I followed a van to work today that said on it's rear panel (twice!) "This vehicle may stop suddenly"
a) Isn't that true of all vehicles, that's why we have the 2 second rule (remember, Only A Fool Breaks The Two Second Rule!)?
b) It seemed to be a charity van, why on earth was it expected to stop suddenly often enough to be worth mentioning?
Answers on a postcard (FOR YOUNGER READERS, THIS WAS A THING YOU SENT WHEN ON HOLIDAY WITH A PICTURE ON ONE SIDE AND A BLANK SPACE YOU COULD WRITE A MESSAGE ON THAT EVERYONE WHO HANDLED IT COULD READ [though as I understand it the 'postcards' meant by the phrase above were blank on both sides])!
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a) Ah yes. On that basis lots of fools on the road these days!
b) I imagine that the van was potentially scanning for charity bags in driveways, possibly braking suddenly to collect them (this is where around 4 different charities drop empty bags through the door each week, three bags end up getting binned, I fill the 4th and forget to put it out on the select day and end up walking to a different charity shop in the end!).
Reminds me of the 1980s sending competition answers back on postcards, although all I wanted back then was to get a picture displayed on Hart Beat's gallery *sigh*
It probably was a charity van that's not a real charity but friendly enough to let you know that they may need to stop quickly should they need to do a runner from the police.
It could be in relation to poor maintenance of the vehicle, or indeed a comment on the skill, or lack thereof, on the part of the driver.
The "twice" is confusing me though.
From dim and distant memory from the good old days, if a lorry had air brakes then it was prone to stop a lot faster when the brakes were applied (as opposed to pads operated by brake fluid in a normal car).
By the way, it is good to keep your distance because you then tend to wear your brakes out a lot less.
We actually have a bundle of unpictured cards in our office- one of our partners had them made up as he did not (still does not) type. The only thing printed on them is his name and his address in small type on the reverse and a little square box on the other side to indicate where to place the stamp. They were either pinged out as postcards with a handwritten note on them or similarly written but then posted within an envelope, akin to cardboard letters.
Perhaps I should have one of those. Twice in recent years I've been rear-ended by drivers who blamed me for having ABS. (which didn't engage on either occasion, btw)
Ah yes, jumpers for goalposts.
And a crossbar determined by the height of the goalkeeper. Or the aggressiveness of the "scorer".
You forgot to add the postcards from the seaside were very often considered so risqué they were never EVER shown to maiden aunt Dolly...
A charity van would quite obviously need to stop suddenly at random intervals in order to retrieve a check for a couple of million pounds inadvertently dropped from the back pocket of Richard Branson, Alan Sugar, George Sorus, Warren Buffett or other sundry passing billionaire.