1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172 
IN THE NEWS
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Stuart Thomas gives us his regular round-up of the way the newspapers have covered the transport industry this week.
Imagine a drug is created that scientists and doctors say reduces childhood deaths from some previously incurable disease by 67%. This miraculous medicine happens to be extremely easy to manufacture and very cheap. In fact, many people question why no one had discovered
li
W :1:ee:dtrecaerat eeraar it earlier. Well it might not be a drug or a disease, but according v.t4ten'e to the government's Health mCIAS Development Agency. children's deaths and injuries caused by motorists on Britain's roads could be reduced by more than two-thirds simply by reducing the speed limit by lOmph. So why haven't we done it?
Because of fear of a "motorist backlash", according to The Observer, adopting a nebulous phrase used frequently by tabloids and describing what pathetically amounts to a handful of selfish lunatics with time and explosives on their hands.
Well, things are changing. The paper reported that hundreds of new cameras are being installed in cities in an effort to slash the number of people killed by speeding cars using rat-runs off main roads. However, in light of recent "cash-for-cameras" scandals, ministers apparently fear a backlash, whatever that is more attacks on Gatsos, perhaps. How frightening. Parents and families of children killed on our roads must be quaking in their boots.
Unfortunately it doesn't end there. Nobody's been paying enough attention to some of these anti-camera campaigners, so they've resorted to old-fashioned death threats. And Mary Williams, chief executive of road safety charity Brake, was the target. The Times picked up on the story, which included an astonishing quote by the leader of the campaign against cameras, Paul Smith. He didn't personally make any threats against Williams, but described them as "mild reactions, quite frankly". Yep, you read that right, he said "mild".
Words fail us except to say this twit has not done his loony cause a great service. You really have to marvel at the total lack of humanity lurking in certain dark quarters of the world.
Happy New Year.