Interesting Facts

Police forces across the UK will no longer be applying a margin of error for people driving over the speed limit. (For many years British motorists have relied on police allowing a ‘small margin for error’ when the speed dial creeps over the limit. Traditionally, this has been set at 10% plus 2mph of the posted speed limit, so in a 50mph zone, that would be 5mph plus an extra 2mph before the police would have issued a ticket or fine. However, new technology is so accurate that police chiefs are giving the order to crack down on anyone driving over the speed limit, in order to stem the rising number of deaths and serious injuries on British roads. In Scotland, the police force has announced it is abandoning the previous discretionary allowance and will issue any driver exceeding the speed limit by even 1mph with a warning.)

According to plans unveiled by Transport for London (TfL) London commuters will soon be able to bounce their way to work. (The “Bounceway”, due to open in 2015, will allegedly be trialed as part of TfL’s £1.8 million Future Streets scheme . You might think this is unique - think again: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671342/a-bouncy-560-foot-long-trampoline-road. Now we know what the British Secret Service was using those spy rocks for. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/19/fake-rock-plot-spy-russians) One more thought:  What if you've just had a full English breakfast?  It could be a disaster!

According to the Road Safety Foundation, a 12-mile stretch of the A285 between Chichester and Petworth is UK's most dangerous road. (Seemingly the number of crashes has increased by 16% over the last 5 years. Road safety is a big problem in the UK; in the last five years serious crashes cost of £1.9 billion on motorways, £8.4 billion on primary A-roads and £5.9 billion on non-primary A-roads.)

Officials in Colorado replaced a "MILE 420" sign near Stratton, about 25 miles from the Kansas border, with a sign that says "MILE 419.99. (Why? Because people kept stealing the old one. Why? Well, seemingly, this innocent looking three digit number 420, (pronounced four-twenty), has long been associated with cannabis and smoking cannabis. I found a couple of reasons for this:- Because a group of pot heads called the Waldos used to meet at 4:20pm. Because 4oz used to cost $20. I guess we'll never know. But this isn't the first place in Colorado with a fractional mile marker. Cameron Pass in Larimer County has a "MILE 68.5" sign after frequent thefts of the "MILE 69" sign, I'm not even going to try to attempt to explain that one.) Sources:  The Independent / Wikipedia

According to a survey by YouGov, 47% of British adults say they often don’t even bother to find a designated crossing when they need to cross the road. (You might think this is jaywalking, but it's not illegal in the UK. I always say, "the crossings are there for me, I am not there for the crossings".) Source

According to insurance website Confused.com, over 66% of British motorists are confused by basic road signs. (Even more worrying if you are driving on Britain's roads, 1 in 3 admitted that the signs are so confusing that they just follow whatever the car in front does, 50% said they ignored confusing road signs, and ... it gets worse ... 1 in 20 said they never noticed road signs! Along with the basic signs, there are some great road signs on their website, that to be honest would confuse most people.  )

According to research by Confused.com, Green Way is Britain’s unluckiest road name, with 27.6 per cent of those living on this road making a claim on their buildings insurance or contents insurance in the last five years. (The second unluckiest road name is Hill Road, followed by Bradford Avenue, Beechwood Avenue, Kingston Road, Cecil Road, Western Avenue, Marsh Lane, Woodside Road and Balmoral Road. Basically you don't want to live at 166 Green Way. (See previous post.)) Source

In 2010 China reported 3.9 million road accidents that killed 65,225 people and injured 254,075.

One of the main routes in Argyl, Scotland is called Rest And Be Thankful. ( The A83 Tarbet to Campbeltown road, is actually called Rest and Be Thankful. Unfortunately the road is currently closed as a landslide plopped 100 tonnes of rocks and debris onto it. In fact it is the third time in recent years that the road has been forced to close by a landslide after similar incidents in 2007 and 2009. So I guess the name means - rest if you find yourself blocked by a landslide, and be thankful it didn't land on your head.)

There is a pothole every 120 yards on Britain's roads. (English councils filled 5,252 holes each on average last year but because of an £8.5bn funding shortfall it will take nearly 13 years at the present rate of maintenance to get them all patched up. It costs around £65 to fill one pothole, and it would cost £47m per local authority to clear the problem. The British government raises £46bn each year from the road tax, but the problem is only 20 per cent of is put back into roads. We all know what happens to the rest of the money, it's all those second homes.)

A team of engineers from the US has begun constructing one of the most difficult "roads" ever attempted: a 1,600-kilometre (1,000 miles) overland route to the South Pole. (The route is very simple: just head south.)

powered by ODEO According to a House of Commons report, 38% of British motorcyclists are driving without road tax. (Born to be wild.) And then according to Leon (see below) the government had to apologise, because this wasn't true. Which actually makes it even more interesting.

Widening the M6 motorway by one lane will cost £1,000 an inch. (This is probably the most expensive tarmac in the world. The whole project is going to cost £2.9bn, twice as much money as Britain gives in aid to Africa in a year. Britain is actually spending £13bn on new roads, just imagine if they invested it in reducing traffic instead.) Listen Here

The UK's Road Safety Minister Stephen Ladyman has nine points on his driver's licence. (If you are convicted of a motoring offence, the courts can endorse your licence with penalty points or order a period of disqualification. A person whose penalty points reach 12 or more in a period of 3 years is liable to be disqualified.)