On 4 Feb, 21:45, "Neillw001" wrote:
On Feb 4, 7:45 pm, Paul Terry wrote: In message . com,
Mizter T writes

Just got me thinking, the fatalities and injuries on the roads during
the blackout must have been numerous, though obviously the risk-
assessment was a rather different calculation then!

Very true, and the statistics were alarming: 9169 road deaths in 1941,
38% higher than the immediate pre-war figure and almost three times the
present day figure. And this despite a 20mph limit after dark, few
private cars on the roads, and petrol rationing that amounted to a limit

" of 7 miles per day on average (in fact, petrol for private motoring
was

effectively banned in 1942).

And of course there's the pea-soupers...

I can *just* remember the pea-soupers of the 1950s. I doubt if there
were many fatalities, as it was often impossible to proceed at more than
a slow walking speed.

In fact (just to keep this vaguely on-topic) I can remember that my
grandfather, who worked at Monument station, found it quicker to walk
the 12 miles to work on several occasions, rather than to attempt to use
his LT priv ticket. Those were the days ...
--
Paul Terry

"I'm up and down the Westway, in an' out the lights
What a great traffic system - it's so bright
I can't think of a better way to spend the night
Then speeding around underneath the yellow lights"

London's Burning - The Clash

Not any more it would seem

Neill


Ha, very apt. Though, as I said earlier, I rather demur from Clash's
love of being under the yellow lights. They will be back shortly I'm
sure, so until then I'll enjoy speeding around under the stars. Well,
the very few that remain visible in London. Though I don't have a car
of my own to do the speeding in. Not that I speed anyway.