Showing posts with label mirror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mirror. Show all posts

Monday, 15 September 2014

Road Rage

This morning I was driving MyRedVan to work and became the victim(ish) of a road rage(ish) incident.

I let a couple of vehicles out of a junction in stop-go, rush hour traffic, then almost immediately had to stop to let a bus pull away from a bus stop (it's in the Highway Code that if the bus isn't in a lay-by, you are supposed to stop and let it pull out).

The chap in the blue VW behind me clearly decided that in spite of the volume of traffic, I was somehow slowing him down significantly. He flashed his headlights to get my attention, then once I was looking at him in my mirror he made an up-and-down gesture with his hand that every male on the planet would immediately recognised.



Perhaps he had read the 'please leave space for my wheelchair' sticker in the back window and decided that I would be easy to intimidate, or perhaps he thought that a Kangoo could only possibly be driven by an elderly person or a woman. Either way, he seemed surprised and not best pleased with my reaction - which was to grin at him and wave. I may have restricted mobility, but I'm not about to be intimidated by an impatient bully.

Once the traffic started moving again he stayed well back - so far back, in fact, that he was barely visible in my mirror. I'd like to think that my charming smile and wave pacified him, or that he thought I might just be crazy enough to reverse into his pride-and-joy in a fit of anger. However, it was more likely that he just slowed down to use his mobile phone while he was driving to explain to his boss that he was going to be late for work because of the slow-moving little red van in front of him.

I strongly believe that people shouldn't be able to drive how they like, berating others aggressively, and get away with it. It's bullying, plain and simple and bullies on the road are as bad as bullies anywhere else and I believe that they should be treated with utter contempt.

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

Rattling Mirror.


The van rattled incredibly when I first bought it. The back end was quickly fixed with liberal applications of WD40, but that left the driver's mirror. At speed or when idling in traffic, the mirror cover resonated and vibrated so loudly, I often resorted to grabbing it with my hand just to stop the noise.

When I popped the cover off I noticed that a plastic retaining tab had snapped off and there was a small crack in the cover. I briefly (five seconds) considered buying a new mirror cover, then decided that there was probably a quicker and much cheaper option.

In the image below you can see the careful application of material specially chosen for its sound deadening and vibration absorbing properties. Carefully removed from the end of a car wash sponge with a pair of scissors, trimmed to exacting specifications and held in place with cyanoacrylate (super glue), this material proved the perfect substance for the job. The effect was instant and complete.


Now that the mirror cover is snapped back into place, it is almost impossible to see the crack and completely impossible to see the sponge - and no more rattle!