Why do some people pick wild flowers?
Can’t they see the benefits of leaving things alone or is the temptation just too much?
Guess it’s the same with paid parking. There’s all these temping revenues that are oh so easy to pluck and it will make everything so much better.
Guernsey doesn’t want and doesn’t need paid parking.
There is a minority in favour of the idea but they seems to be driven by a general hatred of cars or a concern for the welfare of the planet. They would prefer it if cars were de-invented but that’s not going to happen.
It would be nice if everyone used the buses but again that’s not going to happen. You might persuade commuters to use a proper park and ride scheme with free shuttle buses into Town to reduce congestion but that would need large out of town car parks and a willingness to do something properly for a change.
You cannot improve the bus service by crippling its competitor, the car. It doesn’t work like that unless you want to impose draconian laws. People just aren’t willing to forgo the convenience of the car for the unpredictability and inflexibility of the bus.
I know Environment won’t be too concerned about where all of this nice new revenue comes from, but who is this stealth tax going to hit? The wealthy won’t mind too much and the corporates don’t really care. It’s the ordinary folk who will bear the brunt as usual.
There’s an idea to tax private parking spaces as well but where will that end?
I know there’s lots who’d be happy to hit the occupants of Custard Castle but are they also happy to charge nurses and teachers to go to work? They’re civil servants as well you know.
Then there’s the tourists.
Guernsey has already lost a lot of its unique charm in the headlong rush to make it just like the UK. Just think how happy those few who still visit will be when they find out that they get charged for parking just like at home. That’ll make them really feel welcomed.
Maybe it’s just as well to keep the tourists out of Town because there won’t be to many shops for them to visit. If the Internet wasn’t bad enough, there’s now another reason not to pop into Town.
Yes, there are too many cars on the Island.
It’s because there are too many people on this Island. Cars don’t yet drive themselves and every family worth their salaries wants to have a car each just to add to the problem.
Guernsey wasn’t built to cope with the number of people now living here and we don’t have the space to create the infrastructure to support them.
We can’t do Bus Lanes, we can’t do Car Pool lanes, and we can’t even build an underground car park let alone a Tube system.
So, what’s the answer?
I don’t know.
Maybe some form of decent population control but they seem to have made a hash of that as well.
Whatever way is found out of this mess, paid parking isn't the way forward.
Showing posts with label Traffic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Traffic. Show all posts
Saturday, 29 March 2014
Friday, 1 November 2013
Are you a lawbreaker?
Most people I see on the roads these days break the speed limit.
Why is this?
Why do, I assume, normal law abiding citizens break the law on an almost daily basis?
Is it because the law might be an ass?
Take the restricted speed zones around schools. An excellent idea in itself but as usual poorly implemented.
The limit is only needed for a small proportion of the day, weekdays only, and for only about ten months of the year. Instead we have a blanket limit in place 24/7 and for the whole year.
Stupid.
Put up flashing lights under the control of the school’s special constable (every school has one) and restrict the zone to 20mpg when the lights are flashing. At all other times the speed limit is that of the surrounding area.
Then police the zones when speeding might take place and when it is important that vehicles slow down i.e. when the lights are flashing.
Most other low speed zones seem sensibly placed although some local parishes seem to want to extend their centre a little far for a sensible low speed area.
Then we have the temporary speed restrictions because there’s a diversion in place. Sometimes these are necessary because a little used lane is being conscripted into a major diversion but where is the sense in taking a well used bus route road and cutting the limit just because another road is closed? If it’s not safe to drive along this road at 35mph then why does it suddenly become safe when the other road happens to be open. In most cases the volume of traffic isn’t that much higher and anyway if the roads are busy then people drive at the speed of the slowest driver anyway.
We are a small island with too many cars but lets not compound the problem by slowing people down senselessly.
Why is this?
Why do, I assume, normal law abiding citizens break the law on an almost daily basis?
Is it because the law might be an ass?
Take the restricted speed zones around schools. An excellent idea in itself but as usual poorly implemented.
The limit is only needed for a small proportion of the day, weekdays only, and for only about ten months of the year. Instead we have a blanket limit in place 24/7 and for the whole year.
Stupid.
Put up flashing lights under the control of the school’s special constable (every school has one) and restrict the zone to 20mpg when the lights are flashing. At all other times the speed limit is that of the surrounding area.
Then police the zones when speeding might take place and when it is important that vehicles slow down i.e. when the lights are flashing.
Most other low speed zones seem sensibly placed although some local parishes seem to want to extend their centre a little far for a sensible low speed area.
Then we have the temporary speed restrictions because there’s a diversion in place. Sometimes these are necessary because a little used lane is being conscripted into a major diversion but where is the sense in taking a well used bus route road and cutting the limit just because another road is closed? If it’s not safe to drive along this road at 35mph then why does it suddenly become safe when the other road happens to be open. In most cases the volume of traffic isn’t that much higher and anyway if the roads are busy then people drive at the speed of the slowest driver anyway.
We are a small island with too many cars but lets not compound the problem by slowing people down senselessly.
Friday, 18 January 2013
So, what was 2012 like for you?
Now that we’re safely into 2013 I thought I’d look back and see what progress Guernsey PLC has made over the past twelve months.
Let's start up north and work our way down.
Lots of wind and water to Chout but we’ve only just sort of got around to maybe looking at the viability of considering the possibility of perhaps using alternative energy sources at some unspecified time in the future.
Speaking as one who usually decries the use of consultants I do think this is an area where the island lacks the necessary expertise and where we should commission a specific report detailing what, where, how much, and to what benefit over what period. The trouble is, someone might then have to do something about it.
A bit further on, we have Mont Cuet still filling up at an alarming rate. More talk about island wide recycling but the latest proposals have as many holes as the recycling car parks themselves. Most of us want to do it, but those that be want someone else to pay for it, and someone else to sort out the fine details. So we carry on as usual.
Down to the Bridge where Leales Yard still hangs in the air, threatening the future of the existing shops as is already seen by the ghosts of businesses past which now rattle their chains as charity shops.
At least we can drive down the road and find a decent and well run supermarket at last. It might be another nail in the coffin of the small grocers (if such things ever made it into the 21st century) but at least it is a proper coffin nail and not the pretenders we’ve had to put up with in the past.
Still no cinema to Les Banques but maybe the promise of one if a whole new shedload of offices can be built. Well, perhaps promise is too strong a word. Maybe just something to be considered as viable until the plans are approved and then maybe quietly dropped, again.
By now we should be to Town but of course the traffic as usual is slowing us up a bit. Still, as we’re to the bus sheds, let’s reflect on what a good job the new contractors have done with the bus service. Well, that didn’t take long did it?
More complaints, late and missing services, and the ongoing threat of strike action. And all of this from a company which was going to be almost like a co-operative with the Island in its sunny future. I wonder just how much money that deal saved us?
Back to the roads, the traffic jams, and the closures. It’s amazing how so many roads can be closed all at the same time and how we can have so many cars and vans generated by a population of 65,000 or so.
That “or so” by the way could be 10,000+; nobody knows, as we felt it prudent to duck out of the last census. Might have been too revealing. After all, being part of the EU (?) we’ve got to let in all and sundry, and, provided they live in open market “accommodation”, we don’t seem to care too much.
Not only can’t we keep undesirables out, we can’t even get rid of them when they prove to be exactly that. Thank goodness we now have our own little tank to sort them out if they get really shirty.
Before we get into Town, let’s divert to what should be the crown in C&L’s portfolio of responsibilities; Beau Sejour. This potential hub of the community is so valued that they are still considering farming it out to private enterprise to save money. Somehow they can’t figure out that if a private company can run it cheaper and still make a profit then so can C&L. Perhaps with the skatepark is on its way, the minister can now focus fully on the day job and we’ll see a popular result for the people.
Talking of community, I see that the Arts Commission is on its third or fourth Community officer in as many years. Must be a tough job to go through people at such a rate.
Anyway, let’s move into Town and count the number of still empty shops; now to be joined by one or two more, given recent announcements. Retail has been changed forever by the internet but that shouldn’t stop us from developing a town which actually attracts people.
Once upon a time Guernsey’s market shone leagues above anything Jersey could provide. What a good redevelopment that turned out to be. A dead market, a library now marooned in a pedestrian area far from the nearest car park, and a beautiful performance space seldom used.
At least the business world continues to thrive and has plenty of space to expand into, thanks to our forward looking developers who are able to cater for those sectors of our society with sufficient wealth to buy their fabulous creations.
The property market generally continues to bloom, unless of course you’re young, and/or less than wealthy; someone who doesn’t count that is.
Talking of counting, things have gone rather quiet on the Education front again. After all of that unnecessary fuss, a few faces have changed, some quietly shuffled off to other duties, and the post Mulkerrin report update seems to have wandered off into the long grass.
Perhaps everyone is too busy trying to achieve all of these savings FTP is supposed to produce. Not very likely given that the post of Chief Minister seems to be becoming ceremonial. Kings used to be able to lock people in the Tower; now their descendants open things or hold garden parties.
Nobody likes being told what to do but we desperately need someone to pick up the reins of government and crack the whip over more than a few heads. We need real savings and real efficiencies. In a time of austerity, we need to fund the basics and lose the “nice to haves”.
Our business community, and especially our internationals, seem to have little problem in cutting their cloth; why do we?
Transparency and accountability are held by all to be good things, at least in political manifesto puffs. Once the seat hits the bench, they become something which everybody else should aspire towards at some future date.
Take that £2.5m lost to a simple fraud. Did the civil servant concerned get sacked for cutting corners? Or weren’t the corners there in the first place; in which case, why are those who should have put suitable checking procedures in place still warming their chairs. More to the point, why isn’t our investigating press following up the story. Oh, I forgot, we don’t appear have one.
Putting aside the extra money it’s now costing us through that fraud, the airport project seems to be going rather well with minimal disruption. The massive amount of materials seem to be flowing well, and the tractor drivers appear to be more professional that the bus drivers if public opinion is to be believed. But let’s wait for the end result before passing judgement. Let’s see just what we get for our money and how much more air traffic we receive from better, up to date aircraft and budget airlines.
Moving into the country, the farmers appear to be holding their own, at least in supplying the local market for dairy products. Shame we’ve never really got the idea of marketing and export sorted out but why bother when now neither the demand or the supply is there.
Down to the coast, where the sea keeps reminding us who’s really in charge. After the hole in the wall incident was repeated a couple of times, the States actually commissioned a report on our sea defences. Unfortunately, that report suggested spending something like £50m over a long period of time to try and keep the sea in check.
Now, which politician is going to start spending that amount of money when they can put it off until post election? They did say a long period of time didn’t they? Surely that means it can wait a while then?
Ah, King Canute, where are you when we need you?
One would think that defending the island would be right up there on the To Do list for all politicians and civil servants but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Maybe they all live in the higher parishes?
So, another year of missed opportunities and botch ups. Another States, just as forward thinking as the last one.
Maybe this year will be different. Maybe this year will be the one when a true political leader will emerge to lead us out of the wilderness years.
Maybe.
Let's start up north and work our way down.
Lots of wind and water to Chout but we’ve only just sort of got around to maybe looking at the viability of considering the possibility of perhaps using alternative energy sources at some unspecified time in the future.
Speaking as one who usually decries the use of consultants I do think this is an area where the island lacks the necessary expertise and where we should commission a specific report detailing what, where, how much, and to what benefit over what period. The trouble is, someone might then have to do something about it.
A bit further on, we have Mont Cuet still filling up at an alarming rate. More talk about island wide recycling but the latest proposals have as many holes as the recycling car parks themselves. Most of us want to do it, but those that be want someone else to pay for it, and someone else to sort out the fine details. So we carry on as usual.
Down to the Bridge where Leales Yard still hangs in the air, threatening the future of the existing shops as is already seen by the ghosts of businesses past which now rattle their chains as charity shops.
At least we can drive down the road and find a decent and well run supermarket at last. It might be another nail in the coffin of the small grocers (if such things ever made it into the 21st century) but at least it is a proper coffin nail and not the pretenders we’ve had to put up with in the past.
Still no cinema to Les Banques but maybe the promise of one if a whole new shedload of offices can be built. Well, perhaps promise is too strong a word. Maybe just something to be considered as viable until the plans are approved and then maybe quietly dropped, again.
By now we should be to Town but of course the traffic as usual is slowing us up a bit. Still, as we’re to the bus sheds, let’s reflect on what a good job the new contractors have done with the bus service. Well, that didn’t take long did it?
More complaints, late and missing services, and the ongoing threat of strike action. And all of this from a company which was going to be almost like a co-operative with the Island in its sunny future. I wonder just how much money that deal saved us?
Back to the roads, the traffic jams, and the closures. It’s amazing how so many roads can be closed all at the same time and how we can have so many cars and vans generated by a population of 65,000 or so.
That “or so” by the way could be 10,000+; nobody knows, as we felt it prudent to duck out of the last census. Might have been too revealing. After all, being part of the EU (?) we’ve got to let in all and sundry, and, provided they live in open market “accommodation”, we don’t seem to care too much.
Not only can’t we keep undesirables out, we can’t even get rid of them when they prove to be exactly that. Thank goodness we now have our own little tank to sort them out if they get really shirty.
Before we get into Town, let’s divert to what should be the crown in C&L’s portfolio of responsibilities; Beau Sejour. This potential hub of the community is so valued that they are still considering farming it out to private enterprise to save money. Somehow they can’t figure out that if a private company can run it cheaper and still make a profit then so can C&L. Perhaps with the skatepark is on its way, the minister can now focus fully on the day job and we’ll see a popular result for the people.
Talking of community, I see that the Arts Commission is on its third or fourth Community officer in as many years. Must be a tough job to go through people at such a rate.
Anyway, let’s move into Town and count the number of still empty shops; now to be joined by one or two more, given recent announcements. Retail has been changed forever by the internet but that shouldn’t stop us from developing a town which actually attracts people.
Once upon a time Guernsey’s market shone leagues above anything Jersey could provide. What a good redevelopment that turned out to be. A dead market, a library now marooned in a pedestrian area far from the nearest car park, and a beautiful performance space seldom used.
At least the business world continues to thrive and has plenty of space to expand into, thanks to our forward looking developers who are able to cater for those sectors of our society with sufficient wealth to buy their fabulous creations.
The property market generally continues to bloom, unless of course you’re young, and/or less than wealthy; someone who doesn’t count that is.
Talking of counting, things have gone rather quiet on the Education front again. After all of that unnecessary fuss, a few faces have changed, some quietly shuffled off to other duties, and the post Mulkerrin report update seems to have wandered off into the long grass.
Perhaps everyone is too busy trying to achieve all of these savings FTP is supposed to produce. Not very likely given that the post of Chief Minister seems to be becoming ceremonial. Kings used to be able to lock people in the Tower; now their descendants open things or hold garden parties.
Nobody likes being told what to do but we desperately need someone to pick up the reins of government and crack the whip over more than a few heads. We need real savings and real efficiencies. In a time of austerity, we need to fund the basics and lose the “nice to haves”.
Our business community, and especially our internationals, seem to have little problem in cutting their cloth; why do we?
Transparency and accountability are held by all to be good things, at least in political manifesto puffs. Once the seat hits the bench, they become something which everybody else should aspire towards at some future date.
Take that £2.5m lost to a simple fraud. Did the civil servant concerned get sacked for cutting corners? Or weren’t the corners there in the first place; in which case, why are those who should have put suitable checking procedures in place still warming their chairs. More to the point, why isn’t our investigating press following up the story. Oh, I forgot, we don’t appear have one.
Putting aside the extra money it’s now costing us through that fraud, the airport project seems to be going rather well with minimal disruption. The massive amount of materials seem to be flowing well, and the tractor drivers appear to be more professional that the bus drivers if public opinion is to be believed. But let’s wait for the end result before passing judgement. Let’s see just what we get for our money and how much more air traffic we receive from better, up to date aircraft and budget airlines.
Moving into the country, the farmers appear to be holding their own, at least in supplying the local market for dairy products. Shame we’ve never really got the idea of marketing and export sorted out but why bother when now neither the demand or the supply is there.
Down to the coast, where the sea keeps reminding us who’s really in charge. After the hole in the wall incident was repeated a couple of times, the States actually commissioned a report on our sea defences. Unfortunately, that report suggested spending something like £50m over a long period of time to try and keep the sea in check.
Now, which politician is going to start spending that amount of money when they can put it off until post election? They did say a long period of time didn’t they? Surely that means it can wait a while then?
Ah, King Canute, where are you when we need you?
One would think that defending the island would be right up there on the To Do list for all politicians and civil servants but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Maybe they all live in the higher parishes?
So, another year of missed opportunities and botch ups. Another States, just as forward thinking as the last one.
Maybe this year will be different. Maybe this year will be the one when a true political leader will emerge to lead us out of the wilderness years.
Maybe.
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Getting by
I have a theory.
I believe that for any given situation, everyone does the best they can at that particular moment.
It is so easy to criticise but if you knew the whole story for that person up to and including that moment, then you would understand why, in your eyes, they’re performing so badly.
Bad parenting isn’t usually done on purpose. It can be the result of a long series of events which may stretch back generations. You might even know that you’re a rubbish Dad but you are doing the best that you can.
The dozy driver cutting you up on the filter box may still have her mind on the sick baby she has left with the childminder and her boss’s threat to sack her if she takes any more time off. She isn’t driving like an idiot deliberately.
Making a decision to install traffic lights must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Maybe they couldn’t be bothered to think it through but it was the best they could do just then.
Look at your own life.
We spend most of our day working below peak efficiency. We hope to get all of the big decisions right but know that some of the smaller stuff could have gone better. We can also give you several reasons why we’re not firing at 100% all of the time. Several very logical and understandable reasons.
Logical and understandable to us that is.
Anyone else might regard it as the act of a half wit, especially if you happen to be a deputy or civil servant or in the public eye.
If my theory is right, then mistakes are inevitable. All of us are going to get it wrong some of the time and maybe most of the time during times of personal crisis.
We are all going to make mistakes so why not live with that idea.
You are not defined by the mistakes you make; you are defined by the way you recover from those mistakes; what you learn from them.
“I’m sorry, I was wrong. I apologise”.
Some time ago in London, the police ended up prosecuting a black mother for assault after forcing entry into her house to support bailiffs who, it later turned out, had got the wrong property. The case got thrown out on appeal and the police apologised to the lady.
Not only that but a senior policeman went to the family church that Sunday and repeated the apology in front of the whole congregation.
“I’m sorry. We were wrong”
No explanations or justifications. Just a sincere apology.
They could have just written a letter but someone, somewhere was working above optimal performance that day. They did the right thing and everyone’s reputation was improved.
On a personal level, the best we can hope for is to learn from our mistakes and stop repeating them. We’ll still mess up occasionally but hopefully not so often and in different and more entertaining ways.
As I said at the start, this is only a theory but it’s one I’m using until something better comes along. I might be mistaken but it’s the best I can do for now.
I believe that for any given situation, everyone does the best they can at that particular moment.
It is so easy to criticise but if you knew the whole story for that person up to and including that moment, then you would understand why, in your eyes, they’re performing so badly.
Bad parenting isn’t usually done on purpose. It can be the result of a long series of events which may stretch back generations. You might even know that you’re a rubbish Dad but you are doing the best that you can.
The dozy driver cutting you up on the filter box may still have her mind on the sick baby she has left with the childminder and her boss’s threat to sack her if she takes any more time off. She isn’t driving like an idiot deliberately.
Making a decision to install traffic lights must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Maybe they couldn’t be bothered to think it through but it was the best they could do just then.
Look at your own life.
We spend most of our day working below peak efficiency. We hope to get all of the big decisions right but know that some of the smaller stuff could have gone better. We can also give you several reasons why we’re not firing at 100% all of the time. Several very logical and understandable reasons.
Logical and understandable to us that is.
Anyone else might regard it as the act of a half wit, especially if you happen to be a deputy or civil servant or in the public eye.
If my theory is right, then mistakes are inevitable. All of us are going to get it wrong some of the time and maybe most of the time during times of personal crisis.
We are all going to make mistakes so why not live with that idea.
You are not defined by the mistakes you make; you are defined by the way you recover from those mistakes; what you learn from them.
“I’m sorry, I was wrong. I apologise”.
Some time ago in London, the police ended up prosecuting a black mother for assault after forcing entry into her house to support bailiffs who, it later turned out, had got the wrong property. The case got thrown out on appeal and the police apologised to the lady.
Not only that but a senior policeman went to the family church that Sunday and repeated the apology in front of the whole congregation.
“I’m sorry. We were wrong”
No explanations or justifications. Just a sincere apology.
They could have just written a letter but someone, somewhere was working above optimal performance that day. They did the right thing and everyone’s reputation was improved.
On a personal level, the best we can hope for is to learn from our mistakes and stop repeating them. We’ll still mess up occasionally but hopefully not so often and in different and more entertaining ways.
As I said at the start, this is only a theory but it’s one I’m using until something better comes along. I might be mistaken but it’s the best I can do for now.
Thursday, 12 April 2012
Guernsey traffic congestion
This Island has too much traffic or is it that we just have too few roads?
Too much congestion, too often.
How to solve it?
Private vehicle ownership is now deemed essential and this increasingly means one person, one car. People have got used to the convenience and will not willingly regress and give up what they see as a necessity.
Commercial traffic has increased with the popularity of “last minute delivery” and off site storage.
There are more tradesmen on the roads, each one with his workshop in the back of the van, traveling from job to job.
And the road system remains the same. Less the “improvement” schemes of the Traffic Committee which seldom seem to work.
Does anyone think the Bridge is better for its improvements?
Encouraging more people to cycle only serves to make the problem worse and using big and mostly empty buses doesn’t help much either.
As we can’t build bigger roads, the solution seems to be to reduce our traffic. The idea of the car as “a privilege rather than a right” floated like a lead balloon, so an alternative is needed.
Maybe the answer is to do nothing, always a good Guernsey solution.
If it becomes too difficult to drive into Town then people won’t do it as often. Driving for pleasure will become a thing of the past and the roads will just have essential traffic on them.
Problem solved.
Anyone have a better idea?
Too much congestion, too often.
How to solve it?
Private vehicle ownership is now deemed essential and this increasingly means one person, one car. People have got used to the convenience and will not willingly regress and give up what they see as a necessity.
Commercial traffic has increased with the popularity of “last minute delivery” and off site storage.
There are more tradesmen on the roads, each one with his workshop in the back of the van, traveling from job to job.
And the road system remains the same. Less the “improvement” schemes of the Traffic Committee which seldom seem to work.
Does anyone think the Bridge is better for its improvements?
Encouraging more people to cycle only serves to make the problem worse and using big and mostly empty buses doesn’t help much either.
As we can’t build bigger roads, the solution seems to be to reduce our traffic. The idea of the car as “a privilege rather than a right” floated like a lead balloon, so an alternative is needed.
Maybe the answer is to do nothing, always a good Guernsey solution.
If it becomes too difficult to drive into Town then people won’t do it as often. Driving for pleasure will become a thing of the past and the roads will just have essential traffic on them.
Problem solved.
Anyone have a better idea?
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