I'm not sure if this is a me thing, an ADHD thing or actually a common thing, but seriously, why is it so much easier to write about things you're annoyed about?
I was in the car on the way back to my house from my parents' place and was chatting away to the voice notes on my phone as I sometimes do and I realised, I don't know if it's because of my sense of humour or not, but when I'm annoyed about something, mildly vexed or just playing at being mad because it's funny, writing comes so much easier. I realise that when you get really annoyed about things like mayonnaise like I do - it was a whole other blog - then it's something that becomes quite easy to get annoyed and then write about it, but seriously, I don't know why but it's easier.
I wouldn't say I particularly struggle with road rage but there are plenty of people who wind me the hell up on the road, whether it's failing to indicate, driving at half the speed limit or, and this is my big pet hate, walking into the road and knowing that if I hit you, it's my fault.
Even before the point where The Highway Code was changed and this whole thing of hierarchy came in, the responsibility for an accident most often sat with the driver, partly because we're the ones with the insurance for being on the road. There are bits I do agree with, and that's the whole thing of making sure that drivers are reminder we're bigger, we're more dangerous and the bigger your vehicle, the more dangerous it becomes to smaller vehicles and passengers, and even if a some of the time, possibly a lot of the time, who knows, drivers aren't the problem or not the only problem, a reminder to be more careful is important. What winds me up is not the fact that we as drivers are now more responsible for children's safety near roads, but everyone's safety, despite the poor choices that people - mostly adults - make.
Most kids school coats, particularly when they are very small, are brightly coloured and one of the reasons for that is road safety, and whilst I myself am a big fan of a biker jacket or a long black wool coat, I really detest when people decide to leave the house to walk the dog in a dark blue or black rain jacket or similar, when it's dark, the street lights are crap and the road is 30mph or worse, there are no street lights and it's a 40mph. When you're crossing the road dressed like that, drivers struggle to see you! Honestly, I could wax lyrical about this and I'm relatively sure that there are several minutes of me shrieking at my phone about it with the pitch of my voice getting higher and higher the more agitated I got. Someone walked out very close to my car, it was late when I saw them because of what they were wearing, but if something happened, it's my fault.
I think the new Highway Code goes too far in putting the responsibility on drivers, because we've already been through a phenomenon of crash for cash for motorbikes and cars, with people essentially baiting a crash to happen so they can cash in on the value of the car and also compensation for things like whiplash, and I can only think that this transfer of responsibility is opening motorists up to the same but from pedestrians. No one wants to hit a person, or no one that doesn't need some form of evaluation, but if a person steps out in front of your car, that's not your fault and there's not always a way to stop the car and prevent damage to the person. Sometimes the worst damage we do to ourselves and others is from trying to prevent damage during an accident.
But as I said, writing about something that annoys me is really easy, so I could really go on...
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