Sunny Sunday Roundup

As I write this, the sun is out, the sky is blue and the birds are chirping in the garden. It's a perfect Spring day. We're told this weather is set to continue for some time to come, and there is no significant rain  predicted in both the medium and long range forecasts. Whilst this early Spring may be a good thing for many, the lack of rain in recent months is beginning to have very serious effects for farmers and the production of vegetables. This in turn affects livestock which then pushes up the price of food reaching our supermarkets. Unless we have prolonged heavy rainfall in the next couple of months, this Summer is going to be tough, very tough for many people. There is already talk about water conservation and we could learn an enormous amount from the normal day to day habits of those living in Western Australia for whom drought is a permanent feature of their lives. I for one have begun looking at the water that simply gets thrown away down the drain every day. We waste an enormous amount, most of which can be re-used particularly in the garden.

As if on cue, the good weather always brings out what I perceive to be the worst of society, the idiots and their fast cars, the angry teenagers (and their cars) and the inappropriately dressed - particularly scantly clad teenage girls and grown men in ill fitting shorts and nothing else. In tandem, I also see an increase in mindless littering, the discarded McDonalds containers strewn all over the road, particularly in and around Long Sutton. I witnessed for myself today in Wisbech a passenger tipping their rubbish out onto the road before driving off, in full view of other motorists at a junction. Yes sadly, though the weather is all very nice, I do hate to see this element of our society emerge from their Winter hibernation.

Fuel cost have leapt to an all time high with a litre of petrol locally costing £1.45, a ridiculous amount and a trend that simply cannot be sustained. Unrelated to the cost of fuel, there is impending industrial action taking place by tanker drivers which will affect the supply of fuel to stations around the UK. We read in the news that the army are being trained to deliver fuel in their place in the hope that supplies can be maintained. I think though it is inevitable that some parts of the country will run dry with major queues developing at others.  Any escalation in the Middle East will further increase the price at the pump and restrict supplies with devastating effects for everything we rely and depend on.

Yesterday, many awoke to the news of yet another accident involving a coach. This time it was here in the UK on the M5 motorway and involved a lorry and bus. The accident had occurred in heavy fog when the bus broke down blocking the inside lane. Though details are far from confirmed, we do know that the bus was stationary and was poorly lit, its hazard lights barely visible. One passenger and today the driver of the lorry lost their lives. This is tragic and a needless loss of life. The bus driver has been arrested in suspicion of dangerous driving and it is clear to me that fundamental mistakes were made. My own Passenger Carrying Vehicle training tells me this. Firstly the bus was poorly lit. Though the hazard lights were on, there were no fog lights. Bus lights are notoriously poor, particularly on older vehicles. There was never much importance given to making the vehicle visible though nowadays, there is much greater emphasis by using LED's and lighting strips at varying levels. One thing is for certain, the driver of the lorry would not have seen the bus until it was too late. The other mistake was to leave the passengers seated. As the bus had stopped in the first lane of the motorway, it would not be possible to evacuate the passengers safely to the high verge and away from danger. Instead in this situation, the driver should ensure that all passengers move to the front of the vehicle, the safest place to be in the event of a rear end collision. As far as I know, this was not done and resulted in the death of a passenger. More details will emerge over the coming days, but for me, it is easy to understand how this tragedy occurred. A further tragedy would be to learn nothing from it and apply any lessons learnt to current and future vehicle safety and design.

I was going to finish on the subject of Saturday night telly, but I thought better of it. Some love it and others hate it so at the risk of sparking a debate, I'll leave it there.