SHE SAYS ...

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32666, 23 July 1971, Page 11

SHE SAYS ...

I’m quite prepared to believe that some “city” drivers have a pretty inconsiderate attitude towards farmers and their stock when they come upon them on a country road but some farmers have a thoughtless attitude to motorists too. One of my friends was driving not far from Christchurch recently, on a fast main road, and just before a blind curve came upon some men talking by the side of the road. They glanced up at her, no more. It’s a lucky thing she drives with the “able to stop in half the clear distance” rule in mind, for round the curve the entire road was blocked by a flock of sheep, left to their own devices while the shepherds nattered! Why, she asks, did they not even bother to wave her down? They must have realised the sheep were a hazard, “half clear distance” rules or not. We were in the car when we were talking about this,

and one of the other passengers recounted the tale of the time he had come over a rise and round a curve to find the whole road blocked with unsupervised stock, and had only just managed to brake in time, to the apparent merriment of the “shepherd” sitting on a nearby knoll nibbling grass. Judging from the manner in which many drivers roar past roadworks though, I’m sure some farmers’ complaints of their behaviour are more than justified. Countless windscreens have been broken by thoughtless drivers rushing past others on newly-sealed sections of road in spite of temporary speed limit signs and I’m told quite a few roadworkers have been injured, too. It’s so bad that men working on the roads in some areas have been known to quit after a few days because they find the risks too great.