The Ramble

When was the last time you checked your brake lights were working? This week? This month? Never?

I can’t believe the number of cars driving around with one, two or even all three lights not working. Many of these I see daily, dropping of their children at school in a morning. You’d think that the cost of a replacement bulb would be worth the added safety this small item provides to the occupants.
I’ve a feeling this is indicative of the way that people view their cars these days – more of a domestic white good than a complex machine that needs regular checking. I’m guessing many of these non-illuminated drivers probably don’t bother checking their tyre tread levels probably only changing them when the MOT mechanic dictates.

Driving home from work this evening I witnessed the worse piece of driving I’ve seen for as long as I can remember.
I was sat about 6 cars back in queue of traffic on a single carriageway road waiting to turn at a crossroads (where the road running across mine has right of way) having just moved over the crest of a brow. Then speeding past me on my right was a big new black Range Rover.
I presume he just didn’t want to wait his turn so drover over the crest on the wrong side of the road without being able to see if there was anything coming towards him – which there was. Suddenly, in front of him was a Corsa with nowhere to do. So what did the RR driver do? Simply drove round the Corsa by going up onto the pavement before coming back down and then just blocking the entrance to this road and stopping half of the main road so someone had no choice but to let him though and off he went.

It is actions like these that make me wish that there was a more balanced approach to traffic policing. I’ve got nothing against installing speed safety cameras and ANPR cameras but it does seem that so much reliance is placed upon these technological methods as way to control drivers that the old style method of actually having police cars on the road to spot those driving dangerously has disappeared.