The life of Sandra Marriott

Monthly archives for June, 2008

Young vs Elderly

Jun20
2008 Leave a Comment Written by Sandra

Teenagers and younger drivers are often the vilified targets of campaigners for road safety but what about the other end of the spectrum?

Now, I agree that youngsters generally act as though they don’t understand they are in contol of a machine that can mete out death in an instant, but there are measures in place to try and combat this behaviour. Maximum of 6 points as opposed to 12 before they lose their licence being the main one.

We have nothing in place to protect us against the elderly that should not be driving. At the age of 70, drivers just need a letter from their doctor to state they are fit to drive. An elderly driver who causes death by dangerous driving will not get prosecuted as it is seen as a waste of money – they might day before going to court anyway.

They may lose their licence, but due to the type of accidents and injuries these drivers can cause, surely we should introduce a test to make sure they are still fit to drive.

A program on TV recently followed an instructor who specialises in referesher courses for the elderly, and after going out with an 80+ bloke told him: “I was very impressed although you do need to be more aware of what is around you”.

For crying out loud, 95% of driving is being aware of what is around you.

I am against a blanket ban on driving past a certain age, but a test – even just an observation test – would help to get those very dangerous drivers off the road.

And to be honest, an observation test every 10 years or so for everyone may not even be a bad idea!

http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/chronicle/Witham-teacher-s-road-accident-nightmare/article-192771-detail/article.html.

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Council Madness

Jun14
2008 Leave a Comment Written by Sandra

http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/brentwood/Car-park-travellers-site-plan-opposed/article-186421-detail/article.html

How exactly can the council think this is a good idea?
I freely admit that I do not want a traveller site near me but are you seriously telling me that the council are considering allowing the ONLY real short term car park to disappear? Brentwood is a dead enough town – it will become a no-go area if a permanet site is created at the back of the high street. You might as well kiss all high street business goodbye.

Does anyone else think this option was included so everyone would say “you can’t possibly do away with the car park – it will have to go somewhere else”. Hey-presto, one of the other sites is chosen and you can kiss your property investment goodbye.

Anyway, doesn’t a permanent traveller site create a contradiction?

A traveller should be travelling – if they want to get back into the 9-5 lifestyle, send their kids to state schools, have running water and mains electricity, they should be paying council tax and fitting in with their surroundings.

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Concreting over front gardens adds to flood risk – so give us more room to park then!

Jun14
2008 3 Comments Written by Sandra

We are constantly being told that we should be greener, and one problem highlighted by the flooding of 2007 was that of people sacrificing their front gardens to make way for parking space.

As buiding regs now only require 1 parking space per property, this will become more and more common place.

Think about it – a family of 4 living in a 3 bedroom house. The parents are likely to have a car each, and as kids are living at home longer as they can’t afford to move out, there are likely to be a further 2 cars when the family grows up. This means at least 2 cars on the road – if not 3. And make that per household. Add to that the fact that residential roads are gradually getting narrower and you have gridlock – certainly emergency vehicles will struggle for access. Well, they won’t – there will just be a long line of mirror-less cars with matching scratches.

If the government want us to keep our front gardens, then they should change the regulations to allow a minimum of 3 off road car spaces. Until we are given a reasonable space for our parking needs, people everywhere will continue to concrete over their lawns.

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Petrol Pump Numbnuts

Jun13
2008 Leave a Comment Written by Sandra

So we finally have a sort of petrol protest going on – albeit the tanker drivers are on strike about their pay and not the escalating cost of petrol that the government don’t seem to understand is crippling everyone.

I have one question to ask all those queuing for petrol…how empty is your tank? Your panic buying when you have over 3/4 of a tank full is playing into the garages hands, and stop those who really need the fuel from getting it. Have you thought about the people that don’t want to stockpile petrol because others may need it?

I have less than 1/4 tank left but I won’t be rushing out to buy petrol – the strike ends on Tuesday for ctying out loud!

The cost of petrol is already forcing me to rethink my journeys – the government are gradually achieving their aim of pricing us off the roads but as foreseen, we have no viable alternatives. But that’s for another rant!

Guys, stop believing the media hype – if you stick to your usual petrol buying habits, there will be plenty of petrol for everyone.

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