Over the last few years councils have spent a lot of time and effort (not to mention money) trying to make the roads safer. The results can be seen everywhere. Bumps abound, along with lane restrictions, one way systems and strange lines painted on the road to try and do something clever (never quite figured it out myself). The effect is normally to promote aggresive driving (as people try and get through lane restrictions before the oncoming car) and long delays, but today the utter stupidity of these schem,es became all too clear. With about 3cm of slush on the road and seemingly no gritting or road clearance these obstacles became traps for the careful driver!

Every time you approached one of these “calming measures” you ahd not only to consider the standard problem of cars coming at you in the middle of the road (normally with barely sufficient visibility thanks to their placement), but the poor braking and the odd skidding effects that seemed to be common, if unexpected, this morning were a constant concern. If the temperature does drop (as is forecast) there will be accidents galore without these meaasures – with them there will be even more.

Is this really road safety?