Making a Start

Hi, my name is Eddie and I'm nearly 41 now. I live in the South East, near London. I'm an active car driver and motorbike rider. I've also cycled (push bikes) for many years in central London in the past, driven a white Transit van for a few years and have used buses, tubes and taxis extensively in London over many years.

I'd like to think I have a fair amount of experience of various forms of transport and a reasonable grasp of many issues faced by people whilst traveling on our roads, regardless of how you travel, even if it's on foot. A lot of these issues are more obviously apparent in London because of the huge number of vehicles and people on the roads 24 x 7, but basically the same issues exist in every corner of the UK these days, just to slightly differing degrees.

Having thought about it a lot, I don't think that there is any one group more responsible than any other for what seems to be an ever increasing lack of respect for each other on the roads these days. I think it has been a slow decline over a number of years as the number of people and vehicles on the roads steadily rises, traffic gets more congested, slower and our frustrations build because of it.

I have come to realise that I am as bad as everyone else. I have abused or ignored certain traffic rules or just been thoughtless of those around me many, many times. I don't set out to do these things deliberately, but I do do them now and then, if I am completely honest.

In the past I have found myself regularly judging others and getting very annoyed with the things they do, but then I think about it and realise I do things too. I just see what I do as 'acceptable' and what everyone else does as unacceptable. I think that is what we all do in reality. So, why am I any less to blame than anyone else for the issues faced on the roads?

The simple answer is that I'm not.

It has taken me many years to come to realise this and openly admit it to myself and others and now I have decided to try and do something positive about it. I want try and raise awareness and educate people as best I can in a positive way, not using scare tactics, guilt or threats as that just doesn't work. There are various issues that happen to us all every day on our travels, so I will be looking into why we do certain things, trying to help people understand the real consequences of the things we have come to think are ok to do these days. I hope to make people just a little bit more aware of their own actions and how they affect the people around them.

I am hopeful that just a small change in a lot of people can make a much larger change in Society.

I've made a start myself and will be trying to be more self aware and set a good example out there. I will talk more about what I am doing in subsequent posts and hope that you will be inspired and join me.

My intention is not to judge anyone, just to start being totally honest, openly admit my own mistakes and help others do the same. Ultimately the goal is to help people become better road users, be generally more courteous to each other in the process and makes the roads a nicer and safer place for all. The motto: be nice to people and they will be nice right back!

Thank you for taking the time to visit and read this first post in my blog. If you care about these issues as much as I do and I've managed to get your attention in some way, please help me to spread the word and share a link to my blog, like my posts on FB or whatever you can do.

I really hope you come back soon to see what I've been up to in my personal quest to improve safety on our roads for everyone and make our beautiful country a safer place to travel in.

Thanks and be safe out there,
Eddie
:-)