Opinion : Danger on the M40 : Speed and spray

A few days ago a friend of mine, who lives in Beaconsfield, invited me to their home for dinner.

Naturally I was minded to decline the offer after all Beaconsfield is such a long distance away however they offered to pick me up from my ancestral home in their car so I accepted their kind offer.

Of course my friend decided to dice with danger and use the M40 to get to their home.

By George! Once on the motorway the cars were speeding by at a dreadful rate. ‘Are there no speed cameras on the motorway?’ I asked my friend, to which they replied ‘No, everyone does just whatever they want’.

Well, no wonder there are so many accidents on that stretch of road.

As we motored along my eyes were kept firmly shut, my heart was beating fast and I was fearing that every moment would be my last.

Then it came on to rain.

Oh dear. The spray was terrible. Like a thick impenetrable fog the spray whipped up from the wheels of other vehicles reduced visibility to a few yards making for even more dangerous driving.

Of course the vehicles with rear mud flaps fitted were making nowhere as much spray as those without.

Surely, for the sake of safety, all vehicles should be fitted with mud flaps by law to make driving in wet conditions safer?

Many lorries have them but sadly most of the mud flaps are too short meaning that substantial amounts of spray can still escape between the road and the bottom of the mud flap.

I think it’s about time there were clearly defined regulations giving the size of a mud flap which is incorporated into the MOT test. For example the lower end must be no more than two inches from the road surface.

Driving on a motorway is dangerous enough as it is without the mad drivers who speed and the wall of spray that appears when it rains.

As for dinner with my friend. Well, that was very pleasant indeed but when it came time for your humble servant to return home I did insist that we drove back on the A40 instead of risking our lives on the motorway.

What do you think?

*My blogs are published every Tuesday and Friday evening around 8.00pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.

You can also follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ivor.wycombe or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Ivor_Wycombe.