Are The Police Deliberately Trying To Wreck The
Economy?
Are The Police
Deliberately Trying To Wreck The Economy? The Princess and I have just spent two
hours sitting in a crawling traffic jam on a motorway. You know the sort of jam.
The cars never quite come to a halt, but just muddle along at slightly above
walking piece. For the drivers it is an exhausting business.
But the
damage done to the economy is vast.
First, there's all the petrol and
diesel burned up unnecessarily. Driving along at five or 10 mph uses up vastly
more fuel than driving at 50 mph.
Second, there is the time wasted. How
many people are stuck in an average sort of motorway jam? My guess is that at
least 10,000 people are delayed for an hour or two by a fairly modest jam.
Multiply that by several dozen a day (to cover the nation's motorways) and it is
clear that motorway delays are wrecking the delicate economy.
Now I am
not, of course, moaning about motorway delays when there has been an accident.
The emergency services must be given time and space to deal with big problems.
But most motorway hold-ups these days aren't anything to do with
accidents. They occur because the 30, 40 or 50 mph warning lights are switched
on because a car has broken down and is parked on the hard shoulder. (This is a
problem which is increasing as motorists save money by not bothering to have
their cars serviced.) That's what happened to us today.
When they see
the warning signs obedient drivers slow down, the cars behind them slam on their
brakes and the ensuing, gradually developing, jam can quickly become a massive
tailback.
This is nonsense. And it’s wrecking the economy.
There
is no reason at all to force traffic to slow down when a broken down car is
parked on the hard shoulder.
I assume it's just more health and safety
nonsense.
But this health and safety nonsense will result in untold
thousands of people losing their jobs and their homes.
And in the future
it may well be that some of the people losing their jobs will be traffic
policemen and the folk who switch on the warning lights on motorways.
They might like to think about that.
Copyright
Vernon Coleman August 2011
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