Not So Top Gear

It’s amazing that anyone buys cars that can drive at high speeds in England. The capital is full of Mercedes, Porsches, and Ferraris yet the authorities find every way imaginable to get everyone to drive slowly.

There is the congestion fee, which charges you for the privilege of sitting in busy traffic in the downtown core. The Green Party has just unveiled their new London Mayoral candidate (there isn’t an election on but they felt the need to appoint someone all the same). Part of her platform is increasing the congestion fee to £50 (around $77 CAN).

There are also a number of bollards, railings, and other things that are put in the road to make it more difficult to drive. These are just a few that are near my apartment on a residential road that is not very busy.

This divides the road into three lanes- the middle is a bus lane. The boxes are lit up at night so you can see them, although as you may notice that they do get hit from time to time.

This narrows the road, so only one car at a time can pass through.

And my personal favourite, the impromptu roundabout. It’s just tall enough to be a nuisance.

All of these things are maybe a two minute drive apart from each other and make driving more chaotic. When my landlady drove me to the grocery store my first day here I felt like we were doing constant emergency stops and u-turns (okay, my jet lag may have had something to do with it as well). I can only imagine the amount of swearing that I would do if I had to drive here. Never mind that, my Dad would be positively insane (he’s already said he would never drive here). I can only imagine what chaos ensues when it snows in London. Snow plows would demolish these additions easily.

Now I understand why Top Gear does insane stunts like this when given the chance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NZ9X9A2efA