Friday, June 27, 2008

SATNAV DISASTERS IN EAST HERTS (WIDFORD TO PERRY GREEN).

While out walking the dog yesterday morning, I noted two incidents in Nether Street, both caused by the use of misleading information provided by satnav. In the first I encountered a bemused couple in a private saloon car, seeking to reach an address in Perry Green. They had stopped on the unmade (and very uneven) single track between the the end of the metalled section of Nether Street and the junction at the hamlet of Southend with the tarmac covered road leading towards St. Elizabeth's, Perry Green. I directed them as they requested. Later, on my return journey home, I met a lady, driving a medium-sized white van (c.30 cwt / 2 tons; she was looking for St. Elizabeth's Home for Epileptics and other handicapped people. Unsurprisingly she had relied on information provided by satnav, so I warned her that she was about to traverse a rough and uneven single track, and suggested to her an alternative and more reliable route.
Shortly after that I met a neighbour, who lives in Nether Street, who told me of two or three other recent incidents, resulting from drivers in difficulties, as a result of using satnav systems equipped with unreliable guidance about this route. Repeated representations have been made to the manufacturers and vendors of satnav equipment and information, but without achieving any noticeable improvement in
deterring unwary drivers, particularly of heavy commercial vehicles. The local authorities know of the problem, but seem powerless to prevent it. Central government authorities claim that the issues raised by the use of satnavs are beinc considered, "so that means no action," commented my neighbour.
Clearly more pressure is needed to goad the authorities into taking action, and
therefore a goodly crop of complaints published on the internet would help in providing the necessary impact.

Michael B. Buck.

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Friday, June 13, 2008

The New Saviours of Europe.

William Pitt's last speech referred to the task of saving Europe (from Napoleon), but now another rescue seems to have been achieved, this time by the electors of Eire in rejecting the Lisbon Treaty. Prudence, responsibility and sanity appear to have prompted the frustration of the latest attempt to anaesthetize the bewildered voters of the European Union into accepting an undemocratic, supranational regime. So far as the
United Kingdom is concerned, this event has at last given the so-called "red line" safeguards some real strength and resistance. No thanks are due to the Government, who shrank from their duty to protect British national interests. Perhaps there may now be an opportunity for the member states of the E.U. to negotiate new terms, based on a free trading area and a network of freely negotiated and realistic agreements, on practical common issues. No more should there be any perils such as adverse decisions by the E.U.courts, overturning apparently safe exemptions and exclusions from the distortions and perversities in E.U. law.

Michael B. Buck.