MOT fail thread

While the US has far higher deaths per 100k population, they drive a lot more than we do. If you look at the deaths per 1b km travelled they are just under twice as likely to die as we are (6.9 vs 3.8)
 
JonRGV250 said:
If it's a separate bulb to the main beam and dip, then no.
You may get an advisory for it, although personally I wouldn't mention it.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

It is a separate bulb and the only one that requires removal of the unit to get to.
 
Itc said:
I lived in the US for 27 years in a few different states and drivers in the UK are no better
Click to expand...

I went to the US for 2 weeks and it was quickly obvious that the standard of driving was much worse than the UK. On one nearby, busy junction we saw an accident maybe 3 times in the same week.

Their cars in general were not maintained as well either. Probably because there is no MOT.
 
Last edited:
I would imagine (although I have no data to back this up) that there are more fatalities due to the massive size delta between the largest and smallest cars. Imagine what would happen to a Mazda MX5 when hit by a Ford F250 or a GMC Sierra.
 
Also remember that if you get into a none fatal accident it's obviously not going to affect that death rate. I reckon the number of small accidents/near misses is pretty high in the UK but quite hard to log accurately. I live in Beverley and some of the junctions are blind so you just have to edge out, but you could easily wipe a cyclist out. I also think people pulling forwards onto drives doesn't help either (I think due to space being less of an issue in the USA, that probably doesn't happen too much.
 
Looking back to when I did 3 weeks in the states, their driving standards were truly awful. The 3 things that stood out to me were:

Speed limits seemed to be taken as advisory.
Zero lane discipline on highways, you can go any speed in any lane and no need to keep to the inside of you were not overtaking.
The maintenance standards of vehicles and the standard in general that applied to HGVs was awful.

HGVs had no side ‘skirts’ so vehicles could get pulled in under the trailer and mashed by the rear wheels. Pedestrians and cyclists would have no chance.

HGVs also seemed to have no lower speed limits, or if they did have one, it certainly wasn’t observed.

When you are doing 75 on a highway and getting overtaken by a 40T semi truck, you know something isn’t right with the regulations and no wonder they have so many deaths. Let’s not forget, even if it’s ‘only’ twice the U.K., the seriously injured that sits below that is going to be huge.

Not to mention insurance appears to be optional in some states so you could get bankrupted from medical bills relating to an injury from someone else crashing into you. Fun times.
 
Last edited:
Bear said:
I presume you mean in general and not right turns on red?
Click to expand...
He means in general.

Spend 10 mins watching a US based dash cam channel and compare that to a U.K. dash cam channel.

You’ll quickly realise the risks people take in the states are incredible. While yes these clips are curated for maximum impact but so are the U.K. ones. The incidents in the US are always ‘extra’ compared to anything you see in the U.K.
 
Nasher said:
I went to the US for 2 weeks and it was quickly obvious that the standard of driving was much worse than the UK. On one nearby, busy junction we saw an accident maybe 3 times in the same week.

Their cars in general were not maintained as well either. Probably because there is no MOT.
Click to expand...
My regular experience of driving in Silicon Valley and the SF Bay Area over a decade was that most people will think nothing of driving home after 2-3 beers. In the city, there were cab services and the Metro/BART if you felt lucky. Out in the wilds of Cupertino/Sunnyvale/Mountain View, not so much.

Distracted driving was the real problem I saw in worked commuter traffic - drivers shaving, applying make up and on their phones. Didn’t see any real clunkers driving around, but plenty of stanced/lowered cars and insanely lifted pick up trucks which seemed unstable at any speed.
 
Nasher said:
Saw the aftermath of quite a few crashes from people going right on red over night.
Click to expand...

Ive driven other there quite a few times and never had any problems and thought it was actually a pretty good idea. Obviously if you are an idiot and dont look properly before you pull out then yes I can imagine there being quite a few accidents because of it
 
Never saw any issues with right on red, other than confusion whether it was a thing or not in some states, when I was in the US. Some parts of the US have very different standards of driving to other parts though.

Terminal_Boy said:
insanely lifted pick up trucks which seemed unstable at any speed
Click to expand...

Duallies with like 3 foot lift... it is like WTF.
 
Last edited:
b0rn2sk8 said:
Looking back to when I did 3 weeks in the states, their driving standards were truly awful. The 3 things that stood out to me were:

Speed limits seemed to be taken as advisory.
Zero lane discipline on highways, you can go any speed in any lane and no need to keep to the inside of you were not overtaking.
The maintenance standards of vehicles and the standard in general that applied to HGVs was awful.

HGVs had no side ‘skirts’ so vehicles could get pulled in under the trailer and mashed by the rear wheels. Pedestrians and cyclists would have no chance.

HGVs also seemed to have no lower speed limits, or if they did have one, it certainly wasn’t observed.

When you are doing 75 on a highway and getting overtaken by a 40T semi truck, you know something isn’t right with the regulations and no wonder they have so many deaths. Let’s not forget, even if it’s ‘only’ twice the U.K., the seriously injured that sits below that is going to be huge.

Not to mention insurance appears to be optional in some states so you could get bankrupted from medical bills relating to an injury from someone else crashing into you. Fun times.
Click to expand...
From what I gather about their insurance (which could be wrong) is that it's stupid. To elaborate they have different levels of cover, over here if you go fully comp (as I imagine the vast majority do) pretty much everything is covered. In the states there seems to be different values you can cover, I'm sure I've seen one as low of $50,000 which would even cover a sizeable crash over here. There's plenty of stories of people out of pocket due to that and I don't know why it allowed to be that way, and not just being fully comp like ours.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
Yeah the mega speed crossroad game of chicken that ends in horrendous T-boning.
Click to expand...

I'm sure it's road design (incompetence at it) which invites that.

Generally if you try to blast through the point of of two big roads crossing in the UK you're going to plough into a roundabout and just before the roundabout the road cranks to the left so you get aligned properly, that's not great to hit at high speed.

Meanwhile in america... long straight roads cross each other without blinking and the only traffic control is some lights.
 
When I lived there and drove in New Jersey you’d always see people delay pulling away at green lights as red light running so common.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom