Road deaths have risen as almost all drivers ignore the new 20mph speed limits imposed on some busy areas. So said the headline. Implying that the deaths were possibly caused by speeding motorists. I see it differently. I think that those deaths are of the drivers who actually DO slow down to 20mph where instructed. Murdered by other motorists. It’s kill or be killed. You either slit your own wrists or murder the cause of your anger, frustration and depression. Thus the government or local councils who impose such ridiculous limits are accessories to murder. And should be charged.

Though I do strongly feel that we need to think long and hard about cars, roads, speed limits and other… stuff. Because its basically broken. In London it is definitely broken. Yet its all a matter of perspective. I see the problem as traffic moving too slowly. If it just got itself out of second gear, got off its collective fucking smart phones when the traffic lights turn green, got out of the ‘fast’ lane when pootling along at 17mph on a clear road to let impatient fuckers (that’ll be me then) pass, then all would be much better. If we got rid of buses things would improve 10-fold. But I appreciate that’s rather difficult to implement. In a caring society.

And I do want a caring society. I yearn for it. Though appear to step out of that persona when I sit myself in a vehicle. Then I don’t care. About anything other than getting where I need to go in the shortest possible time. And I don’t even drive that much. Yet resent the fuck out of virtually every other road user.

Last night I followed a big Tesla S all the way to the gym where I do my tai chi. He was what I think of as ‘width uncertain’, or ‘tosser’. In that driving down a relatively (for back-street London) wide road with parked cars on both sides but plenty of room for two way traffic to pass, he wouldn’t pass. He rather park every time a car came towards him and then pull out ridiculously widely afterwards to continue. His brake lights flashed so often I though he must be CID on a mission with a broken siren. A slow mission.

When we eventually arrived at the gym he found a parking space. And the spaces there are quite narrow. But not so narrow that you can’t park in them, obviously, otherwise they’d call them something else. He performed an agonised 173-point manoeuvre to reverse into his space. By which time the car next to him had left his space and gone home, around the stupid Tesla, and I found a space and parked, as did the guy behind me. We chatted about incompetence in general on the way to the gym. As we entered, 100 yards later, I turned and the Tesla was still manoeuvring. Bless him. Or kill him. Either way get fucking rid of him.

Happy Friday; keep cool out there. Like me…

A xxxx