The Crittenden Automotive Library

Anarchy On The Roads

Anarchy On The Roads

Geoff Maxted
DriveWrite
August 17, 2013

OK, that might be stretching the point a bit but you’ve got to have a good headline, haven’t you? This very morning DriveWrite, whilst motoring along an urban dual carriageway, was overtaken by a BMW and a Mini going very fast indeed. They then proceeded to cut across my bows as it were. They appeared not to be associated with each other. This road is a 40mph limit. It doesn’t need to be - it’s an obvious choice for 50 - but that’s not what the sign says.

Not so long ago this road was consistently monitored by the peelers using one of those sneaky plain vans with on-board cameras and the occasional patrolling police car. Today and everyday now, there is nothing. The police have been replaced by flashing signs that chastise the speeders. They have also installed devices which turn some of the traffic lights red to slow the miscreants down. It doesn’t work. Signs never work - they just irritate. It is a case of authority being seen to be doing something about road safety without really doing anything at all.

The result on this road and everywhere else is that as speeds rise because the chance of being lifted is slight so the general standard of driving is dropping. This is apparent at junctions and slip roads; anywhere in fact where drivers need to engage brain. Aggressive driving is also on the increase. It is as if it is enough to collect revenue from static cameras and motorway devices without enforcing rules from a safety first point of view.

There was a time when this writer used to moan and complain about officious bobbies and the general interference in our lives and I expect this will continue but this doesn’t absolve the authorities from their basic purpose when it comes to Britain’s roads. I am so sick of hearing all the bleating from councils and police services about the lack of money when these are the very people who blew it all in the first place. Road safety is not about money it is about lives and our ability to go about our business in a trouble-free manner.

There are still plenty of courteous and careful drivers about who understand that driving can be enjoyed without acting like idiots. Nevertheless statistics show that the incidence of car accidents continues to rise as some motorists have become complacent and careless at best and totally irresponsible at worst.

Sadly, society has always had its share of oafs and nitwits and this is why we need traffic police monitoring behaviour - but where are they?