A walk on the wild side - of a 30mph road

Just walked the dog and feel lucky to be alive. In the space of 100 metres of a small country road without a footpath but with a 30 mph speed limit I was the victim of three clear cases of bad and over-fast driving bordering on the dangerous.

Heading west on the right hand side of the road between Pockthorpe and Lyng, just past the 40 mph limit for eastbound traffic (30 for westbound) I am approached by a vehicle accelerating off the unsighted Wensum river bridge. I use it regularly and there is dangerously limited vision eastwards. The car is accelerating out of the 30 into the 40 but has already reached 40-plus. I flag it to slow but it passed me at I estimate 45-50.

Its passage makes me turn which is fortunate as I had not heard the 40-mph gearbox tractor and its vast trailer entering the village. While the restrictions on its roadworthy gearbox should restrict it to 40 it has come downhill and is still at well above that speed as it passes the 30 mph boards. I again flag it down and am rewarded with brake lights and it passes at a more sedate rate. A minor victory.

Transitory indeed as I now find a vehicle again leaving the bridge ahead of me and accelerating hard. I found out why when it swerves past me only to turn in tight behind me. The driver has decided my life is not worth the slight delay of waiting while the held up four vehicles behind the tractor to pass me. I am the obstruction and I am on his side of the road. A prosecution for driving dangerously would be a shoo-in. The Highway Code is absolute - you must give way if the obstruction is on your side of the road.

But like all good stories I have saved the best (worst) to last. I am by now only 20 or so metres from the river bridge and aware that I am in the unsighted area for oncoming drivers. I walk virtually on the grass verge. And suddenly a silver Toyota appears at speed hugging his inside kerb as he accelerates through the slight bend. Aware that he has clearly not seen me I step up onto the impossibly harrow and steep verge dragging my dog with me. Metres from he wakes up, swerves away at about 45-50 by this time and continues his merrily incompetent way.

So who is to blame for all this? Clearly the drivers bear a huge responsibility. The Highway Code, which I doubt many or any have read, makes it mandatory that at all times a driver is required to drive at speeds and in a manner to suit the road, traffic and weather conditions. It is against that test that the offences of driving without due care or of driving without reasonable consideration are judged.

Beyond sheer speed and manner of driving the same code makes it mandatory that drivers should give precedence to pedestrians on roads without footpaths. This further requires them to give way to oncoming traffic when the obstruction (pedestrian) is on their side of the road.

We may also question whether the speed limits are suitable or located correctly. The 40 coming in to Lyng is quite late and the 30 restrictions is very close indeed to the river bridge and after the hamlet of Pockthorpe.

And there is no doubt at all that the absence of any footpath on either side of this road is what places any pedestrians at risk.

But the bottom line is that as a nation we have stopped any attempt to encourage or require good, safe and competent driving. The years of bleating ninnies who decry what they chillingly call "the nanny state" have won out. Lessez faire, first enunciated in the 80s, now rules.

We need to return to the acceptance that left to their own devices enough ordinary people will behave very badly indeed to ensure that the rest of us are at risk. There is no alternative to strict rules and strong implementation if our ordinary roads are to become safe again.

And that will also mean more money for the business of telling drivers to behave properly. Signs exhorting "ITS 30 FOR A REASON" and "SLOW DOWN - THAT COULD YOUR CHILD". And, like so much of Europe, speed humps or chicanes on the entry to every village - not just a favoured few. And timed flashing lights and variable speed limits close to schools and playgrounds And much, much more.

Oh and by the way all this happened the day after a serious accident not 100 metres further into the village which required police attendance.

(This sent to county councillor Bill Borrett and our MP George Freeman)

LYNG

Private buses but public money for smart cards?

Norfolk is proud today that they have got £2.5m to introduce smart cards on the county's buses. But I am not.
The buses were privatised - not something I favoured in fact. But OK, they are run by private companies, making money. Fair at it goes. They get handsome support for providing some un-profitable services. Fair enough.
But they will be able to run better services, save time, reduce staffing, cut costs by having smart cards - and we are having to pay for it. Why? Times are hard enough, cuts are hurting everyone except the rich. Why this mis-use of our tax monies?
Disgraceful - again. What a bunch of toons we did elect.

Details here: http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/News/NCC120114

The end of democracy?

I have written before about the controversial plan for an energy-from-waste plant at Kings Lynn. A recent development suggests we have even more to fear from the Local Government Act of 2000 than we thought.

Opponents of the Kings Lynn project took Norfolk County Council to court because the decision to go ahead with this plan was a] taken only by the ten member cabinet and b] it even appears to have been decided by the ruling Tory group before that meeting.

But they lost. And contained within the reports this week is a reference to the high court's adjudication on the Local Government Act 2000 which seems to spell the end of true democracy and calls into question the point and cost of having elected councillors at all.

The high court ruled, against campaigners, that it was 'proper procedure' under the act for the ten members of Norfolk County Council's cabinet to decide to proceed with the Cory Wheelaborator project at Kings Lynn for an Energy From Waste plant. This was despite the fact that the issue had not been debated or voted upon by the full council. In other words, the vast majority of Norfolk residents and electors had no say of any sort in the decision even through their elected representatives.
I went to read this piece of legislation, which brought in both elected mayors like Boris Johnson and cabinet council control as in Norfolk. I started to read it but to be frank life is too short, especially at my end of the chronoscape. But I did read much of the relevant sections and I would have to say the high court is probably right (although I would love to see it tested further up the legal food chain).
So that's it really.
By this act we can have an elected group of members forming merely a small part of the whole (currently not less than 10) elected membership of the council and they can make executive decisions running into squillions of pounds. It would seem therefore that we council tax payers are footing the bill, at about £8-12,000 per councillor for up to 50 members, who are completely pointless. Not to mention the cost of their meetings and support by officers. Maybe Tony Blair's sovietisation of local councils in 2000 should have gone the whole hog and dispensed with democracy entirely.
One small point however. If, as many of us fear, this project turns out to be ill-judged because recycling progress reduces the amount of 'waste to burn' below the contracted level and the commercial sector decides The Willows price is too high and Norfolk County Council has to start paying penalty money to Cory Wheelaborator maybe it will also only be the ten wise members who end up getting the blame. Hate to be them if they end up being surcharged.

Criminal coppers? How can this be right?

STRUGGLED to find words suitable to start this. So here are the apparent facts: At least 944 serving officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) have a conviction, according to the figures released by 33 of the 43 forces in England and Wales in response to freedom of information requests.

I actually read this in a one paragraph item in the Eastern Daily Press. My researches have shown Norfolk has three such officers now. Over in Suffolk there are 13 according to the East Anglian Daily Times (sister of our own EDP) which carried a much larger report.

It will not surprise any who know me or those few who have read this blog that I have been shocked and disgusted by this news. It is all the worse for the fact that it come when we now know that our MPs have been stealing our money, bankers have fallen from exaltation to troughing, our major institutions and corporations continue to avoid paying tax, the taxman lets them off anyway, and the media which might defend the ordinary man has been exploiting him for a fast buck.

How can we have allowed a situation where police officers remain in post or are even hired with criminal convictions? Does that itself not tell us the nature of our problem? We have lost our moral compass.

OK our own Norfolk police chairman makes it clear that the majority of these are what were once called misdemeanours - traffic offences mostly and for which dismissal might be draconian. But many are serious crimes including perverting the course of justice! They carry custodial sentences.

Are we really saying that the young thug driving a shopping trolley through the window of a High Street store may be arrested and charged by an officer who has himself (herself?!) committed burglary or - ye heavens - perverted the course of justice? Is it any wonder that society has lost any respect for our police?

I agree that there may be offences, once classed as misdemeanours but today elevated (over-elevated?) to the status of criminal, that would not deserve of dismissal or required retirement. How many officers convicted of perverting justice or burglary or assault WHILE in service have been allowed to remain in office? I have read of one such case in a neighbouring area.

Is it not surely the case that where a criminal conviction occurs the case must be tested thus: "Does this officer remain a convincing and commendable person for the pursuit of offenders and the defence of the law?

And there are deep concerns:

• What about the morale of other officers who must work with and trust men whom, in different circumstances, they would have prosecuted?
• Are we not at risk of corruption if the probity and inviolability of convicted officers is degraded by their conviction?
• Is it in any way reasonable that such an officer can be relied on when giving evidence in court?
• Should a barrister be aware of the situation they have the ability to destroy the officer's credibility and influence the jury.
• What about CRB checks for other sensitive post workers? If a police officer is allowed to function having perverted justice how can we take more draconian action against others?

The dreadful possibility exists that this is some weird interpretation of the Human Rights Act. But there is no RIGHT to be a law officer - it is a privilege and responsibility which I maintain should be only for those of proven probity.

Muddled thinking exists all around us. The Police Federation took a rather strange defensive view which seemed to ignore the fact that this situation is an insult to lives and work of the thousands of decent, law-abiding and diligent officers who face unreasonable risks on a daily basis.

I have written to my MP, to the Norfolk Police Authority (excellent fast and sensitive response from the chairman) and to the Home Secretary, Theresa May to seek a change in practice. I think everyone who can should do so too.

There is an e-petition you can sign on the direct.gov site http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/26776

Or another at http://tinyurl.com/6t85uwa

Sources include: Guardian, Daily Mail (!), Eastern Daily Press, East Anglian Daily Times, Norfolk Police Authority and others.

Lyng to get broadband at last

Just received this from my colleague on the Lyng Broadband group - hooray!

Hello All,

I am delighted to tell you that Norfolk County Council has now formally approved the plans for the wi-fi broadband service in Lyng as part of a three-village pilot project. Work is now underway to acquire planning permission and draw up a timescale for the roll-out of the service. This is a major and important stage in the development of what has been and continues to be a complex project. As soon as we have been given the details of the timescale we shall be able to move towards pricing the options that Lyng people will have for purchasing and fitting receivers. These will involve NO monthly charges – the service offered by the County is similar to the library service ie free to use. There will however be set-up costs involved for receiving equipment and installation. The action group is working to provide suitable options to suit the community. The next stage will be to publish the timescale and confirm the people who are registering a firm intention to take up the service. I would just like to say thank you to all the people who have worked on, or actively supported, this project,  and look forward to being able to tell you more soon. Paddy McHugh, Lyng Broadband Action Group 

Anyone wish you a Happy Christmas yet?

When I was a boy you couldn't get down the street for the cheery Happy Christmas calls. And you'd cop it from the parents if a neighbour didn't hear a reply - a polite one that is.
Now that might be taking things a bit far but for most of my life it has been pretty much the same. It even picked up a bit 15 years ago when we moved to Norfolk where almost everyone still salutes the time of day when you pass. Until this year.
It could be me of course. I am older, maybe less enchanting, less appealing perhaps. But I don't think that's the reason. Others say much the same.
I do call Happy Christmas whenever I am parting from someone I know, however vaguely. Even check-out operators get the treatment. This year everyone looks slightly startled and mumbles a response. Even friends look almost puzzled. In the snow-braved mobile library today three recipients of my bonhomie struggled to respond. Two I count as friend/neighbours.
Is it that we are all miserable now? Could it be that the universal cry of difficult decisions, cut this, slice the other and worse to come is finally wearing us down?
In fact it has hardly felt like Christmas, despite the stunningly early beginning of retail activity this year. Most shops are selling Christmas but few are decked out for it. Where are the lights? The tinsel? I don't see many ads for grottoes and so far only one Santa Claus and he at a National Trust house. To give them credit Blickling Hall was the one place where it really felt like Christmas, apart from the annual Christmas tree exhibitions here and in Fakenham. But to be honest that's it. I ate in a restaurant this week and had to look for any decorations; some white lights and couple of hangings was it but they could have been the norm really.
I am hearing and reading moans about school nativities that don't include carols or hardly refer to the sacred story. I'm an atheist. For me it's the winter solstice but I acknowledge a lot of people get a strong feeling from their faith. I respect the Christian festival just as I respect Divali or Passover. And they should be clearly their own show, as it were. So even we atheists mark the festive season in a traditional way. I enjoy a good carol - it has its place. Which is now. Mix in a modern one or two but allow our Christian brothers and sisters this little space for their own thing please.
There is a chance this year of a white Christmas. Personally I fear it will rain on that parade around here; this is England after all. Thousands are doing their utmost to get 'home' for the event. The weather and our unfamiliarity with it is against them. But the TV pictures? There is nothing to show it is Christmas. Snowbound streets are littered with cars but no lights, no Christmas trees. We see empty streets of banked snow and empty shops - but where are the lights? The banners? The trees.
Is it really Christmas or did the coalition cancel that as well?