Sir Herbert Leon served as a justice of the peace working out of Fenny Stratford Magistrates Court. Leon is recorded by North Bucks Times of Tuesday 30th May 1925 handing out just punishment to a speeding motorist. Frank Bransom, a commercial traveller from London, was charged with driving a motor car through Little Brickhill at 35mph. In his defence, Bransom claimed there were no signs warning against high speeds. Leon would hear no excuse and said that signs or no signs, 30mph was far too fast a pace at which to drive through a village and fined him £5 with ten shillings cost !
Milton Keynes with its farsighted and unique grid road system was built for the car. Today it is possible to get from one side of the city to the other in such a short time. I wonder how many other cities can boast such. Originally there were three hundred and sixty roundabouts in Milton Keynes, I wonder how many there are today. Did you know that Newport Pagnell Services was the vert first service station on the
I do not think that Herbert Leon JP and the planners of the New City of Milton Keynes could ever have imagined the appalling standard of driving we would in the third decade of the twenty-first century see on our city’s roads today. Sadly that is something not in any way unique to Milton Keynes, it is a common and dangerous situation nationwide.
In 2021 there were 1,558 road deaths across the country. Pandemic and lockdown actually reduced this by 11% but just how scary is this number ! Milton Keynes has been a world leader in so many different ways, from Bletchley Park’s computer to Christ The Cornerstone. From our Peace Pagoda to its present ambition to
I am not convinced it is the duty of our police to enforce good driving. I am convinced it is the duty of the government to pass much tougher driving laws but that’s never going to happen with that lot !
If you or I had tomorrow to retake our driving test would we pass ? Having originally passed my test first time around in 1976 I think I would but when I reached the dreaded age of seventy years I had to renew my licence. No check up test, all I had to do was to put a tick in a box saying I was fit to drive !
Cars have changed since 1976, I have owned and driven everything from a Mini to a Jaguar. I hate the present Kia my wife insists we transport ourselves in. I am going to buy a bigger, probably another Jaguar, car which I believe will give me far more comfort and which I will be 101% safe driving. My son drives a Teslar, that is something I most certainly would not be safe driving. I want to be in control of my car not some robot laptop being in charge. Why am I allowed in law to use my 1970’s driver training to endanger the lives of road users in such a way ? My son-on-law drives a hybrid which I quite like but for the technology to operate it has to be connected to a dumbo smart-phone ! No way will I ever lower myself to own such technology. Smart-phone with its all-consuming brain destruction addiction, do I look that stupid !
Phones ! Why is it illegal for a car driver to phone or text but it is perfectly legal for a cyclist to
People complain about cars parked on the pavement, what would be their attitude if cars were allowed to drive on the pavement ? Why is it OK to ride a bicycle on the footpath ? Who was it who invented these ridiculous e-scooters we see motoring their way along pavements intended for pedestrians ? Milton Keynes Development Corporation gave our city a network of redways, why are they under used ? Cyclists get off the pavement and onto the redway. With one exception, of course, being Central Milton Keynes where they are the primary delivery routes for criminal drug dealers !
Punishment fines for speeding offences are far too lenient. Forget fining in terms of money, we have moved on since Herbert Leon fined Frank Bransom £5 with ten shillings costs, punish speeding motorists with community service. How about ten hours picking up litter in Scruffy Milton Keynes, that surely would be more effective. A second offence within ten years of the original should be punished with fifty hours of litter picking and a ten year driving ban.
Breaking speed limits sorted ! Well partly.
Drive through Wavendon in Milton Keynes and you will find warning signs and cameras. These are brilliant and need to be rolled out right across our city. Number plate recognition cameras need to be fitted to catch and ensure punishment of offenders.
Driving while using a phone ? Easy, five years in prison with no parole and a lifetime driving
Lead by example ! How many members of parliament have points on their driving licence ? How many members of Milton Keynes Council have points on their driving licences ? How many within both circuses actually passed a driving test ? How did they manage such when they are not able to read and write ? Well they never answer letters sent to them !
Such information needs to be in the public domain. Do you agree ? But what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. We need to have an easily accessible list within the public domain of ALL in possession of a driving offence.
Am I being a bit totalitarian ? I hope not, I want to be big time totalitarian ? In 2021 there were 1,558 road deaths across the country. Did you know that 1.32 billion vehicle miles were travelled on roads in Milton Keynes in 2021. Across the last five years in Milton Keynes 21 pedestrians, 2 cyclists and 9 car occupants who were children were killed or seriously injured. Widen those statistics to people of all ages, for the year 2018 there were 14 pedestrians, 15 cyclists, 17 motor cyclists, 37 car occupants. Do you still think I am being totalitarian ?
I was well into my twenties when I learned to drive. Growing up I knew a lad whose father had been killed in a car accident, I did not want to be the cause of somebody being killed at my hands. However, moving to infant Milton Keynes driving was a basic need and so I learned to drive. I learned to drive, by the way on roads and not as would appear the norm today in
In earlier days I drove extensively, many times all over Europe and America. I remember on an overnight flight home from San Francisco waking up many hours into the flight and thinking the Boeing 747 had not yet flown as far as I had driven in the last two weeks. Driving today is much confined to Milton Keynes and its grid road system, that and occasional holiday breaks in England. I would not want to drive as I did in America and Europe, I am not sure I would be safe these days. The moment I feel the same driving here in England, here in Milton Keynes I will stop driving all together.
How many people, how many children are living their lives today but are pending statistics of road death somewhere in years to come ? NO WAY will I ever allow myself to be part of such an eventuality. How many drivers think the same as me ? How many have never given such a tragedy a thought ?
Milton Keynes the City of Bad Drivers – England the Nation of Bad Drivers.
The
City of Milton Keynes, a world leader in society. Could we lead and change the
situation I have here tried to set out ?
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