Ian and Judiet

Current Mood: Playful

So there has been a lot of talk for the past couple of years, and even more so lately, about global warming and how we can save the planet. We have to recycle this, save that, wash this and not use that which is all good and well, but my theory is much better (as you would expect :P). My theory revolves around Robots (otherwise known as traffic lights) and that if they are set up correctly, we would save a lot of fuel and such we would not be spewing out so much co2 into the atmosphere. To prove my point I did a little test the other evening while driving home from dinner.

The starting point was the Hyatt hotel in Rosebank and the destination was home in Fourways some 20 kilos away. After leaving the parking garage our car showed that we had 80kilometers left on the current tank of diesel and I wanted to see how far I could push that, or how low it would drop on the way home. On our way home, traveling at the speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour, we encountered plenty of badly timed and stupidly changing robots which mainly killed our economy, not the steep hills we had to climb as I had initially suspected.

Just before we turned off the main roads into the suburbs (about 1km from home) the car showed that we had 76kilometers to go and when we reached home 70 odd where left. Along the way the car showed as high as 89kilometers where left on the tank but those hopes where quickly dashed when we had to wait at robots without any cars utilizing the intersection, purely because there was no planning put into the robots.

My conclusion is that the powers that be should invest more time in making sure that if you drive at the speed limit you can get all the robots green on your way home, this will greatly reduce driving time, improve flow of traffic and reduce the amount of co2 that is killing our environment. I would also think that with the robots changing less we they would use less power and less bulbs so everyone wins. This obviously all goes without saying that if there is a problem/traffic not much can be done - although im sure with some investigation a better solution can be found.

Current Mood: Angry

I believe that any successful person needs to be able to think for themselves and take some initiative when a situation demands it - and most people do this except the Metro Police of Johannesburg.

So I was on my way to work this morning when there was a large backup before a major intersection (Main/Witkoppen for anyone that cares) and just before the robot (with the massive backlog) where two Metro Police officers pulling people over who where driving over a yellow stripped section in an attempt to fill both turning lanes to make the flashing arrow as effective as possible. What? Why in hells name would they not think a little further than making some money and help the traffic flow through the intersection a little easier and remove the backlog. They have the whole day to pull over people for doing things wrong - yet they wont help the flow of traffic.

This is also not the first time that I have been highly annoyed with them. A couple times last week while driving to work (during load shedding) a few major intersections where out and while waiting to cross one intersection 3 metro police vehicles drove through the intersection. Now I can understand if its a little intersection somewhere in the sticks, but a large intersection that relies on working robots to keep traffic flowing (for miles around) should surely have a points man helping things out.

So please, Mr Big Chief Sir Metro Police Officer Controlling Boss Man, please make sure that traffic flows before you assign your minions to pull people off for driving over a yellow stripped section to fill up turning lanes - its just pathetic.

On a side note (a pathetic side note): The woman behind me got pulled over for talking on her Cell phone. She must be blind that she didnt think they wouldnt see her - there was a JMPD van with flashing lights and everyone was avoiding them, yet when she got caught she acted all surprised. Dumbass.