Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

Cute she kept her high school maths tattooed on her chest as a keep sake.

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

Woman wanted her three year old son killed - preferably by the end of the week. And she was prepared to pay $3,000!

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...bsite-kill-son

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

****ing weird isn’t it. Since she lives in Florida, she neither reads the Grauniad nor BritishExpats! She’s a loser.

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66900530

This story is very concerning. Do children have no rights & freedoms in Florida? Their mother could just deprive them of their electronic devices with impunity?

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

Dreadful. Next she'll be making them eat vegetables, which has rights and freedoms implications for both the children and the veggies.

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

Yeah, broccoli. Ugh. The story was heartwarming though. The big sister was supervising, to make sure baby brother was driving safely.

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

:lol:

Joking aside, that was a hell of a journey. Amazing that they made it that far without pranging the car.
Extended ban on electronic devices incoming.

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

Realistically, this being FL, those two were probably the safest drivers on the road. :thumbup:

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

I know this thread is more about pointing at Florida and laughing and it might not seem appropriate to post six people, including five family members, killed after train hits car but I'm amazed at the description of the crossing.
I found another report that references Highway 92 and I think I found the crossing here.
It's a very recent 'view' and approaching from this direction it's not very obvious there's a railway crossing until you're close.

Approaching from the other side it's much more obvious as you can see the crossing signs, the warning signs about not stopping on the tracks (the backs are only visible from the first view) and a couple of big Xs on the road surface before you get to the tracks. And the barriers sticking up are more visible. But the report only says signs.

I changed the dates but there were none with barriers down or a train in view.
Astonishingly, going back to 2008 it looked even worse.

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

Something we discovered very quickly after moving to the US over 20 years ago was the difference in attitude toward public safety.
In the UK (and Europe), the attitude is we must prevent idiots from putting themselves in harms way, whereas, the US attitude is if you do stupid s#!t, you deserve all you get.
Hence, in the UK, every single mile of railways are fenced off. Very few railways in the US are fenced.
As an example, in the UK where we used to live, there was a gate-controlled level crossing just outside the village. One day, an idiot tried to beat the train by swerving round the barriers. The train won! Following that incident they built a flyover at vast expense and shut down the crossing.

Most (not all) states have laws requiring bikers to wear crash helmets, but they are rarely enforced. It's a self-regulating law. Don't wear a helmet, get in an accident, problem solved.

Another example is HGV trailers in the UK/Europe are required to have side/rear rails to prevent cars driving under the trailer. Not required over here.

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

I think it's not just a direct disregard for public safety, but is testament that the US "has the best political system money can buy". Thus railroads can us lobbying $$$ to successfully prevent laws that require fencing and replacement of the thousands of dangerous level crossings with bridges. Ditto the truck lobby who prevented law changes to require side and front bars. The UK also used to have a huge number of unsafe level crossings, but they were largely removed in the 1960's and '70's.

https://www.appellawyer.com/blog/sem...er-regulations

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

You also have to look at the cost involved. The number of miles of railways in US compared to UK also the number of crossings that could be improved. There are so many ways for idiots to kill themselves it’s not possible to fix every hazard.

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

I made a similar observation upon moving here (Canada).
I've yet to see any roof work involving scaffolding. The most I've seen was on a new build that had - I wouldn't even describe it as minimal scaffolding - a structure that allowed a plank level with the roof line but not even a guard rail for a person walking/wheeling along it.

While bigger buildings may have platforms for painting or window cleaning I was surprised to see a window cleaner doing six floors of the hospital from a harness. :eek:
(at least he was in the right place if he fell)

Re: Meanwhile in Florida
 

After our estate got hit by a tornado a couple of years ago, I was greeted daily to the sight of workers scampering over roof after roof without the slightest care in the world. As far as I could tell, the only safety equipment being worn were floppy big hats to keep the sun off.