On the basis that it pays to know one's enemy, I usually
watch Top Gear. Last night there were two bits which amused
me. Firstly, Jeremy and the boys don't like the government's
new plans for penalty points when caught speeding by
cameras. Pay attention at the back there, because this logic
is compelling. By getting only two points when "just "
exceeding the limit, the government will therefore get more
money from a driver before eventually the driver reaches the
12 points and is banned! By a leap of logic, this apparently
proves that the purpose of the cameras is to generate
revenue. Therefore, the final link, they are nothing to do
with road-safety.
In the same diatribe, Jeremy talked about losing one's job
and livelihood as a consequence of being banned. Of course,
only a muesli-eating-vegetarian Grauniad reader would
suggest that the cause of lost job and livelihood was the
driver's inability to notice on at least four occasions big
yellow boxes with strange flashy-things mounted by the side
of the road, but as I'm not a vegetarian nor a Grauniad
reader I couldn't possibly support that thesis. I do,
however, eat muesli and ride a bike, not normally at the
same time, so therefore am probably a nazi.
The other amusing bit was the bit at the end when the three
presenters each had to drive a cheap car into a brick wall
at 30mph. Jeremy's had a broken speedo, so he had to
estimate his speed. And yes, he actually drove into the wall
at 40mph, thus proving that at least one unreconstructed petrol-
head can't estimate what 30mph is like, even when driving
straight at a brick wall when one would expect him to err on
the slow-side if only to prevent damage to his perm!
I was rather disappointed, as watching films has led me
to believe that a car always explodes when hitting a
wall. Damn!
Peter