Raising the Speed Limit.

The Demon of Speed

Britain's Transport Secretary is proposing raising the speed limit of the motorways of England and Wales. His argument is that to do so will speed up productivity and bring the U.K. into line with other countries in Europe. The motorway limit is currently 70 mph. He wants to take it up to 80. He admits that he is aware that most people ignore the 70 limit to drive faster, so if that's the case leave things as they are, because you can be certain that if the limit is moved higher drivers will ignore that and drive even faster.

He cites the fact that car manufacturers are making ever more safer cars that can better handle the higher speeds, but what about the drivers. The U.K. death rate has steadily fallen by 75% as things currently are. These are not just statistics, these are more people surviving the driving experience. That translates into more families intact and fewer cases of human misery. That is a very good thing. Why then would anyone propose measures that might interfere with such good news?

An excess of speed is almost always present in tragedies. Consider the fact that a child, when struck by a car travelling at 40mph almost always dies. A child struck by a car at 20 mph almost always lives.

There is also the psycological aspect against raising the limit. At present when entering the motorway you don't have the sense that I have to get way up to speed really fast because the traffic is coming at blinding speed. But, here in Spain, where the limit is 75 mph (120 kph) you know that everybody is bearing down on you at incredibly fast speeds of 90 to 100 mph, and you have to put the foot down. Even drivers here are realising that is much too fast and the trend is for drivers to slow down to less than the limit.

Limits in the U.K. are presently 30 mph in built-up areas; 60 on single lane roads; 70 on dual carriage and motorways.

Mr. Transport Secretary, for God's sake, leave well enough alone!

Copyright (c) 2011 Eugene Carmichael

W-T-F!!!

The white van approaches and can clearly see the child in the middle of the street


On Monday, October 17th, 2011, CNN introduced a video that was shot in China. The station were appalled by what had happened. Maybe you will be too:


A two-year old girl, a child, was walking in an alleyway on her own when a white van came along and knocked her down. She had wandered away from her parents who were both working. The driver was aware what had happened and stopped immediately. He apparently looked and saw that the girl was laying between his right front wheel and the back wheel on the ground. She was bleeding and in a lot of pain. He realised that he had run over her with the front wheel. Without doing anything else he promptly drove over her with the rear wheel and drove off.


What kind of callous bastard was this despicable person?


The story does not end there.


The child lay on the ground for ten minutes while EIGHTEEN people walked over her, around her, cycled past and not a soul did anything to help her. Another larger truck came along and drove over her leg, as though she was an animal that was road kill. Finally a middle aged person came along and organised help. (I saw the entire tape on Spanish TV.)


CNN could not understand the thinking of any of the people who passed this child by, so they interviewed a psycologist to try and understand what we had seen. He was worse than no help to us at all because, although he agreed that people did not respond as we would have expected them, he was quick to urge us not to be judgemental because "we could not know what was going through their minds at the time."


I don't have to know, although we can be certain it was not one humanity-like thought of kindness or responsibility toward their fellow humans. World-wide, throughout human society there is what is right, and what is wrong. In this case there were no gray areas. This was a child who was gravely hurt and for far too long, not one person stopped to assist.


Now, before we rush to a conclusion that indictes Chinese culture, and before we go on about how low in esteem little girls are there, let's take a moment to note that in London and in New York people have been robbed, knifed, shot, and they have lay on the sidewalk with people also stepping over them. In fact, so many people live on the sidewalk that it is such a common sight that they are seen and not seen.


Would I have responded as a proper human being had I been there, either as the driver or as a person on the street? I can't see any other answer than that of course I would have acted to get the child to hospital as quickly as possible, together with her parents.


To do nothing, especially as we are talking about a child in distress, is so out of the question for me that I can't even begin to understand how another person could be so stone cold.



Later in the week the child succumbed to her overwhelming injuries and died.


I have a wish for each and every one of the eighteen persons who passed her by without helping: May your turn come soon to feel what the little girl felt. And may you die a thousand deaths before the world is finally rid of you!


Bastards!

Copyright (c) 2011 Eugene Carmichael

Some thoughts on Travelling

Laughter. Better than medicine

I was reading some Quotes by people on travelling that you may find amusing:

Phyllis Diller, Comedian, said that she can't imagine why anyone would give her a driving licence. She got two tickets for offences on her written test.

A man walks into a bar in Ireland and asks the barman what's the quickest way to get to Dublin.

The barman says, "Are you walking or driving?" I´m driving, says the man. Well, replied the barman, that's the quickest way.

Bumper sticker seen on a car: "Mother-in-Law in boot."

Rodney Dangerfield said that his wife had her driving test recently. She got 8 out of ten. The other two guys jumped clear.

Henny Youngman said that his wife called to say the car wouldn't start because it had water in the carburettor. How do you know that?

She said, "The car's in the lake."

Denis Norden was given a parking ticket. He asked the policeman what do I do with this? The policeman said, "Keep it. If you manage to collect three of them you get a bicycle."

Mark Twain said that you should get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you survive.

I was asked if I wanted to be upgraded to Business Class on the airplane. I asked, "Will I have to play golf?"

Talk about bad luck. Roger Miller had an uncle who was afraid to fly, so he took the train. A plane fell on it.

Life's funny. Don't forget to notice and laugh.

Copyright (c) 2011 Eugene Carmichael

Drunk, or on Drugs, or Stupid

Drunk, or on Drugs, or Plain stupid, but probably all of the above.

While driving along a two-lane country road, a grey Opal, number 4585 plus three letters came up behind me as we were travelling through a slow zone. but the minute the driver could do so he overtook me, tooting his horn in a manner that seemed to me that he was berating me.

I then noticed that he was driving in an erratic manner while doing about 80 kph. Next he caught up with a cyclist in a no-overtaking zone. He slowed right down behind the cyclist and engaged his hazard lights, and generally acted like a responsible driver. By this time I had caught up with him, and as soon as it was safe to overtake he did so, and I followed suit.

We were again doing 80 kph when I noticed he started to do very strange things behind the wheel. He was flailing his arms about, causing the car to swerve back and forwards across the road because he was not controlling the steering wheel. He was alone in the car, but I don't know if he was talking on a hands-free telephone. I decided to drop well back as not to be too close in the event he was about to crash.

He then seemed to notice that I had dropped back, at which time he applied his hazard lights again and slowed down to walking speed. As I came closer he sped up then dropped his speed, and I took those actions to be a provocation to me. I'm sure had I tried to overtake him he would have made that impossible.

I therefore pulled off the road and watched him go ahead at a snail's pace. I waited until other traffic came along. Fortunately it was a long line of cars and they started honking their horns which resulted in him speeding up and then he was gone.

This was at noonday, so what could have been his excuse for being on the road at that time in a condition that was inappropriate, other than he was drunk, on drugs or stupid? In my opinion he most likely was all three of those things combined.

One of the reasons for such an unacceptable high death rate on Spanish roads are drivers just like the one highlighted here.

Copyright (c) 2011 Eugene Carmichael

Summer's Over 2011

Summer Driving

We have had a lovely Summer this year, here in Spain, in so far as the weather is concerned, but as we come to the end of the period we are left asking how did we do on the road?

The short answer is that we did better than last year. Road traffic deaths in Spain have declined from a high of about 7,500 many years ago, to the present annual level that we can only hope will be well under 2000 by the end of this year.

A person could be excused for thinking that we are talking about a war report. we are only talking about what happened when people went to the supermarket or on holiday. Spain is a far cry from Afganistan or Iraq. When we apply for our driving licenses we are not entering into a contract to commit suicide, but that is what happens so often. Granted that the mix of testosterone and gasoline is volatile, but add a pinch of common sense and it can be controlled.

It has been reported that 321 fewer people lost their lives overall on the roads during Summer driving, and that is very welcome news. Why people choose to kill themselves and others during holiday times is quite beyond me. It doesn't have to be that way. However, as a group drivers on Spanish roads are becoming more responsible because as the death toll shrinks the number of drivers has massively increased from about 1.5 million to the present 30 million.

We have become a lot more responsible, particularly in the area of not driving when intoxicated and this is being reflected in decreases year after year. Simple things like an agreement between my wife and myself before attending a party as to who will drive home make all the difference. That person is the designated driver, and the other is the designated drinker.

We will live to enjoy another day, so that seems very fair to me.

Copyright (c) 2011 Eugene Carmichael,