Thank you very, very much.......

[TridentTested]

As much as I love cars they have ruined the average residential road / cul-de-sac / housing estate / legoland.

Ain't that the truth.

We're living for the moment in a typical outer London "metroland" estate. There is only one road in, serving the whole estate, so anyone driving here is a resident; there is no through-traffic. Yet with the parked cars on both sides of the streets, and the speeding residents, it means there are no kids playing anywhere.

I think this is terribly sad when I think back to my own childhood on a similar estate: we, and the neighbours' kids, were on the street from dawn to dusk. I know people will cite fear of dodgy celebrities lurking around street corners but the reality is it's fear of motor traffic which keeps our kids locked indoors. Our kids are paying a high price for our love of the motor car.

Back on topic. I drove to the local supermarket this morning. Parked in the furthest part of the car park, put the QP dead centre in the small bay, and managed to get back to the car before any clown parked alongside it in the empty car park - which is usually what happens. So, result

 

[rockits]

Move out and get a rural pad with some land....you won't regret it. The kids will love it. Best thing we ever did.

I have 6 cars parked up, not a problem & not affecting anyone. Still got a fair bit space for plenty more....which is dangerous!

 

[Wack61]

That seems very unlikely. Even if it *is* cearly the Smart must comply, so the A8 is just mad.

C

It must be true, I read in on the inter web but I may have interpreted it incorrectly , an occupant needs to be a certain distance from a side airbag for it to be effective which leads to wider cars , as in compared to a similar sized car from 20 years ago

I read somewhere that the modern mondeo is as big as a Sweeny Granada from the 70s

So it's all about the EU crash tests and the manufacturers wanting the higher stars but the crash tests are unreliable anyway as they only compare like for like cars to get the results, ie a 5* fiat panda hits a 1* BMW 7 series, 7 series wins

 

[bigbob]

That's the biggest flaw with NCAP that no motoring mags seem to write about. People happily buy a 'five star' car without thinking that if their 1000kg super mini is hit by a 1750kg executive car (or 2250kg SUV) then there is a clear force differential. Newton's 2nd law of motion that we would have all being taught - and then forgotten - at school.

 

[Ianed0]

In my book it's a hanging offence, it's probably some t-wart who couldn't give a flying f**k about anything, with the usual line, "well I've had it done to me in the past"