17 June 2002
Steps into a spinning, unreal world
Some readers wonder why I bang on about speeding and global warming. I would like to reassure them that I do have another life, in which slow, cool things such as my wife and son, chess, redcurrants and long walks are far more important.
The reason I return here to the vexed area of movement on our roads, and to climate change, is to combat the continual propaganda that assails us, day in and day out. Not to replace one piece of propaganda with another, but to point out that it is possible to discuss these matters.
Every time we stop thinking and simply accept what governments or pressure groups tell us, it is another step away from freedom and into a spinning, 1984-style world where things are said in order to produce a specific result, and not because they are true.
Climate change has become a knee-jerk reaction to practically every problem known to man. It has become a dogma of funding-hungry environmentalists, an easy article for every journalist who hasn’t time or inclination to research it and a repository of all our fears.
But it is all immensely complicated. There is conflicting data, and there are very shaky computer models. You may think you know all about it, but you certainly don’t. No-one does. It’s also worth remembering that you can know a great deal about something but still make a wrong judgement. Specialists are not automatically right.
The reason I write about speeding is not because I want to drive fast. It is because, like climate change, speeding is a scapegoat. It is not true that speeding causes most accidents, half of accidents or even a third of accidents.
Transport Research Laboratory figures show that 7.3pc of accidents are caused by excessive speed. So where does the “one third or higher” lie come from? Very simple. It is done by adding in failure to judge the other person’s path or speed, following too close, slippery road, being in a hurry, driving aggressively, bad weather and “other”.
Even adding all these totally different causes together comes to well under 31pc. This is conveniently rounded up to a third. And hey presto! It can become a half with only a flick of the wrist.
Anti-car opportunists are not concerned about the real causes of accidents – things like fatigue, inattention, distraction and incompetence. They are not worried about the real problem with “speeding” – which is that many speed limits are set too low, and so drivers do not trust them.
If a driver sees mile after mile of 40mph signs on the A11 when the workers have all gone home and there are no hazards, he is likely to view any 40mph limit suspiciously.
Last week a cyclist wrote to the editor complaining about the “80pc” of motorists who “speed” and adding: “The UK has the highest child deaths in road incidents in Europe.”
This is a typical example of random statistics (and bad grammar, but we’ll leave that aside). A 1998 DETR report reveals: “Britain’s overall road safety record is good; the 1998 fatality rate for children was 1.76 per 100,000 children, well below the EU average of 3.39.”
Only two EU countries have a better record: Sweden and those notoriously slow drivers, the Italians.
Football takes over at top of worship ratings
The switch from God to football is almost complete. With many churches cancelling or moving worship services on the first Sunday of the World Cup to allow their congregations to watch England play Sweden, it is crystal clear where people’s priorities lie, and why not? After all, football is already worshipped with much greater fervour than God. We might as well admit it.
God, being such a nice guy, will obviously not mind being shifted aside for an hour or two. It’s not as if it’s a special hour, or anything. He’s there all the time, isn’t he? And you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. We know he’s happy to be a kind of backstop for when things go wrong, like England losing.
A quick perusal of the Bible shows that God is always willing to take a back seat. Take the first commandment, for example. Well, an obvious mistranslation there. And of course, God is a football fan. He probably worships the game.
I mean, football is so much easier to understand. You can’t expect us to think about things like eternity, creation and resurrection. We can only cope with small miracles, like players coming back from injury, correct offside decisions, or England winning on penalties.
And it’s so much easier if we can push aside those uneasy feelings that there may be more to life than the perfect goal, getting 10pc off at B & Q or coveting the neighbour’s lifestyle.
Life after death? Well, there’s always the European Championship. Spirituality? Don’t know, mate. We do the Mexican wave. Awe? Well, that Beckham is something else.
Is it possible that God might not be simply a nice guy, and there might have to be something a little bit different about a God who holds a universe together? A little bit bigger, for instance? A little bit worth giving priority?
Don’t know, mate. Wait till the World Cup is over, and I might give it a thought. If I don’t fall apart first.
Shocks in line for power users
Pedestrians are extremely bad at estimating the speed of passing cars, which is why we have so many ridiculous speed limits.
This was demonstrated vividly in Hethersett, where villagers complained that drivers had been hurtling down Churchfields at 70mph. The county council did a survey and found that speeds along the road were in fact well under 30mph.
Never mind. The surveyors discovered that there was a problem in another road; so they will be able to get those humps out after all.
Meanwhile the Government is working on plans for people to be given periodic shocks if they use too much electricity. Apparently we indulge in it far too much, and it can kill people. A gas leak strategy is in the pipeline.