Opinion : Don’t be silly in the snow

It’s snowed in High Wycombe.

Wycombe woke to find the town carpeted in a thick layer of snow on Sunday 10th December 2017.

Guess what? As usual the transport system collapsed.

The M40 was blocked, train services were affected and bus services suffered disruption.

Only the foolish would venture out on a day like this. Sadly the world is full of fools and many people did decide to go out for non-essential reasons.

As for my good self, well yours truly wasn’t stupid enough to venture outdoors. Instead I turned up the heating and sat by the window in my drawing room surveying the birds and other animals as they struggled in the snow.

Who in their right mind would come out of their house and get in their car to drive on the snowy roads? Sadly many did.

Once upon a time in snowy conditions far more roads were gritted. Year ago, before the cutbacks, the gritters would clear many of the roads in residential areas.

Surely in such conditions the gritters should treat all the roads rather than just the A and B class roads?

The gritting routes in Wycombe cover many of the bus routes, therefore if anyone was stupid enough to venture out on the roads surely it would make sense to try to plan the route to their final destination using as many roads that the buses use as possible?

Only this morning yours truly saw a daft neighbour venture out in their car. However they soon returned as surprisingly they found the road impassable.

Unfortunately they were unable to park their car safely in their drive so they left (or should that be abandoned?) their vehicle beside the road partially blocking the carriageway.

In snow conditions it’s better to leave your car where it is rather than trying to move it. After all there is no guarantee of being able to park in safely again.

If you do drive then don’t forget to clear the snow off the roof of your vehicle otherwise when you put the brakes on there will be an avalanche over your windscreen.

In this wintry weather don’t forget to check on any elderly neighbours living nearby after all the ice and snow can leave the elderly and inform trapped in their homes.

The local wildlife will also find difficulty in obtaining food. Even though my good self was unable to venture out it didn’t stop me opening a window and throwing some food out for the birds.

No doubt the transport chaos will continue into Monday resulting in great fun for all those who need to get to work.

If you do go out just keep an eye open for the ‘snow idiots’ who think they can still drive at 30mph on a snowy road.

Snow brings out the stupid side of people, so please take care. Whatever you do don’t be silly in the snow. It’s better off in the warm than risking your life during this spell of wintry weather.

What do you think?

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

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