Training Drivers For The Weather For Ducks

Listening to the radio this morning, I thought of something.

I don't like the radio in the bathroom. The wife does. I don't like listening to Radio 4 all that much. The wife does. Knowing how to keep peace in the home, the best is to leave all things as they are.

I have recently been tempted into turning the knob and listening while I shave in the early hours. I must admit Farming Today is quite appealing. There is something consolatory about listening to braying animals in the background while the interview is conducted. Today the topics were drought (there is usually something about drought now every day) and a spokesman from the Institute of Advanced Motorists saying that rural roads were so dangerous that car drivers should be taught what to expect when driving in the countryside.

I have to agree with him.

Three hours later I doubly agreed with him, as the car screeched to a halt behind me, narrowly missing the back of the bus. I was stopped and there were schoolchildren boarding the bus. The car had been coming so fast round the corner that the driver saw the bus at the last minute. He was lucky as it was between showers and the road had dried a little, giving him some grip.

Later on three ducklings decided to cross the road. In their innocence they caused chaos and the traffic did a variety of manoeuvres. Some braked, some swerved and some drove at them. The ducks soon learnt and scuttled across the road and into the safety of the farmyard, though there was a risk that they would be flattened by the enormous tractor coming out of the barn. They made it and lived to fight another day.

The IAM man was right. To me cars in ditches, mad overtaking, ice, skidding, hard breaking, vehicles on the wrong side of the road, loose sheep, cattle, chickens, pheasants and all types of birds are every day incidents. Any town driver will get a shock when meeting these hazards. So why not have a little training and education?

It might be good for bus drivers too. Though I suspect pride may put a damper on that.