I was wondering how far I would be able to get with this blog before writing an article about that great Guernsey obsession: Traffic.
Not very long it would seem...
Oh yes. The Guernsey motorist is beset on all sides by petrol tax, motor tax, preaching environmentalists, parking charges, speed humps, road closures and of course his arch-nemesis - other motorists clogging up the roads and car parks with their cars.
And there's a particular class of motorist which these whining ninnies would like to blame all their troubles on - the mum or pupil on the school run. At the start of each term, there's always a few who will crawl out of the woodwork to whinge about the space taken up on the roads by people driving to school (whereas the space they take up, 52 weeks of the year, is of course theirs by right).
To be honest, I very rarely find it in my nature to sympathise with these views, considering the monstrous amount of taxpayer's money and public resources which are poured into keeping the whole private transport show on the road. So I found Deputy Jenny Tasker's comments on Radio Guernsey yesterday, suggesting as she did on air that we might consider evicting pupils from their cars entirely, rather bizarre. I agree with most of what she says most of the time, but I think she's gone a bit over the edge on this one.
Obviously I'm not alone - the Ladies' College girls featured on Morning Report this morning put their case pretty well. Basically, if mummy and daddy gave them a car for their 17th, and the state deems them to be skilled enough in its operation, then they have just as much right to drive where and when they want as anyone else. In fact compared to the average office worker or, dare I say it, States Deputy, they've probably got a good deal more gear to cart about, so all the more cause to drive.
To their concerns, I might add these: If the alternative to pupils driving is mum doing the school run, then in many cases turfing pupils off the roads will mean replacing one journey with two. And it's hardly encouraging students to continue their sixth form education to be told that it will mean putting off the time when they can cruise around in the ultimate teen status symbol. Finally, how do you enforce it? I have hideous visions of roadside school-uniform-sensitive cameras!
At some point, the solution to our traffic problem has to mean using sticks and carrots - sticks to get people out of their cars, and carrots to get them onto buses, bikes and those spindly things that connect their hips to the ground. But it has to apply to everyone; unfairly bumping one (fairly small) group of motorists off the roads will achieve little more than delaying inevitable gridlock. So rise up, oh ye pupils from affluent multi-car families, and cast off the chains of whiny motorist oppression!
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2 comments:
Yes - I read those comments by Jenny Tasker in the GP the other day.
My son used to drive to the Grammar School BUT he picked up several of his friends en route every day.
Instead of picking on VI formers why not pick on single occupant drivers going into work?
I know that Jenny Tasker wasn't a head teacher at a school with students who were old enough to drive - so perhaps that explains her daft comment.
Do those 6th formers really clog up the islands roads in the mornings? If they were not able to take their cars to school what would happen? Would they get the bus? No of course not - they would take a life from their parent. Who, in all likelihood would drive their child to school and then return home! Essentially doubling the traffic on the roads as the young driver only drives to school.
Also you only have to drive past the Grammar school in the morning to see the number of people getting out the cars to know that friends are being given a lift in the morning - saving even more traffic.
Guernsey people love their cars - or rather they love that small amount of freedom being able to drive everywhere & anywhere gives them. To get us off the road there are only two options:
1. Prevent us from getting on the road (raise driving age & introduce compulsory testing at a certain age, MOT cars or banning certain cars from the roads at certain times or on certain days)
2. Raising the cost of actually driving anywhere (a real hike in fuel duty for all vehicles, MOT, paid parking for all public & states car parks (after all the tax payer had to build them)).
Neither of these options will wash down well with the average Guern, the latter of course will face the usual accusations of discrimination against the working man. In addition as it is unlikely that any of the above will have real public support, no political candidate will be brave enough to stand up and fully support them.
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