Tory rules cause road gridlock

WITH £2bn for social care in England, and a £690m competitive fund for English councils to help reduce congestion, Philip Hammond has effectively guaranteed misery and poor health for Britain, for many years to come.

When it was reported in November 2016 that, Britain had the worst congested roads in Europe, a report followed, from the Centre for Economics and Business Research which predicted, ‘congestion will cost the British economy as much as £307 billion by 2030’, i.e. £21bn a year.

While the number of vehicles on our roads virtually guarantees congestion, it’s undoubtedly exacerbated by lawless drivers, the worst of which are ‘speed freaks’ and drivers who use mobile phones. When they cause death and serious injury, not only does it result in roads being closed for a minimum of four hours for police investigations, it means huge costs for the NHS: certainly more than the £2bn pledged for social care. And, how much do road traffic victims claim in disability benefits?

Furthermore, a study by the Royal College of Physicians showed that air pollution is linked to 40,000 premature deaths in the UK every year: 29,000 attributed to particulate pollution, and 11,000 attributed to nitrogen dioxide.

While diesel fumes are clearly a big problem, we surely can’t ignore excessive and inappropriate speed. By driving ‘fast and furious’, not only does it contribute to lung disease, it increases stress levels and global warming. Do ‘speed freaks’ contribute to floods as well as death and serious injury?

Also, when drivers stop at the roadside to make a phone call, (so as not to kill pedestrians and cyclists), don’t they cause congestion? Once, phone boxes were on footpaths. Now, not only do we effectively have them on the road, but in the case of SUVs, they are ten times bigger, and with HGVs, fifty times bigger.

If Philip Hammond wants to create a fairer society, he should cut speed limits, and crush the vehicles of ‘speed freaks’ and drivers who use mobile phones, (as is done with fly-tippers), so that Britain’s 910,000 people on zero hours contracts, can cycle to work. In doing so, they can save for a mortgage!

If government cuts amounts to Britain ‘living within its financial limits’, not only are ‘speed ‘freaks’ not living within the speed limits, (designed to protect the vulnerable and disadvantaged), they are preventing Britain from being ‘a green and pleasant land’! Tory rules, not EU rules, are causing Britain’s bed-block and gridlock.

Allan Ramsey, via email

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We are full

THE NHS is in meltdown, schools are overcrowded and full, we cannot build enough houses, the police are over-stretched, why?

It’s simple.

We have plus 350,000 people entering our country every year, over one million over the past three years. No country as small as ours can budget for this. Roll on Brexit.

P Dawson, Blackburn