Moving to chat, since there's no relationship to lace any more...
On Jul 29, 2005, at 19:38, Brenda Paternoster wrote (in response to
Helene, who's off the list for the next 3 months):
Yes, we've got some good roads in UK but there's too much traffic on
some of them.
Yesterday the M25 was clogged up - no obvious reason but I think there
had been an accident earlier in the day - and it took nearly an hour
to go less than 10 miles. Four lanes of traffic at a standstill.
The best of roads won't compensate for bad drivers. Don't know about
requirements in Oz (where Helene lives) but do know a bit about most of
Europe and about my own neck of the woods (Virginia), and you are much
more stringent than we are in doling out driver licenses. Here, a 16yr
old, can get a license, often with just 5 hours of driving experience
(10 in the car, but half spent as an observer, while another student is
at the wheel). And they don't even have to take the test (my son
didn't) if they pass the school exam, which is mostly theoretical.
I got *my* license after 5 hrs of (private) lessons; probably could
have gotten it after 5hrs of driving under the "tuition" of a family
member, if I didn't elect to go to a professional. It took me a lot of
convincing, for my teacher to accept the money for another 5hrs - "what
do you want to do that for, now that you have a license?" - was his
response. In fact, it was only after I got my license (drive around a
block, in a small town, at 25MPH, remembering to stop at intersections
even if there wasn't a stop sign??? That's a "test" that allows me to
go out on a highway, chock-a-block with those huge tractor-trailers???
And nobody driving at less than 10 miles above the posted limit???),
that I really became afraid of driving... How many *other* idiots like
myself are there out on the road?
On my way to Harrisburg last weekend, I spent two hours (less 3 minutes
- I clocked it) not moving at all. Three lanes of traffic, and 90
degrees F. The three lanes in the opposite direction were open to
trafic within one hour, because the accident happened on our side....
One of the "victims" was a pick-up truck (saw it being carried back on
the other side) - the front gone, and the back concertina-ed to half
the regular size. The other "victim" was a truck; saw it in passing
once we got moving - it lay on its side in the ditch, like a curled bug
(the cab being articulated from the rest really made it look like a
dead insect), having spewed its chemicals all over the road... The two
ambulances which followed the tow truck with the wreck of the pick-up
out of the scene had their tale to tell also - their lights flashed,
but the sirens were off - no longer urgent.
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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