After more than a week of ice and general snowy crap blocking my street, I think I have a fair idea of why Britain suffers so badly when the weather turns it up a notch. Popular opinion would suggest that it is down to the inability of local councils to clear roads due to limited resources – I beg to differ somewhat – there must certainly be something deeper at work in order to cause such widespread chaos.
Firstly – sure a council snowplough can clear snow a lot faster than a single chap with a shovel, but a snowplough cannot make it everywhere, nor can it really compete with the mass action of a whole neighborhood equipped with snow shovels to clear otherwise inaccessible routes! For 2 weeks my street sat covered in a thick layer of snow, which within a few days became an ice skating rink to play car hockey on. Not once did it get cleared, nor did anyone in the neighborhood attempt to shovel anything out. One of the locals at the local pub suggested that people were afraid to clear driveways and streets for fear of being sued should someone slip! I cant help but think if people shouldered some group responsibility and got on with the job that it might just be a success.
Another reason for the chaos has got to be the supreme lack of desire to go to work. Pretty much everyone knows about the great Australian sickie – the snow must be the same for the British – maybe it is symptomatic of an overworked society, sick of their soul-destroying, dead-end jobs?
While on the topic of snow - one of the most marked difference I have noticed, having soldiered on to work through the snow is the dramatic drop in traffic on the roads. Seeing a similar trend over the Autumn school holidays, It seems a no brainer to put this down to school closures. To go off on a small tangent, it amazes me the amount of parents who insisit on driving their children to school, and the difference this makes to an already overstretched road network. It comes as no surprise then that school is canceled when it snows – that would mean 3 hours in traffic to get anywhere. Perhaps that is the answer to the mystery of school closures due to snow in Britain?
Finaly I have to say it, but Inexperience has to be at play; the Brits are better drivers than Australians every day of the week, but when some drivers decide to drive at 10Mph in a 60Mph zone, with no foreseeable obstacles to hit if braking was not possible, it would seem a tad ridiculous. Inexeperience is not just limited to driving techniques, it also extends to equipment– Britain is one of the few European countries where winter tyres are not required by legislation, nor is the carrying of chains. It then comes as little surprise that several motorists became stranded on certain sections of road last week What is suprising however is how long it took for them to get out - up to 2 days stuck on the side of a road! The whole event was a crisis, with motorists having to stay in their cars overnight to be rescued by the mountain rescue the next day– all within a few miles of the nearest village. I guess this is a reflection of modern society – someone else will look after it- look out if someone was to do something radical like take responsibility for their own actions and bail on foot to the nearest town and get a train home – crazy talk!
Overall I think the chaos in the snow can be put down to a society that is unorganized, and overly reliant on others to get the job done. I cant help but wonder what a difference it would make if people helped each other out and tried to get the whole country running, rather than simply complaining that things are not being done on their behalf. At the end of the day, I say let it snow – I can get to work faster, enjoy the drive much more, and keep up with my offices archaic HR policy and avoid losing pay.
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