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Letters
Driver’s behaviour drove me to tears
As someone who has spent their life trying not to cause a nuisance or trouble for anyone, I find myself brought not only to tears but also to writing to the community over the flagrant disrespect of drivers through East Stour for the law and the lives of others.
I was walking my dog at the weekend along the pavement on Back Street in East Stour. We had stopped on the pavement, behind the curb, to attempt the somewhat dangerous activity of crossing the road. The dog was sat obediently at my side as we listened for traffic coming from Gillingham and watched for traffic coming from the A30/ Sturminster. Nothing unusual so far!
As I was about to start to cross, the dog and I heard a car coming from the Gillingham direction at some speed so pulled back further onto the pavement to sit/stand and wait.
The driver, clearly doing way over the 30mph speed limit, sped up and swerved towards the curb and on passing us chose to shout and gesticulate out of the window as he sped towards the village hall and beyond.
As I carefully crossed the road, tears began to swell, not only from release of the adrenaline that was now coursing through my body but also at the realisation that to some, human life – and for that matter canine life – means so little.
This is not the first time this has happened either to myself or my fellow villagers. Does it take another death on this road through the village before something is done about it? Motorists using the road know they are not going to get caught – the police are so busy with other priorities.
It seems there have not been ‘enough’ deaths on this road to warrant traffic calming or even a pedestrian crossing to the village hall, playfield or bus stop. To be fair to motorists, all the 30mph speed limit repeaters are so worn you can hardly see them but that does not give permission for such flagrant disrespect and downright dangerous driving – the number of times cars overtake because someone is driving responsibly at 30mph is frightening.
If this letter pricks just one driver’s conscience to take more care as they drive through East Stour, then it was worth it – that could be the one life saved.
Name supplied via email
Of the two readers who wrote to comment on the article ‘The future is renewables’, Gordon Lethbridge has his feet on the ground and is in touch with the reality of the situation, whereas Vince Adams talks airily about how renewables are the entire answer, with no need for nuclear or other energy sources (The New Blackmore Vale, 19 August).
Even if we were to carpet the countryside with wind turbines and solar panels – so much for the natural beauty of our county – it would still be inadequate to our needs, partly for the inescapable reason that, as Mr Lethbridge says, there are many days in the year when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.
To suggest this doesn’t matter because, as Mr Adams supposes, there will be technologies as yet not invented to deal with the problem is nonsense.
For the foreseeable future we can only keep the lights on with the help of existing energy sources such as nuclear, oil and gas, plus fracking.
Mr Adams asserts that ‘supplying low-cost renewable energy to heat our homes, fuel our cars and support families is a fundamental right for all’, but even if that were true, it would not, in the current state of technology, be achieved by relying exclusively on renewables.
We need to live in the real world and not in one that doesn’t exist.
Cartoon by Lyndon Wall justsocaricatures.co.uk
Roger White Sherborne
The Great Dorset Steam fair highlighted, yet again, the nonsense of our net zero emissions policy.
The great spectacle now has to be driven by dirty, but not cheap, coal from Poland, and, I believe, Colombia.
Our Government, in its obtuse wisdom, has banned the mining of high-quality anthracite and closed our pits. The pollution from imported coal is far worse and entails transport costs and additional emissions, with the loss to ourselves of jobs, revenue and general knock-on support for the economy.
The objections have already been raised in connection with the highly successful and, until now, profitable and enjoyable, private steam train companies and lines run throughout the country.
Net zero, while a noble long-term target, will bankrupt this country, while the rest of the world laughs up its sleeve at us. We are responsible for one per cent of the world’s emissions.
No other country is following our example – indeed even ‘Green’ Germany is increasing its use of coal and has postponed prohibition of nuclear power.
In the meantime, when we could be producing high-quality steel in Cumbria, from local
coal, we continue to import low-quality steel made with dirty coal from China, with all its associated costs, environmental and economic.
When will this hypocritical government get a grip, start fracking and investing in small-scale nuclear reactors, and cease pandering to the Green, Woke, Liberal minorities?
It is all jaw-jaw, solemn nodding and wringing of hands.
This Government has no concept of forward thinking or of governance.
Jeremy Bloomfield Gillingham
One can only hope our local MPs read and digest Mr de Pelet’s excellent letter (The New Blackmore Vale, 2 September).
He highlighted what needs to be done, and can be done, to secure UK energy supply using our own resources. He also put the contribution of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions into context – ‘climate change’ would continue unabated were the UK ever to reach its virtue-signalling ‘net zero’ target.
One method of localised electrical power generation did not get a mention. MWE – Municipal Waste to Energy – technology has come on in leaps and bounds and should be included in the mix.
Gordon Ratcliffe Chetnole
The fact that nuclear power stations exist must now be seen as the ultimate liability in a conflict. Not only are we leaving a legacy of toxic who knows what for our children’s children’s children to deal with but now we provide a static target for any potential enemy.
Surely the only sustainable answer is renewables – solar, wind etc with the use of hydrogen, made in days of excess wind/sun, stored like petrol and then used to power turbines to produce electricity on cloudy, windless days.
Will Phillips Kington Magna
My name is Brian Anderson and I am the Poppy Appeal organiser for the Gillingham Area.
First, may I thank everyone for their amazing generosity last year which saw £15,000 raised for the charity – this includes my thanks to the shops and supermarkets that allowed collections in their premises, and The Pearls Before Poppies initiative, which made a major contribution.
This year I am hoping to re-start house-to-house collections, which have not been sensible for the past three years owing to Covid-19.
I would be very grateful if anyone prepared to collect in their area would contact me on 01747 822690 or email fifthidg@aol.com.
I know times are hard but I hope we can continue to support this very worthwhile charity.
Brian Anderson via email
I would like to thank the road team who resurfaced the road through Hazelbury Bryan.
They have made a great job in making ‘the worst road in Dorset’ into a surface that is safe to cycle on. Many thanks. James Rogers Kingston
It was interesting reading the article in ‘Farming’ from Ruth Kimber (The New Blackmore Vale, 5 August).
A paragraph in her article suggested she had apparently seen ‘an explosion in the fox population’ and suggesting that this would be a problem as ‘foxes take eggs and young birds, poultry and often feast on domestic cats!’ In all my years as a wildlife conservationist I have never heard of this happening.
I would beg to disagree, these beautiful creatures need to survive.
Domestic cats probably take more young birds and, in my opinion, are much more of a menace than foxes. As Ruth mentioned, a cat took one of her turkeys.
We need to be able to live in harmony with all our wildlife – if you choose to keep poultry then make sure they are safely put away well before dusk.
J Tabernacle via email
I realise this may sound petty with lots more important dramas going on around us and affecting us all, but I’m interested to know if anyone else noticed the complete disregard for other traffic many tractor drivers seem to show these days?
I don’t want to tar them all with the same brush, as I’m sure there are a few decent ones out there, but in my experience most have no issue holding up traffic and will not pull over to let it pass, even when suitable spaces and lay-bys are on the route.
I hate holding other traffic up if I am driving slower than most and will happily pull over to let it pass rather than have a tailback of seething motorists behind me.
Tractor drivers on the other hand seem to relish it. Perhaps it’s a game they are playing to see how many motorists they can accumulate in one journey or in a day’s work?
I know we live in a rural community and tractors are part of everyday life. I don’t have a problem with that, and I’m not expecting them to stop using the roads, only to have a bit more common decency and to give other road users the opportunity to get past them as tractors are so much slower than most other traffic.
