Almería news, blog, webpages, books, gossip, opinions, history & much more since 2001
Today I discovered that you can’t brake on a cattle grid. The discovery was made as I approached the aforementioned cattle grid at a decent speed in the nippy Ford some poor fellow had rented me. On the otherside of the grid was an oncoming car, which had considerately stopped to allow me past, as it was a one-car-at-a-time job. As I happily jabbed the brakes, the Ford obediently slowed, hit the wet cattle grid, Continue reading Driving in the Outer Hebrides
Spain is in shock after the government, without bothering to consult anyone, announced that as from the 7th of March the max speed limit will be just 110 kph, down from 120 kph. Why? I don’t know. The media -united in decrying the measure as unnecessary and ridiculous- doesn’t know. The opposition parties don’t know. The official reason is that by making people slow down by 10kph the country will save 15% in fuel. Zapatero Continue reading Shock at max speed reduction
If animal rights activists can ban bullfighting in Catalunya via a popular movement, then why can’t we motorists do the same for upping the speed limit on motorways? movimiento 140 is a citizen inspired petition trying to get enough signatures to ask the government to up the national speed limit to 140 kph (up from 120kph). They argue that as cars and roads improve, 120KPH is simply too low for modern vehicles. I’ve signed! Have Continue reading Let’s up the speed limit
Quick tip: If you’re ever in a rented VW Passat Estate, driving down the A40 into Monmouth, and an Aston Martin overtakes you, do not attempt to keep up. It’s a fun road, steep incline and very windy down through the Forest of Dean, and in an Aston Martin must be great fun. However, if it hadn’t been for the quick reactions of that lorry driver I would have returned a VW Lupo back to Continue reading UK driving tip
The Real Automóvil Club de España (RACE) has published the results of a report it commissoned which discovers that Granada has the most number of dangerous kilometers of roads in Spain – up to 64% of it’s roads can be considered dangerous for drivers. Narrow, windy, mountain roads. You then have Ávila, with 50% of its roads, and Huelva, with 44%. The stats have been compiled by building a risk index, comparing the number of Continue reading Granada has most dangerous roads in Spain
body {margin:8px} .tr-field {font:normal x-small arial} God knows they’re everywhere – those ridiculous barriers to motorised progress, the vicious sleeping policemen, known in Spanish as “Paso de peatones elevados” or “Elevated Pedestrian Crossings”. See Turre main street for some good examples. Well, as from last Thursday, the Ministerio de Fomento has issued a decree, binding in all of Spain, on the proper construction of these menaces. The maximum permitted height is 10 cm, and the Continue reading Goodbye nasty sleeping policemen!
Influenced by all the press clippings about going straight to jail if you step over the speed limit by 2 kph (is that right?), I’ve recently been going exactly the speed limit. Cruise control rocks. Mind you, since I’m normally going quite a bit faster than everybody else, I’ve never noticed just how aggressive everybody is on the road. These last few days I’ve been exposed to more aggression and fury than in the last Continue reading Highway blues