Tree at Southam

I blipped this tree much earlier this year as I was returning from Winchester.
I passed it again today, also returning from Winchester, so I had to stop.

It is situated on the road from Southam to Banbury - I suspect it may well be familiar to Draco and PaulaK.

I'm going to have a seriously warranted whinge now!

Having driven the thick end of 250 miles today , I witnessed two appalling instances of driving. The first I'd suggest that the insurers of BF58LKV review their terms of insurance with their customer - he is going to cost them an awful lot of money and quite probably kill someone. This is not a new car and its highly unlikely its being driven un-insured. Because of its age, I expect it is privately owned.

This skilled, kind and caring driver (BMW X5) overtook a land rover behind me and me and then forced his way into the few metres gap between me and the car in front to prevent a head-on. We and another 5 or 6 cars were following a slower vehicle some distance ahead but due to the speed were all quite close together and nowhere near the speed limit. There was no way any right minded driver was going to try and overtake. No need and no opportunity. But he did!
I was forced to brake and he indicated his response to my displeasure at his actions with a number of hand gestures. Seconds later he's out overtaking the cars in front and the whole circus is repeated as a seriously large farm tractor coming the other way. As soon as the cars coming the other direction are past, he's out again, but this time overtaking just before a blind crest. He'd put 7 or 8 other drivers ast risk simply to save 15 to 20 seconds on his journey - I hope he uses those seconds wisely. He may not have many left.

I have proof of this - I'd hand it to the police if I thought they would seriously tackle this individual, but, I suspect they're more likely to do me instead. Where's the justice?
I suspect that even if I put them on a web site I'd be the one attracting attention.

A few minutes later I was further amazed as a driver accelerated across a crossroads junction right in front of the car in front of me. They missed each other by fractions of a second. This junction is renowned as an accident black spot. A few years ago I witnessed the immediate aftermath of of a driver doing exactly the same thing, but, unfortunately for him, he chose a fully laden lorry hauling gravel. The car and driver lost the argument - big time! Thankfully he survived but it was a harrowing wait while paramedics and fire service extracted him and gave him a helicopter ride to hospital.

Having been in two mega accidents myself neither of which I was in any way to blame, I think it's about time something was done against such bad driving. Public ridicule and employer pressure would help. I will be getting a video camera and gps in my car simply to protect myself. Are there any websites to upload footage of bad driving? There should be and insurers should use it to set their premiums.

At least I got a decent image for the day :-)