To drive or not to drive

WELL, it had to happen I suppose because if you talk about mayhem often enough then people are likely to believe you.

So it was with the dreaded Weymouth Transport Package roadworks which started last week. Flashing light signs dominated the town with their lurid warning about forthcoming delays and-or the end of the motoring world as we know it and people really paid attention.

But the way they paid attention was to avoid the entire area like the plague and stay away by the thousand.

Normally gridlocked Boot Hill was like a ghost town at 8am when it all started while there was a sharp and obvious increase in the number of cyclists.

However, drivers have short memories and the usual evening mayhem swiftly clogged up the Wyke area followed by enormous traffic problems in the Lanehouse area.

Since then it has been a mixture of horrible queues and quiet periods as wary motorists slowly get to grips with the roadworks.

And the best is still to come… the King Street roundabouts loom large in December and January. Merry Christmas!

Definitely a three-flag driver!

A TRANSPORT initiative has been relaunched to target bad drivers who overtake in dangerous places, speed in residential areas or follow the car in front of them too closely.

The campaign aims to identify poor drivers so the majority of road users can recognise them and be on their guard.

To do this poor drivers will have to display white flags with a red cross on them signifying their inability to drive properly.

These flags must be clipped to a car door and be visible to all other drivers and pedestrians. Those drivers who have shown particularly poor driving skills will have to display a flag on each side of the car to indicate their greater lack of skill and general lower intelligence mindset to the general public.

All this, as most people will be aware, is just a joke circulating now the World Cup has started. But is it a joke?

In a single day I saw people driving cars with flags on them carry out some horrendous manoeuvres.

Examples ranged from overtaking a bus straight into the path of a lorry to looking left at a junction before turning right straight in front of oncoming vehicles which had to break sharply.

One bright spark – who incredibly also had a sticker on his windscreen and dice dangling from his mirror – should be forced to display three flags.

He overtook one car only to pull in to the side of the road 100 yards ahead in front of the same car on a sharp bend so he could chat with a friend he had seen. He then seemed to wait until there was a decent amount of traffic before pulling sharply away in front of it. Definitely a three flagger!

Booked for parking in the mayor’s space

WEYMOUTH and Portland Mayor Paul Kimber has received his first award since taking office - a ticket for parking in the mayoral space!

Mr Kimber drove to the council offices on North Quay so he could send a get well card to a sick colleague.

He parked as usual in the Mayor’s official parking space that he had been using since taking office in May and walked inside the building.

Mr Kimber said: “I did my card, but when I came out I found that I had been given a parking ticket.

“It is the first time that I have ever heard of the Mayor getting a parking ticket in the Mayor’s official parking space!

“I have been assured that the matter is now being dealt with, but the parking people were not very happy.

“The funny thing was that they were quite put out that I had parked in the Mayor’s space because, at that time, they didn’t know that they were talking to the Mayor!

“When they found out that they had just booked the Mayor I think it was a case of “Yikes!”

“They are now dealing with the ticket and I hope to hear that there will be no further action taken against me.”

NOTHING seems to get people going more than a good row over parking.

There have been protests against pay and display, fury at loss of spaces and anger at restrictions in various streets, but one motorist underlined why we have to have parking laws “for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men”.

He seemed to be in a bit of a hurry as he turned into the street I was in and he was clearly looking for somewhere to park.

Double yellow lines were everywhere, but this was his lucky day and just before the restrictions began there was a large empty space big enough for several cars.

He then drove right through the unrestricted spaces in favour of parking smack on the double yellow lines.

I couldn’t believe it and another pedestrian summed up the situation nicely when he said: “Let’s hope he gets a ticket.”

WEYMOUTH and Portland is on the crest of a tourism wave with the resort winning awards, improving facilities and generally doing everything it can to welcome visitors.

So it was with some amusement that I saw Weymouth literally try to cultivate tourists.

On a glorious sunny afternoon when the beach was packed and every seafront bench and flat topped flower planter had people sat on them.

Enter workmen turning over the flower beds into a fine tilth ready for the next lot of flowers.

Tourists and residents alike taking the sun watched this with mild interest until they realised that the cultivator was heading their way.

Then they began to get nervous about moving, where to go and will I get my seat back, rather like a flock of birds waiting until the last moment to take wing as potential danger threatens.

Fortunately all went smoothly and the flock of visitors soon settled back on their perches as the workmen progressed.

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