Colin Blackburn wrote:
> But I thought the claim was that the police spent no time on speeding
> due to that job being done by cameras. Now suddenly they spend their
> time dealing with speeding.
Ah, now you're expecting consistency...
How's this for a lovely observation:
"In this connection may also be noted the different standard of conduct
frequently- and, in some degree, always- applied to the pedestrian in
contrast from the drivers. [...] we continue to be told that what is really
required in the drivers is, " skill." So long as a driver is "skilful," so
we are assured, he can be trusted to go as fast as he likes: 100 mp.h- 200
m.p.h.- at super-sonic speeds presumably: so long as he is "skilful" no one
need get hurt, or, if they do, it will be their own fault. But with the
pedestrian it is different. What is needed here is "care": "care" and ever
more "care": "care" carried to the point with old persons and children of
staying away from the roads altogether and living lives of permanent
immobility in their own homes. The pedestrian must continually "pause " and
"wait" and "watch": everything about him must be "deliberate": he must never
exceed "a measured pace." He is a "menace," and no matter how "skilful" he
may be he must never, in any circumstances, no matter how safe they may be,
proceed at speeds of four or five m.p.h."
Written in 1947 by JS Dean, chairman of the Pedestrian's Association, in his
book "Murder Most Foul"
<url:
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/web/public.nsf/Documents/Murder_Most_Fo
ul> - amazing how little things have changed since then, really. It even
applies to the perennial helmet debate.
p.s. - nicked the PDF from Howard, with acknowledgements.
--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
