Madness On The Roads

Twice in the last two months I've driven past motorcycles that have thrown their riders, or from which the riders have been thrown somehow, in the early morning. I'm talking about around 6.20 am when the traffic is light, visibility is good, despite the darkness, and the roads are wide and inviting. One guy was sitting, his bike just behind him, in the second lane of the AYE just before the exit for the NUS Hospital. The other guy was in lane four of the ECP adjacent to where the casino is being built. In each case it looked like the motorcyclist in question was going to be okay even though they were stuck in the middle of the road, as whatever cars were around were able to take evasive action. Also it's rare that you see out and out speed maniacs at that time of day. But this all begs the question as to how they had managed to part company with their machines at that time of the morning.

I suspect the answer to that question relates to sheer incompetence, either their own as bikers, or some driver of a car that had managed to give a nudge somehow. This is a country in which tailgating is second nature to a startling number of those using the road and in which the notion of some kind of lane discipline on the highway simply does not exist. I reckon that a majority of drivers make it a point of honour not to signal when changing lanes. This is very helpful when you are trying to figure out what someone intends to do.

Since the beginning of the year I've been stuck in at least ten major jams on the AYE, in the early evening, caused by traffic accidents on days when the conditions for driving were pretty much perfect. In recent days I've seen five different 'fatal accident' signs on roads I regularly use (usually involving bikers) in spots that are really safe assuming people drive sensibly. (Interestingly at least three have been near exits from the highway.)

How would these idiots cope in the testing conditions of very different roads in a varying climate? I was thinking back to when I used to drive to work in England, from Sheffield to Rotherham, and I am honestly hard pressed to remember a single time when an accident caused real problems even in the ice and snow.

This would be funny if it were not genuinely a matter of life and death.