#81

I had a summer job where we could smoke at our desks in around 1992/3

We were flogging double glazing over the phone in a portacabin

#82

I remember drink driving suddenly being a terrible thing, mainly when they introduced compulsory seat belts, which was widely perceived as terrible nanny stateism.

Up until then, drinking and driving was perfectly normal. Pubs didn’t tend to do food, so the only reason to go to one was to drink. And if a pub was any distance, you’d drive there.

#83

What year/period are you referring to ? I don’t think drink driving was ever normal. Plenty of people did it but they were mainly idiots.

#84

I have just checked and it officially became illegal to drink drive in 1966 but apparently it wasn’t really enforced until the mid 70’s. Not many police had breathalyzers.

#85

My first job was at a small petrol station. You could smoke behind the counter, the only rule was that you had to put your fag in an ashtray behind you when serving a customer.

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#86

crikey. I wrongly assumed it had been illegal way before that.

#87

Saw this recently - no idea if it’s legit or not

#88

I know, you think it must have been carnage out there on the roads. Yet when you talk to older people they say ‘the roads were quieter, people may have been drunk but they drove slowly, cars were less powerful’. I personally think it just wasnt as well published so they just didn’t hear about all the accidents.

#89

I mean there were definitely less cars. When I look at the town I grew up in during the 80’s it is clearly way busier now traffic wise. I can remember my dad and uncle would have a few halves of beer but had a “only one short” rule if driving (this was in their respective houses not the pub) and my uncle was a copper ! We had an Austin Allegro at the time. Doubt it did more than 50 mph

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#90

There were fewer people driving therefore less chance of hitting anyone maybe. Seem to remember my dad telling me that cars used to only have one wing mirror, and when I asked how the fuck anyone managed to park he basically said there were enough fewer cars that it didn’t matter

#91

I guess it could be. Ale was the main beer choice and pretty weak in the 70s, right?

I’m not saying you’d be okay to drive on that much weak ale but it’s probably not quite the ludicrous amounts of beer 5 pints tends to be today.

#92

Fossil fuels and capitalism.

'mon guys you nearly got to 100 replies and no-one’s thought of the things that are going to have made life borderline impossible for our grandchildren in not too long?

#93

That car Richie Ronco posted only has the one wing mirror, in fact!

I think there were a lot of accidents for sure

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#94

you didn’t even need a license till around that time either

#95

we had an orange allegro!

The black plastic seats were vicious when you wore shorts in the summer

#96

That’s from this page


@froglet
and I guess it’s also worth considering that as those deaths have fallen the number of road users has shot up
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#97

As I grew up in a fairly rural area, I can’t say how things were in cities. But in the country, folk would tend to drive, have a few drinks and go home. It was not like everyone was shit faced and falling over. There was not much traffic about, if anything people would tend to go to slow and overly careful because they didn’t want to get pulled over for speeding.
They weren’t safe, certainly by our modern standards, but there was less opportunity for them to smash into each other. They were more inclined to quietly drift off the road into a ditch.
In retrospect, it was utterly stupid, but it was the way things were at the time.

#98

So from @1101010’s graphs, in 1965 there were a quarter of the number of vehicles, and four times as many deaths as there are now. Yipe.

#99

My Granddad was a coach driver in the 50s and 60s. He drove people to day trips on the coast, that sort of thing and apparently getting the drinks in for the driver in the pub on the way home was standard practice.

#100

What’s the reason for the massive peak then drop off during the war? I’m guessing black out circa the blitz and then lots of people off fighting so not as many cars?