Feedback

What do most people do? Do you assume you will be able to change a tyre yourself? Or assume you need to ring a professional?

It seems like even if you *can* change a tyre, it's unwise to do so on a hard shoulder (let alone on the A14). And the garage has probably over-tightened your nuts so you can't get them off. Especially if it may be in the dark, in bad weather, etc. So given that most long-distance journeys I take ARE on a dual-carriageway/motorway, is it worth preparing myself for a problem which is sufficiently serious I can't wait until I get home, but sufficiently benign I can get to a safe spot to fix it myself?

Is it worth paying extra for having RAC recovery service? I think I accept the risk that if I break down somewhere, I need to be towed home rather than trying to get my car fixed in whatever garage is nearby, but is it worth having that arranged in advance?

What basic amount of emergency equipment is it worth it? Warning triangle? Large torch? Is there a standard kit (eg. is one of the "driving in europe" kits a good guide)?
jack: (Default)
For a while, I've noticed cars flashing both indicators simultaneously (presumably by turning hazard lights on then off again) to say "thank you" for letting them in.

I think I first noticed it by lorries -- google suggests it may have been a lorry driver custom first.

I really like the idea of being able to say "thank you" or "sorry" as well as "please" or "get out of my way" when driving.

Am I right that it's new, or did I just not notice when I started driving?

Presumably it's not allowed (just like flashing headlights to say "excuse me" or "after you" or "do you know your lights are on/there's something wrong with your car/etc" was never an authorised use according to the highway code). Is it a bad idea, or not?
jack: Glowing recycle symbol (getting things done)
Yesterday I replaced the windscreen wipers on my car.

It's amazing how good it feels to do something you've been meaning to do for a year.

Unfortunately, in "getting things done", I try to count only _new_ things, but that means I don't have a good measure of how many different things I'm committed to keep doing every week and how much time I then have left.

It was amazingly easy. OK, many things are completely non-user-servicable, but when I discovered the ones listed for my car fitted perfectly I felt like the system worked :)

DVLA

Jan. 12th, 2013 12:54 pm
jack: (Default)
Wow, I got a new driving license already! I'd barely got round to wondering if I should post the halves of the old ones back to them. That was super-competent of them, yay DVLA!
jack: (Default)
When moving house with a car, the sequence of events seems to be something like this:

1. Apply online to have your driving license changed to a new address.
2. Cut both halves of your driving license into two parts and post them to DVLA Swansea (which seems like an act of rebellion, but apparently is the correct means of disposal.)
3. Find your vehicle registration certificate, write your new name and address and driver's license number (make sure to do this before step 2?) and post it back to DVLA.
4. Phone your insurer. They will make a big deal out of the fact that they don't charge you an administration fee for non-voluntary changes to your policy, but they will charge you £100 more. Or to be more exact, they'll smugly announce an amount, but leave you to guess whether that amount is more or less, or some other number than "the difference in fees between what you were paying and what you are paying". I'm pessimistic that this is (a) pro-rata or (b) refunded if you move somewhere cheaper.

Car Battery

Oct. 5th, 2012 08:19 pm
jack: (Default)
Yay, RAC came and replaced my car battery. It's annoying it suddenly died, but it's really nice to have someone just come and take care of it.
jack: (Default)
Hm. It's not necessarily the case that if the road is resurfaces and the double yellow lines haven't been repainted yet, it's the perfect time to cry "Woohooo! Let me get some of that blind corner parking while its still lawful!"
jack: (Default)
As I understand it, a green traffic light says "you are no longer forbidden to proceed", but you are still obliged to follow the normal rules of precedence, eg. if there's oncoming traffic to wait in the middle of the road to cross it.

However, I think (?) it is increasingly common for there NOT to be two lanes that cross green-lighted at once. To the extent that people are surprised when a right-turn is green-lighted, but they have to wait for oncoming traffic to clear to take it.

And I think (?) it is rare or non-existent to have a lane green-lighted when ALL directions from that lane have a further give-way. You could, in principle, have a T-Junction which also had traffic lights, where the side road ALSO had a give way instead of or as well as the traffic-light-controlled stop-line, and the traffic lights toggled between "do not pass" and "give way", but in fact, no-where does have that, because people would assume that if it was green they could just drive forward.

If my understanding is correct, should we go a stage further, and specifically sign any green light direction where you don't have SOLE priority?

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