The Golden Age of Motoring

The Golden Age of Motoring

The golden age of motoring is a hard to grasp will o the wisp, as solid as a shadow and as easy to hold as a puff of smoke. That is to say, it has never really existed.

Does the phrase apply to the years between the wars? Halcyon days, supposedly, though with only a few exceptions the motor vehicles of the day were totally unreliable bone-shakers. These would have had to jostle for places on poor quality roads and lanes, with horse and carts, charabancs and other such quaint traffic.

Perhaps the Golden age of motoring was in the fifties and sixties, with British manufacturers building cars for the people, and many more people finding the freedom of the open road. When the car worked.

Shoddily built cars, with rust-based built-in obsolescence, featuring underpowered engines which would blow their big-ends at the drop of a hat, and still driving on road types pioneered by John MacAdam 150 years previously.

As grim as it may seem, should it exist at all, the golden age of motoring is with us right now. Cars have never been more reliable, comfortable, or technically advanced. The roads we drive on have been scientifically designated to suit all eventualities, and science and technology don’t end there!

With an excess of 35 million vehicles on Britain’s roads, it may be hard to find the time and space to enjoy the open road, in fact, it is well-nigh impossible, but should you get a glimpse of open road, remember, you’re not alone.

In this Golden age of motoring, some very high-tech eyes are watching. With names that sound like dubious characters or organisations out of James Bond movies, big brother is watching.

Gatso, Truvelo, Specs, Peek, Hadecs, Vector, and speedcurb, to name some of them. To make sure you get full enjoyment out of the current Golden age of motoring, these will help keep you safe.

They are all cameras that will report you to Big Brother, should you not obey instructions, which are mostly how fast you are allowed to drive on which particular piece of road. Inadvertently triggering one of these roadside telltales will result in the receipt of a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) in the post, detailing your offence and what you need to do. At this point, it is always worth checking the validity of your NIP (Check yours here – www.pattersonlaw.co.uk) many NIP’s are not legally valid and can be dismissed at this stage.

The Gatso is the most common, which uses radar to assess your car’s speed as you approach it, and if activated, it takes a series of pictures of the rear of the car, using flash-photography.

The Truvelo is activated by sensors in the road, and takes photos using infra-red flash photography of the front of the car, and can present you with a picture of yourself, behind the wheel of your car, enjoying the Golden age of motoring.