It's 30 for a reason, part 2

This guy claims that he was doing 20mph before he demolished about 15 metres of fencing, two gateposts and one gate before hitting my house.. backwards. I am largely disinclined to believe him.

I don't know what you have to do to pass a driving test in Lithuania where this guy hails from. I suspect driving backwards into a house isn't part of the test though.

But.. this isn't the first time that this has happened either. Three years ago we were lucky not to be picking body parts out of the garden after this accident.

And the speed limit? 30 miles per hour. It's 30 for a reason..

Snow

It really doesn't usually snow this much around here...

It's 30 for a reason..

I was just about to settle down to Dr Who, some beer and a pizza this evening when then was a horrible sound of a vehicle going out of control and then smacking into the side of my house.

This MG ZR was apparently doing 50-60 mph in the 30 mph zone on the road outside when it came around the corner in the middle of the road to see a bus heading towards it.. it over-corrected and clipped a kerb and then span out of control, smacking into the gate and the corner of the house at some speed. We didn't see it.. we just heard 5 seconds of tortured screeching followed by an impact.

The car actually ploughed into our gate and fence sideways, demolishing it and then hit the corner of the house. As you can see, the side of the ZR (being based on the old Rover 200) is not that strong in a side-impact collision.

There was a passenger in the back of the car who was taken to hospital with what appeared to be minor injuries. Fortunately the 100 year old gatepost gave way and absorbed some of the impact before it hit the wall.

I think the (very young) driver is in enough trouble without me having to name and shame him here. Fortunately, the car missed the bus, some pedestrians and anything really solid. Not quite everyone managed to walk away, but nobody was killed.

Perhaps the driver will pay more attention to 30mph signs when they are finally allowed behind the wheel of a car again.

Elstow Village Fete

It rained. And then it stopped.. which was nice. This is a picture of the maypole dance on the village green, you can just see the Moot Hall to the right.

Trivial fact learned today: The Slough of Despond is pretty much just outside my front door. Hmmm.

Snow... brrrr...

As the country grinds to a halt under a few inches of snow (that have been predicted for a couple of days), here are some pictures of Elstow Village in Bedfordshire. Snow.. in winter.. who would have guessed it?