Road Killers

From Lidsay Mitchell's blog ....
"The state of Victoria has a higher population than NZ but fewer road fatalities. Last year they had a record low in road deaths.

But a terrible accident at the weekend killed five young people. Typical aspects all present. Young, male driver. Limited licence requirements flouted. High speed. Alcohol.

STEVEN Johnstone, the 19-year-old driver in Sunday's horror crash that claimed five young lives in Mill Park, makes a chilling case study on the limits of the law. The apprentice roof tiler had a speeding conviction in the past year and was only allowed to carry one passenger, according to police.

Instead, his car was crammed with six people as it slammed into an oak tree at 140 km/h after hurtling through the intersection of Childs and Plenty roads.
This is followed by a discussion of the limitations of the law, what has been tried so far and what direction the police may go in next."



The problem is peer pressure and the fact that everybody wants to be liked and fit into some group. This applies at all ages and only a very few are strong enough in character to be individuals and say 'this is stupid behaviour'. In childhood I was frequently sitting on my guardian's knee while her husband drove. He was a cautious Scotish Presbitarian :-) and I'm sure I intook his attitudes to the road ... until I got my licence and occasionally pushed the venerable [ 1937 in 1948 ] Morris 8 up to 50 mph when alone. At that age I didn't have a 'peer' group.
So I'm lucky to be alive.

Censoring of posts and bans

It seems most common on those of the left wing who apparently cannot stand comments against their point of view. Perhaps I can be sympathetic that they are paying to publish their views, taking the trouble to run their blogs, so why should they tolerate discenting views.

I guess we expect everything to be free and easy to abuse each other with impunity, a common problem with some blogs ... a sort of fighting without blood or death ... not many wars in our neighbourhood.

I got refered to one thread on Red Alert and it was very disappointing with so many deletions and bans and hard to follow just what the thread was about. Will not go back there in a hurry.

It does seem rather juvenile all the censoring and banning.

Today's Photo --- The football

I could see nobody around at the time so how and why the ball came to be sitting on the rocks is a mystery. I did once notice a ball caught in a whirl of rubbish on the side of a river but that had obviously fallen into the river higher up the stream, but on the rocks is a puzzlement :-)