| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:POT HOLES IN PUTNEY ! | |
| Posted by: | James Dixon | |
| Date/Time: | 25/02/10 10:41:00 |
| Two asides on this subject: [1] At the present moment, contractors are digging up the driveway to a small, modern development off Cambalt Road, to completely re-lay the mains water supply. So cold has this winter been that the mains froze completely, cutting off all the houses. A kind of Putney permafrost. The contractors had never seen anything like it before, but it shows the intensity of the cold. One would have thought that with households flushing lavatories, running baths, etc., at least some flow would have prevented the pipe from freezing. Perhaps builders are becoming too confident of global warming, and are not laying mains sufficiently deep? It does show the scale of the problem faced by local authorities now. [2] More and worse potholes mean more cyclists and motorcyclists swerving to avoid them. Quite a lot of drivers do not seem to be fully alert to the issue, and merely think of ‘wobbly cyclists’. But even the most skilled has to swerve on occasion. The Highway Code is quite clear about the need to give cyclists a wide berth, but all too often this is not happening. There needs to be more publicity given to the issue at the present time. Nobody has yet come up with a pithy phrase to highlight the point: “give cyclists a wide berth” is a bit of a turn-off! Nothing readily scans with either “yard” or “meter”, which is the ideal kind of distance that should be allowed. Any bright ideas, anyone? [I have rather strong feelings on the subject, having attended a funeral last week of a cyclist knocked down by a car. No witnesses other than the driver. More likely that the cyclist was turning right than swerving to avoid a pothole, but the driver told the police that no hand-signal was given by the cyclist. Painful though the death of the cyclist is to her family and friends, the trauma for the rest of the life of the driver is also considerable. Prevention is better than cure: a public education programme is definitely needed at the present time about potholes, not all of which we can reasonably expect to be filled at the flip of a finger]. |