My worst fears about the Christmas Rush and Liverpool One were realised when I spent 20 minutes battling from the Birkenhead Tunnel Dock Exit to head along The Strand on Saturday.
It was chock-block with traffic - a mixture of cars and buses - and more than half of them were trying to get into parking spaces for the new shopping centre.
They really are going to have to do something about this - overriding the traffic lights or something - otherwise the city is going to grind to a halt in the week before Christmas.
to my mind it is a town hall created jam. They have blocked-off the other routes across the city in what they laughingly call the City Centre Movement Strategy. The City Centre Paralysation Strategy I call it!
But on Saturday the source of greatest annoyance for me, personally, was that the drivers in the cars heading onto The Strand across the mouth of the Tunnel were IGNORING the box junctions that are meant to keep traffic flowing. I mean... have these people forgotten the Highway Code?
But then when do you ever see a policeman handing out tickets for this offence? The answer is never. They are far too keen on pointing video cameras at people who might be doing 35mph on a dual carriageway in a 30 zone. I guess they nab more people that way!
And another thing that mystifies me is that we ordinary drivers are not allowed to do anything that would distract us from the task in hand... eyes on the road and two hands on the wheel being the ideal.
Why then is it that modern police cars bristle with so much technical gubbins? The array of equipment on the dashboard of a traffic patrol vehicle is astonishing. Not only do they have their personal (not hands free from what I can tell) radios. But there is a 10-inch computer screen in the middle of the dashboard which appears to be touch-screen operated.
Are they super-human? Can they safely juggle all this equipment thanks to their professional training? Or is it one law for them and another law for us?
Through the eyes of strangers
(Wed 11/08)
John Lennon... the balloon could go up!
(Tue 06/07)
Liverpool - a tale of two cities?
(Wed 02/06)
Maybe the croquet lawn swung it!
(Wed 12/05)
Political horse-trading.... not a pretty sight
(Sun 09/05)
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