DAYLIGHT (LIFE) SAVING

Just a quick one today because I'm in a hurry, don't have all that much time, and, to be honest, probably don't have a lot to say that you haven't heard before anyway.

To be honest, I think that this is a subject that I might have burbled on about on previous occasions in any case, and probably much more effectively, given that my word-wrangling skills seem to be becoming ever more diminished as time goes by.

But why, for the love of whatever deity you choose, or choose not, to believe in, why, when the mornings and evenings get so much darker, and the weather gets so much more grim and, quite frankly, bloody dangerous, do people seem to insist on driving faster than they might normally do, and take far, far more risks with both their own lives and those of the people on the roads around them.

I know that I've suspected for a long time that road sense, reading the road ahead, and basic common courtesy seem to no longer feature in most people's understanding of what driving is about any more, but when the roads are icy, wet, foggy and dark, why do I find people hanging on to my back bumper as if they're glued to it, overtaking on blind corners, accelerating towards me for no good reason, and still tearing towards me as I manoeuvre around the parked cars when there is simply no road space for anyone else to get out of the way...?

Either that, or they believe that braking, indicating to let other people know which direction they wish to travel in, or simply letting anyone else know where they are at all, by, maybe just switching on some lights, are all, somehow, signs of weakness and will diminish them in the eyes of the Gods of Motoring if they pander to such fripperies.

So, when did people just forget that different conditions require people to acquire a different mind set...? And just when did it become normal for people's vision of the road ahead to stop at a point about two inches beyond the limit of their own car's bumpers...?

Sometimes I believe that a lot of my fellow motorists just put down their games console controller stick thingies, pick up their car keys, and just carry on as if nothing has changed. Either that, or everyone is so distracted by their texts and emails, their shopping and the stuff they have to do, that pootling along in the potentially lethal weapon that they're driving is just about the last thing on their minds.

In some cases, tragically, far too literally.

I know that we're all "living on the edge" these days, and, in our cosy, "risk averse", screen based lives, we're seeking out a little bit of danger to add to our days, no matter what the risk might be to anyone else who'd much rather have a chance to be actually getting on with their own lives, thank you very much.

Of course, people do re-assess their own sense of risk to suit their personal circumstances, so maybe that bit of darkness, that touch of ice, that slick wet road surface, or those misted-up windows are adding just a frisson of danger to their otherwise dull and moribund journeys, and that risk is just enough to get their blood stirred up as they consider a day talking on the phones to people who really don't care, and wrestling with the intricacies of software which is, ironically, constantly crashing.

Meanwhile, is it now compulsory on these dark mornings and evenings on our ill-lit streets for all pedestrians to clad themselves from head to toe in black and make themselves virtually invisible, because that's becoming another of my little bug-bears.

Although I'd better sign off now before my blood pressure peaks... After all, today's commuter run is mere minutes away and I need to get myself into a fit state of mind to handle this mornings battles.