Rant 12 - 12/1/12 Subject: Commuting to work

Rant number 12


I hate bloody commuting. I mean, it makes so little sense.

Don't get me wrong, I need to get to my job - this is kind of essential to doing it - you know, the whole being in the building thing.

My job is also, as with many people - located a difference away from my home - about 11 miles - as the crow flies.

Thus getting from A to B is kind of necessarily.

'So why complain?' - I hear you cry?


Because - in a modern age, in our advanced society - it makes so little sense.

Public transport is total shite & expensive(don't worry, there will be a rant to follow)

As a result, more cars are on our already overflowing roads, each and every day.


And about 99 bloody percent of all the cars want to be on getting to work, school, college, Matalan  or wherever! - between 8.30 and 9 in the morning.

As such - each morning is a struggle against almost insurmountable odds. On the best days, if someone doesn't decide to collide with one of the other thousands of motorists (a sadly rare occurrence) a journey that should take quarter of an hour takes nearer to 50 minutes. On the worst days, it can grow to more than an hour of quarter. A waste of thousands of hours of our time and precious fuel every bloody day.

Surely, at this point in our evolution, we would have managed up with a way of making sure that everyone doesn't need to be going to the same kind of places - all at the same time.

As an alternative of course - the government could actually put some money back into the public services that the nutcracker (Margaret Thatcher) sold off and privatised. This way, they might - you know....actually work.

Then I won't have to sit in traffic, going at 12 miles a frickin hour, burning expensive fuel and getting closer to the point where my road rage will take over, and I will be forced to take my wheel jack out of my boot - and do something horribly inventive with it to that rude guy in the four by four.

It's not going to happen though (well not the investing in public services thing anyway....)

Rant over.

Rant 7 - 7/1/12 Subject: Speed cameras

Rant Number 7


So what was my bone of contention in the last 24 hours?

Speed cameras

Now don't get me wrong, I would like the roads to be safe for my self and my friends and family. I know that this presents a paradox, as speed is often the cause of danger on the roads. The thing is, that speed cameras for the most part, just don't work, except to fill the coffers of those at the sharp end.

Speed cameras cannot be hidden from view,so it's just not possible to make them work the way that the police would like anyway. People continue to speed up to a few meters before the camera, slow down to below the limit, then accelerate off again as soon as possible.

So why do people mostly speed anyway? Because a lot of the time speed limits just don't represent a realistic picture of an area.

I understand a 30 mile an hour speed limit in a built up area with houses during the day. But this stands even at 10pm at night - when you would like to think that kids would be safe in beds. In some areas, the speed limit drops to 20 miles an hour. Which just isn't terribly practical in a car with an engine bigger than a house brick.

So why have the cameras??
Because some people make expensive mistakes.

Those who get caught are rarely making a die hard effort to speed. To be rebels or anything of the sort.
No - most people just get caught out when they loose concentration very briefly, or get confused about the ridiculous limits.
If the cameras succeed - they are not making the road safer. Surely that says it all.

And they do succeed, quite a bit - speed cameras are big 'road safety' money!

Now so far, I've only discussed the static cameras however- some bright spark has made things so much worse in recent years. The joy which is the 'average speed camera.'

These cameras - actually do work.

You are forced, by avert of not exceeding the average speed across the zones, to indeed keep to the speed dictated.

This would be no problem, as previously stated - if the speed in question made sense.

It doesn't though

Often these cameras are used on the motorway when roadworks are being undertaken, and when the speed limit is being reduced by upwards of 25%. At the moment - one of Yorkshires main vein roads - the M62, has bloody miles of roadworks - all at 50 miles an hour.

Does this make the road safer for those working or those driving on it?

Does it my arse!

The news reported that 1000% more speeding fines have been levied in the several months so far (with no sign of completion) that these road works have been going on. I have not seen so far any work taking place however - in these supposedly 'safer zones' (infact, I have seen many people driving more dangerously, in mere frustration)

So in summary, speed cameras are overused to make money out of the already wrung dry motorist, and it's bloody annoying!

Rant over.