If Ross Le Brun (GP 7 October) wishes to crusade for a change in safer driving practice, it seems he’s missed an open target. We can’t make roads wider, without removing pavements. Pavement surfing is unavoidable, and usually done with judgment and consideration; hence the lack of casualties.
However, he could encourage the use of smaller cars. During the nightmare of trying to get around St Martin’s and environs affected by the closure of Fort Road, it has been glaringly obvious that the giant SUVs, too spotless to be used for pulling a boat or farming, are acting like blood clots in the circulation of traffic through our tiny lanes. Tradesmen in trucks and vans are generally experienced and polite drivers; private owners of these luxury tanks, in my experience, less so.
I recently sat in a ‘car train’ of upwards of 20 vehicles trying to get towards St Martin’s village centre, while a massive Range Rover – other makes are available – with a single driver, going against the flow, begrudgingly attempted to do a 45-point turn. Meanwhile mothers with prams and on cargo bikes, and little children on scooters, were trying to squeeze their way through, to get to school. Now that was seriously dangerous, and happening in front of our eyes.
It will continue to happen as long as tranches of new houses are being approved for an area which is already overburdened; new houses which require a whole new electricity and water infrastructure, and further road closures. Road closures that force high levels of traffic into close proximity to children and pedestrians.
Do our planners actually live in Guernsey? Do they see the chaos they have sowed by simply filling in empty fields as if they were doing a jigsaw puzzle? And why should our green fields be used, in preference to old greenhouse sites – usually with better access? It’s more profitable for the builders, sure – but what about the residents? These nature-friendly ‘green lungs’ are part of what makes this island special.
Incidentally encouraging mega-vehicles by widening car parking spaces, e.g., at the Albert Pier, is counter productive. Perhaps Deputy Le Brun could apply his efforts to encouraging the use of smaller cars by returning to the previous smaller spaces. More smaller cars fitted in can only benefit shops and restaurants in town, and may make the overcrowded roads less life-threatening.
IAN HAMILTON
St Peter Port
