As I mentioned last month, one of my cars insurance was due early August, but sadly Cornmarket (formerly Surety) were unable to provide a competitive quote so I have renewed elsewhere. Over the last three years all except my household insurance has moved from Cornmarket. I would welcome being able to support the IAM scheme but sadly it hasn’t been possible for me.
In his Scribbles the Secretary mentions Smart Motorways, which just could be effective if correctly managed. Some actions actually cause traffic holdups/queues. Just last Saturday morning (August 16th) at 7.30am was a perfect example of how to get it wrong. Travelling down the M61 to join the M60 towards Worsley, on the entry slip road to M60 the gantry showed ‘Queue ahead’. Joining the M60 at 70mph, the first gantry showed 60mph, the second showed 40mph and that’s where the queue started. The gantry after Worsley J13 showed ‘National speed limit’ and the queue immediately evaporated. Had the speed limits been left unchanged, the motorway would have flowed quite happily at 60-70mph with no holdup. The queue had been created by the National Highways Control Centre setting the 40mph sign. I am convinced that this section of motorway is permanently set for a queue, even if there is none. Even at rush hour the signs on this stretch do nothing – it’s actually annoying to see a 40mph sign above you when you are crawling along nose-to-tail at 2-3mph!! Oh to be doing 40!!
Apologies if this seems a little early but on Page 16 there are menu details for our Christmas Dinner on 5th December. When we arrived at Bolton Old Links Golf Club last year, we were thrilled to see the excellent presentation of the room for the Christmas season, it was brilliant. It was far better than any venue we have been to before, and the food was wonderful. This year we have booked Entertainer/DJ Lee Travers, a really professional entertainer who is highly recommended and performs his shows at several local venues. I hope that we can look forward to your support as we ideally need a minimum of 40 guests to make the evening a success.
Why are news headlines showing “Over-70s drivers outrage at being targeted for compulsory eye tests”? Just because the government are considering removing licences from those who fail a compulsory test, people seem to portray it as some form of persecution, when to me it is plain common sense. The new rules would tighten up current regulations that simply require drivers aged 70 and over to self-certify their fitness to drive. That is a loophole which should have been closed years ago. But personally I would go further and ask for evidence of good eyesight at every licence renewal ie every 10 years up to age 70. As you may remember, I said I needed eyesight correction in my mid twenties, so I don’t see why there is a problem, do you?
If you are interested (146 pages!!) there is advice for doctors etc to follow when assessing a patient’s fitness to drive, published by the Government. It is called “Assessing fitness to drive – a guide for medical professionals”. Click the link to view;
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66c8b0d0e39a8536eac052f4/assessing-fitness-to-drive-august-2024.pdf
Visual Disorders from Page 90.
Roy Sammons