I live on a main road. This is not always as bad as it sounds, but recently its interminable roadworks have been pushing me toward the edge. That might be why I haven’t written one of these blogs for a little while.
Anyway, back to the storyline. Why oh why are roads constantly being dug up, replaced, dug up, replaced, does anyone know? There was an advertisement back in 1998 (yes, we had television then too) for Heineken and if you get a chance, watch it as it plays on the idea that once a hole is dug, why not make full use of it for all utilities?
I should point out too that in the whole week of temporary traffic lights and enraged drivers, I saw not one worker doing anything. A colleague of mine came up with the amusing theory that perhaps it is modern-day vandalism; the vandals have a store of temporary lights and cones and just swoop in to cause chaos and disruption before clearing out to raise blood pressure in the next street.
A recent survey we did at Remit highlighted the biggest obstacle to people returning to the office is commuting. What better way to cause anarchy amongst the workers than to disrupt the already tortuous trek? Moreover, a study in 2017 (Samra et al) found a significant rise in systolic and diastolic blood pressure correlated to the duration spent exposed to traffic congestion; another reason to stay at home.
For some inexplicable reason, there appears to be no co-ordination between the utility services, and the reality for a large proportion of the working population is that you often need to get from A to B. We can’t all walk or cycle, and even if we could, we would be breathing in the air of all those stationary vehicles. The utopia of all-electric vehicles is still a long way distant, so could someone, please, think about joining up the dots?
In looking into the background for this latest rant, I discovered Alastair Lenczner had hit on exactly the same point as me as long ago as 2015, even to the point of the beer advertisement. (I am so disappointed to find myself unoriginal). Mr Lenczner went on, in his article, to point out that way back in the 19th Century the UK was managing to co-ordinate public works, specifically exampling the Victoria Embankment project where a river wall, major sewer, railway, roadway, pipes of all types, and even a park were created in harmony and efficiently. He goes on to suggest that red tape and regulatory frameworks are probably preventing us from saving money, saving time, and saving our already-overstressed hearts.
With a shameless regurgitation of its slogan, “Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach”, maybe someone in government will read this while downing a pint and have it reach the relevant part.