Is queuing a national trait? (From Gazette & Herald)

Is queuing a national trait?

NO doubt those of you who've gone to York by car recently have approved the vastly improved slip road junction into the bypass at Musley bank. All at once it enables safe manoeuvre to take place, and one wonders why one (nay thousands) had to go through that period of intense danger when the twin lane road was suddenly reduced to one and getting into the traffic flow was a life or death affair. My motoring magazine has an interesting comment on what is already standard practice in several other countries, which is 'zip-merging'. This is where traffic joining the main road slips into the flowing traffic alternately, rather like a zip-fastener, hence the name. The method is for the main road traffic to open up the space between the car in front and allow cars from the slip road to 'zip' into each space, thus causing no hold-up and keeping the traffic flowing without queue forming.

It was intended to be detailed in the last issue of the Highway Code, but for some reason that didn't happen, and I can only assume that the Ministry didn't think British drivers were 'ready' yet. There is a tendency for people to like to queue for some reason. Is this a national trait I wonder? I can also see the problem with that kind of driver who doesn't like to let anyone get in front of him/her at any price. It's going to be a question of education to alter drivers attitudes, although there is a lot of courtesy already shown even today, and our new road layout will cater for zip-merging, if and when it arrives in these islands.

I often wonder about the need' by some drivers, to have a dolly 'dangler' or whatever swinging about in front of their eyes, hanging from the rear view mirror. A highly distracting and dangerous fad, yet the retail market has all these 'danglers' in ample supply in the motorists' shops, which really from a road safety point of view is the daftest place ever. If insurance companies refused to pay out where cars involved in crashes had such toys in front of the driver, they'd fairly soon go out of fashion. I wonder if this 'need' goes back to baby days? I stopped to look at a baby in a pram the other day, but failed to see if in fact there was a baby there, there was so much dangling stuff hung across its face, that I said "Is there a baby in there", and I was assured there was. To have a load of baubles just in front of the eyes is all that the child can see, and it must surely have an adverse effect on its eyesight at such a tender age, possibly resulting in a slight squint.

Surely the sensible thing is to let the child have an unrestricted view which will allow it to move its eyes about as they are attracted by things it sees, and allow it to change focus as necessary instead of both eyes concentrating on one object within a few inches of the face. Like danglers in cars they should be outlawed for the welfare of the person behind them. As for 'dummies'- well, I'm amazed at times to see youngsters running about with a huge dummy kin their mouth when they should have been weaned off them a year or more ago. Unhygienic, and more for the benefit of the parent than the child, they too are available from the commercial world, and as long as folks will buy them, then they'll continue to be made in their millions.

Do long-term dummy suckers tend to be people who feel the need for a cigarette or a pipe in their mouths in their later years I wonder?

Incidentally, going back to motor cars and the fact there here, we drive in the left, whilst the majority drive on the right, the reasons are quite interesting. It is well known that the gentleman normally walks on the right of the lady, because, the majority of folk being right-handed, allowed him to have his sword in his right hand as his protective weapon. I'm going back some years of course. This of course remained standard practice in the UK, and became applied to vehicles driving on the left when they appeared on the scene. But how come the others drive on the right? Well this was overturned by France (it would!) because Napoleon Bonaparte was left-handed and he decreed that his armies should amrch don the right, and this likewise became standard practice in later years with wheeled vehicles. This righthanded sword-arm also, it seems, affected the direction of 'twist' on ancient spiral staircases, allowing the building's defenders to have their sword arm free to be used against the attacker.

I notice Fred Dibner has been on TV recently, although I never managed to see any of his programmes, but it reminded me of the day that Malton's last chimney came tumbling down. This was Russell's Brewery of course, and the site was where Safeway is today. Quite a crowd gathered one Sunday morning and watched as the fire was lighted underneath, burning away the wooden supports, allowing the monster to come crashing down. A lot of faith we had in that chap doing the demolishing, because it fell just where he wanted it to fortunately.

Thought for today: On Margaret Thatcher, "She's the best man in England". Ronald Reagan (b1911).

Updated: 10:57 Thursday, April 04, 2002