I see the British government is think of attempting to bring in legislation to reduce the speed limits to twenty miles an hour in the towns with chicanes and sleeping (tarmac humps) policeman. They are also considering bringing the speed limits down in the countryside.
What do you think of the EU led proposals to make the roads safer?
I reckon it's a move in the right direction. I am tired of all the cars and I think they should be fitted with a governor to prevent road-kill and to make it safe for people to walk along country roads. There are far too many cars in Europe and we are destroying the environment with all the pollution.
I also think that all the little rural towns would be less congested if they made 'Park and Ride' facilities in every village and town. I believe Clovelly in Devon is car free and I once visited Tresco in the Scilly Isles and that's also car free. Lets have more public transport, cycle lanes, rural pavements and reduce the cars to 2 per household.
What do you think folks?
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Speed's relative, some places could do with more calming measures, they've put a lot in locally on some estates, chicanes and humps, and they seem to work. In the vicinity of schools they are definitely needed.
ReplyDeleteBut on some motorways, 70 mph could be too slow, M6 North of the Blackpool junction is never busy for example, and most modern cars are capable of, and safe at, speeds in excess of this. It could be argued that 70 is also too fast for some stretches of motorway, as anybody who has sat fuming on the same M6 between junctions 6 and 11 at peak times.
And if the limit is 70, why are cars made to be capable of much higher speeds? Wagons are fitted with restricters, so why not cars? Exceptions for emergency vehicles.
Most country roads, at least in our area, were established long before the internal combustion engine was even dreamed of, and are more suited to pedestrian traffic and animals; they tend to be bounded by hedges, and in the Lake District dry-stone walls. These are good at stopping stock from getting on to or off them, but not too good for visibility from a motor car, and since they tend to be anything but straight, visibility is often restricted to the next bend. They also tend to be narrow by todays standards, often wide enough for a single hay wagon, or sometimes for 2 hay wagons to pass. Very few of them have footpaths at the side, sometimes a grass verge or ditch, neither do they have lighting.
The general speed limit is 60 mph, and this is lethal on most of them in daylight, even worse at dark. Definitely could do with a more realistic limit.
Lots of towns now have pedestrian zones, they're a great idea, but the problem is lack of parking, so the park & ride schemes are good. Exception being perhaps wheelchair users who can't always get on to the buses.
The pollution will stop when the oil runs out, then all the roads will be cycle tracks.
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Raggy cat found a new bed in the laundry basket, hedonistic little sod it is.
Hi Cumbrian, I noticed in Portugal that motorists don't seem to care about the speed limits. The motorways are wide and straight and the tolls seem to be paying for a modern and relatively safe road system.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you about the country roads. These roads and lanes are ancient and only really wide enough for an horse and cart in places. The countryside used to have a sedate way of life. People drove cattle and sheep along the roads by foot. Any animal (sheep or cow) can suddenly break out of a field or jump through an hedge or over a wall. They may see a cow in another field across the road or need grass or water.
I hate seeing fox, rabbit and badger and birds road kill. I do also think there should be more bridleways, pavements and cycle lanes in the countryside. Public transport should also be provided, especially at night when people are tempted to drink and drive because they can't get a taxi or catch a bus home.
I think all bus companies could accommodate more wheel chair users by removing a few seats and adapting their vehicles accordingly.
Was disappointed with the amount of cars on the roads in Portugal. Ever country seems to have far too many cars. Perhaps they should ration fuel to get rid of some of the cars and have fuel reserves for future generations?
Dry today but showers later. Very difficult to fatten cattle. Irish government set up a fodder crisis helpline for farmers with no feeding. We have a terrible climate in the British Isles.
Raggy cat is very clever.
Wheelchairs aren't popular with bus companies, not many buses are suitable for their use. They take a lot of room, are slow to maneuver on and off, and don't pay any extra fare; also they need specially-adapted vehicles.
ReplyDeleteBest place we've been was Menorca, about every third bus has a wheelchair platform built under the wide access doors in the middle of the bus. The driver gets out, plugs in a control device, and the platform comes out allowing the wheelchair to get on, then lifts it up to bus floor level, with enough room inside to turn round. Same when you want off. This procedure takes a bit of time and needs enough space on the pavement for the platform, but it works very well, and the drivers (at least the ones we've met) are very accommodating. Fares are very reasonable as well.
Some rural villages here you catch the bus by your calendar not your watch.
Maybe we're a bit too speedy and greedy in UK? Or is it that the buses are now owned by private companies, whose only concern is profit?
Biggest road kill here are rabbits; then strangely pheasants, there's s lot of shoots who release them by the thousand but shoot them by the hundred, so a fairly big population of them; not so many hedgehogs now, they seem to be another victim of our agricultural practices, or maybe they've all been flattened on the roads, there used to be a lot of them road kill; and the very odd fox, they're a bit too cute to get caught; not many birds, and what there is are usually un-identifiable; no badgers locally.
Too many vehicles everywhere, but everybody expects to have a car now, asking some of them to give up their wheels would be akin to asking them to have all their teeth pulled out. I didn't own a car when I lived in town for a few years, but it's difficult if you don't live on a bus route, even worse for a wheelchair user or anybody with mobility problems.
I believe one of the biggest mistakes they made was ripping up a lot of rail lines in the 60s and 70s, then they sold off the train business. All the smaller local lines seemed to disappear, a few of them became cycle-ways, but a lot are just over-grown and neglected; the old station buildings often sold for conversion to housing. Never did understand that, they had a ready-made network, all it needed was a few little trains, they needn't have been inter-city speeds, pensioned-off diesels and a couple of basic carriages would have done.
Fuel rationing sounds good, but the modern approach seems to be putting the tax on it up so high that you need to be either very rich or very desperate to afford it, a sort of financially-imposed rationing.
Must be awful to watch your animals going downhill due to lack of food, and your wages with them, and nothing can be done, nobody else has fodder either. Frustrating.
Other people seem to have climate, but we just get weather.
Sun's come out this afternoon,keeping cool though. Still no activity in the fields, everything's gonna be late this year.
Raggy cat been out then back in, it had the rib bones from our scouse dinner.
A park and ride in Trelawnyd...........
ReplyDeleteI think it may work.....
Thanks Cumbrian,
ReplyDeleteI think people with prams and especially wheelchair users are treated like second class citizens. Small shops are often the worst culprits with crowded aisles full of clothes...
John Seymour said that instead of building by-passes they should get rid of cars. I wonder how many cars there will be on the roads in 10 years time? There's thirty three million in the uk alone. Then we wonder why we get so much bad weather. Surely there's got to be a link.
Totally agree with you about trains. Most long distance freight could be taken by train. Trams are brilliant too and they don't pollute.
Weather seems to be picking up a bit today. There are rumours of a three month heat spell. Believe it when I see it.
A Park and Ride in Trelawnyd would keep the place free from cars, John. I would make most town centres and villages Park and Ride and build on the roads or make them just for pedestrians. The one in Chester is excellent. Thanks.
ReplyDelete