Staney Hill Track, Hoofields to Clickamin

[shetlandpeat]

Yup, the old Farmers get a battering.

 

Reminds me of a sketch from the Fast Show

[MaxFusion]

The way I see it roads and tracks are not put there purely for pedestrians.

they are for wheeled vehicles...and it's up to the driver if he want's to use it or not. Footpaths are there for pedestrians to use.

Personally I haven't used that track for years unless to gain access to the fields although it doesn't mean I shouldn't use it.

 

would you walk down the middle of the main road and expect cars to stop for you?

Do you walk down single track roads with no footpaths and expect vehicles to maneuver around you?

good luck trying!

[SEamAN]

^^^ i agree withe maxfusion. Its a road/track meant for vehicles.

[icepick239]

Just a bunch of Lazy Buggars.

Walk and start to enjoy one of the best playgrounds ever.

[Carlos]

Pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders have an absolute right to use roads except where specific regulations are in place (motorways). Vehicle drivers have a restricted use of roads - they have to be licensed, taxed and insured, and that right can be removed.

[jimmy parks]

Pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders have an absolute right to use roads except where specific regulations are in place (motorways). Vehicle drivers have a restricted use of roads - they have to be licensed, taxed and insured, and that right can be removed.

 

Well said Carlos, cars simply shouldnt be on that road! Short cut because of road works? Never heard such rubbish!

[Guest Anonymous]

if only the horsey brigade would use the track over the staney hill to get from one side of the town to the other, instead they use the main road getting in the way of wheeled vehicles and crapping everywhere. And to top it off they then moan about drivers not giving them enough room or slowing down enough or whatever.

horses are the ultimate in offroad vehicles and as such should stick to being off road

[MaxFusion]

Yes Carlos, that attitude never ceases to amaze me...

Those poor buggers that pay for the road in the first place have the least rights to use them. Great!

[Carlos]

Duties and responsablities have been asigned under the law mostly based on the potential for harm - vehicles are more likely to injure others, so the law has been weighted so that drivers have to take on that responsability by showing their competance and by insuring others against damage.

 

In terms of payment, vehicle excise duty is essentially a tax on emissions and goes to the general taxation fund, as does duty and vat on fuel, there's no direct contribution to any road building or maintenance budgets.

 

I've no particular issue with cars using that road, although it's not one I'd choose to drive myself, but I would expect them to keep to a suitable speed and respect other folk using it too. I'd not want to see Council money going on tarring it and building passing places and wide verges, and that is one direction it seems it might be going.....

[MaxFusion]

It still seems the poor car driver is paying more in taxes though...

Vehicle tax, which has only been deemed a tax on emissions for 10(?) years

is just one of the many taxes drivers have to pay to keep their cars in roadworthy condition.

When most roads were being surfaced for the first time road tax was just that, a Tax for using the roads and keeping them maintained!

We pay colossal tax on fuel, tax when buying the car in the first place, tax to maintain the car, there's bound to be a tax element on insuring them.

Now compare that to a cyclist or pedestrian? what extra taxes do they pay to maintain the roads they "have more rights" to use than the car driver?

They don't pay tax on their fuel, they don't have to be insured and they use our taxes to maintain themselves when they have an accident (NHS).

 

As for the surfacing of that road, it's likely to happen because of the housing developments that are to go ahead up there, not to mention the new roads that are going to be built in the area for access to other developments, and not because more and more people are using it as a shortcut.

 

Now as for the driving habits of people using that road, it's really no different to any other road in the country. There's maybe no speed restrictions however if someone is driving Dangerously and people have to take evasive action so as not to be hurt then do as you would on any other road...take their number and report them!

 

/rant

[Carlos]

Road tax began being phased out in 1926 and was finally removed altogether in 1937.

As a pedestrian and cyclist I would have no problem if I had to have a Band A VED disk, but as a motorist I would not like to have to pay the extra on the car's VED that would be needed to cover the admin and enforcement of that zero cost bit of paper.......

There is certainly a lot of money that flows to the government from car owners, as there is from just about every thing else everybody does.

Proportionately of course a car does about the same damage to the road each time it passes as 10,000 cyclists. A 40T truck does about the same damage as 10,000 cars. I'm not sure where a pedestrian comes on the scale.....

[shetlandpeat]

Well, the cars and trucks are the vehicles that damage the road the most, you will find that out when you loose your suspension on a pothole on the track. It is your choice to own a car, and it is your choice to choose a type of car. If folk were so worried about fuel costs, emissions and tax costs then get a moped or an exempt car. I would imagine most car journeys are less than 3 miles. They are around here.

[Vdub]

Think you will find this track has been used by the public with vehicles openly without objection for well over the 20 years it takes to give right of access, the track goes from one public place to another, The track can not be blocked and if it is then anyone that has used it would have no problem with a court order to reopen it.

The public now has rights with the outdoor access code to use most land on foot, bicycle or horseback so does not have to stick to the track where cars do, anyone blocking the track stands the chance of being charged with causing an obstruction.

Drivers on a public road has an obligation for the safety of other road users as does any other road user to cars and drivers.

 

P.S. I have no reason to use this track so it wont make any differance to me whether this track is closed or not, just some advise I was given by Inksters of Glasgow with a recent access dispute I had.

[shetlandpeat]

Sadly, due to the fences and walls the track is the only access. You may have missed part of the point, where in the track was being used at speed and without consideration to folk using it and the school parties congregating around the Clickamin running track, sports fields and swimming pool and the peaceful use of the Only campsite.

There is no need to use this track as there are 3 other viable routes for motorised vehicles.

This highlights the attitudes of some car drivers and their apparent rights of passage. If the council bought the land and it is unadopted then it remains private. I remember a sign up their once forbidding traffic.

And the track can be blocked without fear of court action.

[Vdub]

You seem to have missed the point that I was making in that if it has been used for more than 20 years without objection than you cant stop it, there may have been a sign up I dont know, I have only been from hoo feilds to sandy loch once with a car or on foot and that was in the late seventys so as I said it wont make any difference to me, and on the subject of the attitude of car drivers you obviously missed my point about each having to respect the other equally.