Speeding

Tue 29 Apr 2008, 19:20

Igor. Just following through on your trivialisation – do you go out of your way to be irritating? Several things for you to think about in your single-issue fanatic’s world.

1. A responsible and sensible woman, in a caring profession, returned to Charlbury after a late shift. She went to bed, and had no sleep at all, having been kept awake all night by our ‘nuisance’ – your word - ravers, yet had to return to work for another shift on Sunday. She had to consider very carefully the balance of risk between driving with impaired judgement, because of lack of sleep, and leaving her care institution short-staffed. Not un-associated with your road safety concerns.

2. A man in late middle age, with very high blood pressure, recently diagnosed but not yet treated. One contributory factor has been identified as lack of sleep. Another blood-pressure raising factor is, of course, the rage associated with being in an insupportable situation one is powerless to control. He, too, was kept awake all night. This was genuinely a life-threatening situation.

3. How many Charlbury people had long car journeys to make last Sunday? Is it not established that there have been several dramatic and fatal road accidents in Oxfordshire in recent years, directly associated with sleep-deprived drivers?

4. It’s unlikely that many of the ravers walked to High Lodge ( though very possible that some of them may have cycled). It’s equally unlikely that that they ingested only ginger biscuits and hot milk – yet they were on the road when they left.

Don’t you dare dismiss genuine concerns about loud music as ‘nuisance’. Empathise, and open up your mind. Think before you post.

Practicalities.
I’d like very much to hear from each prospective Town and District Councillor their stance with regard to increasing levels of noise nuisance in Charlbury. Elections on Thursday. I’m sure that many of them are visiting the Forum. We’re going to have some interesting test cases cropping up over the Summer – Cornbury Festival, Beer Festival on the Cricket Ground, Riverside…

Practicalities.

If you’re bothered by noise, the daytime number is 01865 252887, and the more useful out-of-hours number is 01865 742138

Wesley Smith, PCSO C9837 is at 0845 8 505 505, Ext. 727 8729, if he’s on shift. If he’s not, be ready to be lost in a labyrinth.

Perhaps we should have a public subscription to buy Igor his very own speed gun. The occupation thus derived might give the Forum some respite.

And, Igor, before you dismiss me entirely, I am 100% with you on the question of speed in Charlbury. If I’m walking down Market Street and hear excessive acceleration behind me, I walk down the middle of the road. I’ve also lost count of the number of times I’ve questioned drivers’ literacy at the Bull junction. ‘Stop’ is a relatively simple word.

Perhaps we can all pull together on Igor’s traffic issues, and also acknowledge that noise nuisance is very bad for Charlbury’s quality of life. They are not mutually exclusive issues, as Igor seems to think. Divisiveness is the enemy of effective action.