Interesting that Philip Hammond has been moved to the Ministry of Defence to replace Liam Fox, given his last gesture as Minister for Transport.
Announcing his desire to raise the motorway speed limit from 70 mph to 80 mph, Hammond was making a hollow offering to the Top Gear* demographic. Most worrying was that one of his primary arguments behind the move was the significant fall in motorway deaths in recent years.
Does this mean Mr Hammond wants motorway deaths to increase again? Is this a novel government policy for reducing over-population in Britain? And should the members of the armed forces be worried by his new appointment? After all, the number of British deaths in combat has dropped significantly over the last century.
That cars are now safer than they used to be is unarguable, but to use this as a justification for encouraging faster driving is certainly not. A transport minister with nerve, and genuine public interest at heart, would look to keep the number of road deaths falling, and clamp down on people who put their own urgency ahead of others' safety.
Instead, just to compound his twisted logic, Hammond said, "[w]hat we are doing here, is bringing a lot of drivers who currently, routinely break the speed limit, back on the right side of the law - and that has to be a good thing."
So the best way to deal with persistent offenders who disregard the law is to change those laws and decriminalize them, is it? This is what the ConDem government regards as 'a good thing'? Does this mean we can look forward to them doing the same to people who smoke naturally occurring substances recreationally, then?
No, I thought not.
*is he related to Richard, do you think?
Announcing his desire to raise the motorway speed limit from 70 mph to 80 mph, Hammond was making a hollow offering to the Top Gear* demographic. Most worrying was that one of his primary arguments behind the move was the significant fall in motorway deaths in recent years.
Does this mean Mr Hammond wants motorway deaths to increase again? Is this a novel government policy for reducing over-population in Britain? And should the members of the armed forces be worried by his new appointment? After all, the number of British deaths in combat has dropped significantly over the last century.
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| Speed limit signs on British roads will now be replaced by targets for the number of deaths Philip Hammond would like to see on them each year. |
That cars are now safer than they used to be is unarguable, but to use this as a justification for encouraging faster driving is certainly not. A transport minister with nerve, and genuine public interest at heart, would look to keep the number of road deaths falling, and clamp down on people who put their own urgency ahead of others' safety.
Instead, just to compound his twisted logic, Hammond said, "[w]hat we are doing here, is bringing a lot of drivers who currently, routinely break the speed limit, back on the right side of the law - and that has to be a good thing."
So the best way to deal with persistent offenders who disregard the law is to change those laws and decriminalize them, is it? This is what the ConDem government regards as 'a good thing'? Does this mean we can look forward to them doing the same to people who smoke naturally occurring substances recreationally, then?
No, I thought not.
*is he related to Richard, do you think?
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