Originally Posted by EGCA
Incidentally, when you hear these stories of folk sleeping in their cars overnight on the M40 and M25, why is it that motorists just "have" to make the journey? Is everyone making a "necessary" trip ?
<rant>As someone who lives in the Chiltern Hills, not far from the steep bit of the M40,
almost all of the problems with "closed roads", motorways or otherwise, are due to idiots who have absolutely no idea whatsoever of how to drive in these conditions, nor how to prepare their cars for this weather (and I
don't mean snow-tyres, either -- worn-out batteries; insufficient anti-freeze, screenwash, de-icer, etc.).
Insulated and isolated from reality in their computer-controlled tin boxes, driving too fast or with no comprehension of the road conditions ("
I don't need to care -- I've got traction control"), they skid to a halt blocking the road, or simply get stuck, thus blocking the road for those of us who do know how to drive safely in these conditions and thoroughly stuffing it up for everybody else. It only takes one or two selfish and thoughtless people to bring the M40 to a complete halt...
</rant>