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KILLER TRUCKS ON NI20
Page 9
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Mr X ruminates on the way a tragedy can improve drivers' manners unless they're homicidal French and Germans, of course.
Last Friday, less than 24 hours after the dreadful terrorist attacks on London's transport system, I had to head up north to Leeds for a meeting. With train schedules so disrupted, travelling by car seemed the best bet. This is a journey that we have to make regularly, and no-one in my company looks forward to the four-hour-plus slog up the camera-infested M25/M11/A1 route. So what made this particular journey almost pleasurable? It was not the lack of traffic —there was plenty of that around. No, it was an eerie calm that had descended upon most road users. Just for once, the old fashioned values of courtesy, fair play and common sense were being applied by the bucket-load. I guess most drivers were wrapped up in their own thoughts for the victims of the attacks, which put the daily pressure of life behind the wheel into context.
Back to reality on Monday morning with a near-death experience on the way to work, rudely reminding me that today's roads are no place for the faint-hearted. Anyone who has travelled on the M20 in rush hour will know what I am talking about. As the angry wall of foreign trucks disgorged from ferry or shuttle converged on the five-lane bottleneck at Junction 5 I was very nearly a victim of the dreaded blindspot side swipe. Except that I know this particular German artic had seen my car. Nonetheless, out he came, giving me a nudge on the left rear wing for fun. Only it was definitely not fun because a menacing French Magnum, who was about four feet behind me at the time, closed the gap even tighter. So there I was, sandwiched between hostile foreign trucks at 60 mph and. frankly, bloody scared!
Needless to say, the perpetrator carried on without stopping: that is normal. Two years ago local media rallied round my campaign to bring this "foreign truck menace" to the public's attention. Predictably, Kent police are resisting my attempts to log this incident.
Only it was definitely not fun because the French Magnum, who was four feet behind me, closed the gap..."