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Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

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Itsallaguess
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Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#385788

Postby Itsallaguess » February 11th, 2021, 5:26 pm

I mean - that's some rush he must have been in, right?

He must have had more snow fall inside the car after opening the door than he actually cleared off that windscreen....


A man has been charged with dangerous driving after being stopped in Dundee with snow covering almost his entire front and rear windscreens.

Police said it was "about the most extreme example of lack of preparation" that they had ever seen.

Officers said the man had been driving with "practically zero-visibility" when stopped.

Insp Greg Burns said it was "miraculous" that no-one had been injured as a result.

He said: "Our officers genuinely could not believe what they were seeing when they saw this car today."


Source - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-55950942

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Cheers,

Itsallaguess

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#385835

Postby MonsterMork » February 11th, 2021, 9:07 pm

Sadly it is not only in Dundee that eff wits like this live. I found one such identical numpty in Milton Keynes some 14 years ago :roll: Chugging happily along at walking pace with a death grip on the steering wheel. Thankfully I was in my Land Rover so was able to get the heck away from him pronto before becoming part of his accident :x

MM

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#385836

Postby AsleepInYorkshire » February 11th, 2021, 9:18 pm

Itsallaguess wrote:I mean - that's some rush he must have been in, right?

He must have had more snow fall inside the car after opening the door than he actually cleared off that windscreen....


A man has been charged with dangerous driving after being stopped in Dundee with snow covering almost his entire front and rear windscreens.

Police said it was "about the most extreme example of lack of preparation" that they had ever seen.

Officers said the man had been driving with "practically zero-visibility" when stopped.

Insp Greg Burns said it was "miraculous" that no-one had been injured as a result.

He said: "Our officers genuinely could not believe what they were seeing when they saw this car today."


Source - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-55950942

Image

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

May I suggest I think you've been very harsh on the driver. That isn't where he cleared the snow, that's where the police cleared away the window to see who was in the vehicle. When they saw Donald Trump they managed to ascertain he was under cover heading for his golf course. The 100 outriders on the motorbikes did look very blue though :lol:

AiY

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#385939

Postby sg31 » February 12th, 2021, 10:38 am

A lot of drivers spend time clearing the car windows and then set off without a care in the world. The car warms up by the time they get to the moterway, they dab their brakes and the 4" of snow on their roof slides forward and covers the windscreen. They are now driving blind at motorway speeds.

I saw this happen many years ago and now I always clear the roof as well as the wondows. I cringe every time I see a cat with snow on the roof. That's a lot of cringing.

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#385940

Postby 88V8 » February 12th, 2021, 10:40 am

Years ago I ran a 1934 Lanchester. No heater of course.

One foggy winter night we were returning with parents in law from a family gathering. The screen kept freezing inside.

My routine winter procedure was to head this off by the eco method of rubbing a cut potato across the screen, but I'd forgotten to refresh the potato before setting off.

In the end, the only way to maintain progress was to stick my head out of the window.

Is there an MOT failure criterion for stale potato?

V8

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#386619

Postby MonsterMork » February 14th, 2021, 11:54 am

88V8 wrote:
Is there an MOT failure criterion for stale potato?

V8



Almost! :shock:

Section 3.2

(c) Windscreen or window:

(i) in an unacceptable condition e.g. due to excessive scratching - Major
(ii) in such a condition that visibility through swept area is seriously affected - Dangerous


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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#386816

Postby DrFfybes » February 15th, 2021, 9:16 am

sg31 wrote:A lot of drivers spend time clearing the car windows and then set off without a care in the world. The car warms up by the time they get to the moterway, they dab their brakes and the 4" of snow on their roof slides forward and covers the windscreen. They are now driving blind at motorway speeds.

I saw this happen many years ago and now I always clear the roof as well as the wondows. I cringe every time I see a cat with snow on the roof. That's a lot of cringing.


Oh yes, I too had that happpen, once!

Modern cars seem a lot slower to heat up, so what I've seen more recently is that they get on to the motorway and are blissfully unaware when half a ton of snow flies off into the face of the following driver. The other interesting thing is the modern LED headlights and those with the bulbs in a 'tunnel' don't seem to generate much heat, So I've seen a few cars driving along with effectively no headlights.

Paul

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#386820

Postby Dod101 » February 15th, 2021, 9:36 am

DrFfybes wrote:
sg31 wrote:A lot of drivers spend time clearing the car windows and then set off without a care in the world. The car warms up by the time they get to the moterway, they dab their brakes and the 4" of snow on their roof slides forward and covers the windscreen. They are now driving blind at motorway speeds.

I saw this happen many years ago and now I always clear the roof as well as the wondows. I cringe every time I see a cat with snow on the roof. That's a lot of cringing.


Oh yes, I too had that happpen, once!

Modern cars seem a lot slower to heat up, so what I've seen more recently is that they get on to the motorway and are blissfully unaware when half a ton of snow flies off into the face of the following driver. The other interesting thing is the modern LED headlights and those with the bulbs in a 'tunnel' don't seem to generate much heat, So I've seen a few cars driving along with effectively no headlights.

Paul


I noticed the point about headlights last week I must say. My wing mirrors are heated electrically evidently, because they clear magically like the rear window, but my headlamps do not, presumably because no one thought about it that LED lamps do not heat the glass very quickly (if at all)

I am afraid I am guilty about not clearing my car roof but at least I am not going to be driving on a motorway, just going a couple of miles down a quiet road in search of milk usually.

Dod

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#386821

Postby swill453 » February 15th, 2021, 9:39 am

Dod101 wrote:I noticed the point about headlights last week I must say. My wing mirrors are heated electrically evidently, because they clear magically like the rear window, but my headlamps do not, presumably because no one thought about it that LED lamps do not heat the glass very quickly (if at all)

More likely nobody thought drivers wouldn't spend 0.5 seconds swiping the snow off their headlights before setting off...

Scott.

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#386829

Postby Dod101 » February 15th, 2021, 9:52 am

swill453 wrote:
Dod101 wrote:I noticed the point about headlights last week I must say. My wing mirrors are heated electrically evidently, because they clear magically like the rear window, but my headlamps do not, presumably because no one thought about it that LED lamps do not heat the glass very quickly (if at all)

More likely nobody thought drivers wouldn't spend 0.5 seconds swiping the snow off their headlights before setting off...

Scott.


I don't think that is correct because I tried to do just that but they were iced up and I had run out of the anti freeze stuff we use on our windscreens (which in any case are heated) and your point would mean that the same thing could be done with wing mirrors.

Dod

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#386834

Postby DrFfybes » February 15th, 2021, 10:11 am

Dod101 wrote: My wing mirrors are heated electrically evidently, because they clear magically like the rear window,
Dod


On MrsF's BMW Z4 the mirrors heat all the time. It is a known issue that the glue fails and thee rather expensive glass falls out often scratching the door on the way. We were lucky that ours came off on the drive.

The £80+ BMW parts can be replaced with a ten quid 'glass only' but from online sources.

Paul

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#386845

Postby richlist » February 15th, 2021, 10:35 am

I thought it was against the law not to clear snow from your car roof before driving off.

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#386851

Postby bungeejumper » February 15th, 2021, 10:41 am

DrFfybes wrote:
sg31 wrote:They dab their brakes and the 4" of snow on their roof slides forward and covers the windscreen. They are now driving blind at motorway speeds.

I saw this happen many years ago and now I always clear the roof as well as the wondows. I cringe every time I see a cat with snow on the roof. That's a lot of cringing.

Oh yes, I too had that happpen, once!

A cat? Really? :lol:

I was lucky, because my roof avalanche happened at an urban roundabout, not on a motorway. But still a nasty shock - not least, because the melting snow is almost certain to be heavy with ice, and it stops your wipers dead.

The other thing was the noise, which can be seriously disorientating. It starts with a loud grainy rumble like a fast-approaching cement mixer, but it has no direction at all because it's coming from your entire roof. And you're looking everywhere for the direction of the impending impact, and getting no clues. Then the white-out starts, and your problems really start. :D

BJ

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#386998

Postby 9873210 » February 15th, 2021, 4:57 pm

Modern headlights have a high degree of compound curvature. Many are made of plastic which is more easily scratched than glass. Mechanical removing a layer of ice is rather difficult. I recommend a heated garage. Though a spray bottle of wiper fluid probably works.

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#387001

Postby Mike4 » February 15th, 2021, 5:01 pm

richlist wrote:I thought it was against the law not to clear snow from your car roof before driving off.


Curiously so did I, so I checked when this thread started, and it isn't.

Not according to the RAC anyway, and they would probably have it right.

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#387003

Postby swill453 » February 15th, 2021, 5:06 pm

Mike4 wrote:
richlist wrote:I thought it was against the law not to clear snow from your car roof before driving off.

Curiously so did I, so I checked when this thread started, and it isn't.

Not according to the RAC anyway, and they would probably have it right.

The police could stop you and, if it came to it, prosecute you, under a catch-all offence like careless driving though.

Scott.

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#387034

Postby richlist » February 15th, 2021, 6:36 pm

Yes, ......surprise, surprise according to the RAC there is no actual offence of driving with snow on the roof but I'm sure I've read of people doing it and being fined £60 & 3 points probably for careless driving.

I think we can all agree it's best to clear the roof.....a broom and 30 seconds is probably all its gonna take most of us.

Failing that a good downpour will do it for you.

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#387852

Postby kiloran » February 18th, 2021, 10:08 pm

Not too far from Dundee.....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... l-56111876

Wonder if it was the same guy?

--kiloran

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#387892

Postby bungeejumper » February 19th, 2021, 9:36 am

kiloran wrote:Not too far from Dundee.....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... l-56111876

That happened in our village, some years back. The car was veering all over the road, scattering sparks in all directions, but the driver had turned up the volume on her radio and carried on driving. Three times over the alcohol limit, IIRC.

BJ

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Re: Man caught driving with 'practically zero-visibility' in Dundee

#388333

Postby Leif » February 21st, 2021, 9:24 am

In Slough I saw a car driving along with sparks coming from the rear wheels. The rear axle had seized, and the tyres had worn through to the rims. It wasn’t so out of place in Slough.

In Witley Common I helped dig done cars out of snow on a hill. One car had tyres with no tread, they honestly looked like slicks. I should have reported them to the police for the sake of other road users.

And on the M4 I had to emergency stop when wooden house doors on the roof of the car in front fell off, hit the road, and split into planks which bounced around across three lanes. Quite how there wasn’t a major accident I’ll never know.

There are some very stupid people about.


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