Best Of

Anecdata: my mid-70s chauffeur yesterday could read a number plate more than the statutory 20m away. He was wearing anti-glare glasses as recommended by this very pb iirc, and glare might be another problem now with brighter and higher LED lights.

Glare from modern LED lights is a serious problem the government doesn't see to have any wish to tackle. A good chunk of the population have light sensitivity (which can get worse with age) or astigmatism, meaning LEDs can be dazzling to the point of making it impossible to see ahead for seconds at a time.

I mostly stay off the road at night now because of this.

I'm quite short, and for a long time have found glare from LED brake lights on SUVs to be a problem.

On topic, speaking to a copper on this topic and they took the view that we should introduce a zero drink drive limit as the issue is people who go out for one round and without malicious intent end up having a bit more and end up over the limit.

Then again she did say that drink driving is a minor issue and we should be focussing on drug driving which is the elephant in the room.

Also tired driving. There aren't many good studies on this but I'd imagine a large proportion of avoidable sober deaths on the road are due to tiredness, especially given that nighttime crashes are much more likely to be fatal.

The one crash I almost caused when I was young and stupid was because I was tired. And I've never driven while exhausted since.

This is in the same bracket as old people driving. If people aren't allowed to drive tired, then a lot of driving doesn't happen.

I've cut down my driving to away games. Driven back from the North West after midweek games in the past. But age has caught up with me and I can't do it any more.

There was a stat, not sure if it is still the case, that more soldiers died on the road than on active service.

Opposite the RMAS main entrance is a clump of trees and once, famously if perhaps apocryphally, one cadet, having come off a particularly gruelling exercise, jumped into his car, drove out of the main gates and fell asleep, thereby hitting the trees opposite the entrance.

@TSE I'm just putting together a header on the changes to motoring law that I will submit a bit later - aiming for 9,30am so perhaps one for this afternoon.

I'm writing it then popping out for my walk before coming back for a final check.

@MattW one thing that occurs to me is that the new drink drive limit will likely catch out a lot of drivers in the morning. Anecdotally, that's what happened in Scotland with people driving to work on a Saturday morning only 7 hours after their last pint.

A bit after the horse has bolted though. Drug driving is now a bigger issue I think. On older people, politically fraught but there is very clear evidence driving standards fall dramatically after 70. This wasn't such a big issue when we had decent bus provision - now taking a licence away can be devastating for people.

My parents moved from a little village (one shop, two pubs) to a nearby town when they got to 70, because they realised that they wouldn’t be able to drive for ever, and a couple of busses a day through the village wasn’t going to cut it.

The fact that they released a couple of hundred grand in housing equity helped too.

The village shop owners recently retired and couldn’t find a buyer, so now there’s no shop either.

My folks did the same, though at mid seventies ages. It also meant a smaller house and garden to keep in order. My mum still drives at 88, and sees fine. Her problem is getting into or out of the car due to arthritis.

Until we get autonomous driving vehicles, not requiring a sober or fit driver, older folk getting housebound will be an issue.

Would it be safer to close the House of Commons bars or its car park?

Does anyone drive to work there? London abounds in public transport, and the important people have drivers.

Is a backbench MP an "important person"?

Not in this context, IMHO. Do they consider public transport beneath them?

Some do

Ken Livingstone used Black taxis to go everywhere. Even after it was pointed out that a car and driver would be cheaper.

Pretty smart from Ken.

Everyday he'll be getting a no bullshit twenty minute answer from the cabbie to 'How are things mate?'

There was a piece in The Times a few years ago which showed how attitudes to drink driving has changed.

Just see how people laughed/joked at Jim Hacker being caught drink driving in the mid 1980s, a decade later, no show would have used that plot as he would have been condemned rather than seen as a joke.

That's an interesting point. Attitudes do change - they've changed in respect of a range of social issues and the latest is gambling.

Whether this is due to changing attitudes to "class" I don't know - James Bond could gamble thousands on roulette or baccarat in a posh West End Club (a woman could gamble as well then, which was interesting in the context of the times) and look suave and sophisticated in so doing but on-street betting shops had to look as uninviting as possible.

"Liberalisation" (it wasn't really) changed that in the 80s as did technological advances. You could watch the racing on a screen, you paid no tax and the betting shop became a friendlier, more inviting place where you could have a coffee or soft drink.

Unfortunately, the bookies, as they always do, got greedy. More shops led to a backlash, the coming of FOBTs changed the clientele and atmosphere of the shops as did longer hours evening and with online accounts and digital access to specialist horseracing channels, the punter could watch Ayr, Leicester or Newton Abbot from his or her armchair and bet online.

Public attitudes to gambling have changed again with the availability of online gaming and the visability of FOBTs and slot machines in many High Streets. We have three of these mini-casinos and seven or eight bookies in East Ham High Street. I've no evidence but suspect the casinos are fronts for money laundering (as on-course bookies once were) while I also suspect some of our shoplifters will have addiction problems including gambling.

Even with all that, the local Roma often set up a "find the lady" game outside the tube station (with easily identifiable lookouts) and try to lure in the mugs to part with their cash (a few blokes used to do that at Sandown after racing until they were chased out of the car park by the staff). It's strange because where they stand in the evening is populated in the morning by the Jehovah's Witnesses so God and Mammon in close proximity.

A huge % of the adult UK population gamble, mostly in small ways. Lottery + online has absolutely normalised it. Online has anonymised it. Few are addicts. What people don't like is the universal adverts, sponsorship and high street presence of the industry. Which is a bit like going yourself to a nice beach but finding it's a crowded space, or the distressing fact of other people's cars on the road.

Nice to see that 'find the lady' is still around, attended by the ageless game of 'find the mug'. A relic of post war London. Even as a London child I knew the moment you see it to keep your distance and guard your pocket.

Sadly, a big chunk of turnover is degenerate gamblers, ruining their families lives.

What sticks in the craw was watching bookies banning people for winning, instantly. And slow walking banning problem losers.

I worked for an alt-bank (for a while) which specialised in the gambling space - Revolut for gamblers.

The Fall of America part 9,800:

Justin Wolfers
@JustinWolfers

Trump's nominee for BLS commissioner, EJ Antoni, is disastrously terrible. He's a 1200%, 1300% maybe 1400% in-the-tank Trumper, with few credentials beyond a long history of misrepresenting or misunderstanding basic economic statistics. He has demonstrated no commitment to truth.
https://washingtonpost.com/business/2025/08/11/trump-bls-nomination-antoni/

Justin Wolfers
@JustinWolfers

Imagine if Steve Bannon and Stephen Moore had a little econo-baby, and they taught it how to misrepresent economic statistics.

That's our new nominee for BLS commissioner.

https://x.com/JustinWolfers/status/1955046310098153808

An "economist" so dumb I had to explain to him how the import price index works last month will now lead the BLS, kill me
https://x.com/JosephPolitano/status/1955041060197114136