OK, so you've probably named about twenty things that fall into that category just now. so let's narrow the parametres a little to exclude members of The Cabinet and other senior Labour Party figures. This leaves us with one particular nuisance that we can get rid of- speed bumps.
Rushmoor already has a policy in place against such "traffic calming measures" on the simple basis that the don't work, are bad for the environment, damage people's cars and end up creating more noise than there was in the first place.
Avenue Road is extremely bad in this regard- forcing people to practically crawl down the hill or to take a massive detour round through Rectory Road.
Most people accept that speed bumps are, to use the technical term "stupid" but not many realise just how bad they are. A study in Canada has now shown that because people speed up and slow down more often between speed bumps, that consumption of fossil fuels is actually worse than if people were maintaining a higher speed straight through.
Yes, I know we should try and control speed and yes it would be nice if people didn't speed up and slow down as well all know they do. But surely we should legislate for the world as it is, not as we imagine it ought to be?
In some places we do need to control speeds- Marrowbrook Lane is an example of this- with some people using it as a rat run in the mornings. It is in these places that it actually makes sense to deploy speed cameras or speed visors to enforce a safe speed. There are plenty of speed cameras around- we just need to take them away from their more profitable but less useful locations on the main roads and actually use them to protect residents.
All of this is to say that I will be making a big issue of this in council. We have already accepted that speed bumps are no good- so let's get rid of them!
I'm due to meet traffic officers soon and will bring this up with them. You'll read about the outcome here first.
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