John Major's good idea.

HOWLERMONKEY Wed Jun 28, 2006 at 12:01:04 PM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

John Major got it right ..Traffic cones..



Howler monkey returned from London yesterday 27/6/06 having travelled up in appalling weather the previous dayUnfortunately the biggest problem in travelling was the annual mobile national monument that is traffic cones. Howler has no problem with them being set-up where work is being undertaken, but I estimate there were approximately four miles of cones set up in Hampshire and a similar amount in Devon in areas where there is no evidence of work being undertaken. I travel up and down to Cornwall on a regular basis so I know the areas which are currently being worked on.
The cone hotline was set up by John Major at the start of his term as prime minister. I don't know when this scheme fell into abeyance, but it was a bloody good scheme, and should be reintroduced into roads policy.

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John Major's good idea. | 14 comments (14 topical)

Re: John Major's good idea. (#1)

by Patrick H on Thu Jun 29, 2006 at 07:43:45 PM GMT

Sorry, but it's a dreadful idea. If this happened, we may as well start putting up billboards across the country saying: "Hey everyone - we've run out of proper things to do. Go off and vote Tory", cos we'd be giving out that very same message through a traffic cone hotline or similar.


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Re: John Major's good idea. (#2)

by HOWLERMONKEY on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 01:25:31 AM GMT

Good rant..reason your point...If you've got one.


[ Parent ]

Re: John Major's good idea. (#4)

by Patrick H on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 03:19:10 AM GMT

Replied to the wrong comment above so here we go again. :o

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22traffic+cone%22+hotline&meta

I searched on google for traffic cone hotline and saw what came up on just the first page:

Four years of Majorish mediocrity and traffic cone hotline lameness

The scheme was quietly dropped after it failed to make much of an impact

For centuries, British prime ministers have made their mark on our society - Sir Robert Peel left us the Metropolitan Police, Lloyd George women's suffrage and bribes for peerages, Clement Attlee the NHS, while John Major bequeathed us the traffic cone hotline.

It speaks volumes about the redundancy of Major's administration that traffic cones became a political hot potato. "Traffic cone hotline" has become a shorthand for a government that means well but has nothing to offer anyone.

Blair is already suffering from media-created false parallels with Major's final years and bringing back traffic cones of all things as an idea worthy of time and effort in a 21st century bursting at the seams with potential big issues seems self-defeating and rather ludicrous.

Also, it was dropped for a reason. It didn't work.


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[ Parent ]

(Comment Deleted) (#3)

by Patrick H on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 02:26:42 AM GMT

This comment has been deleted by alexhilton


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Re: (Comment Deleted) (#5)

by HOWLERMONKEY on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 11:38:23 AM GMT

Again this is a rant about how bad JM's gov was.What is your point with regard to Traffic cones and the unnessery placement of them  on the road, and the posability to place presher on the contractors who leave them thear.This problem piss's off millions of drivers a day,costs the econome millions due to delays.

Point please...

sorry about tht typos, I'm Dislexic.


[ Parent ]

Re: (Comment Deleted) (#6)

by Patrick H on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 03:16:14 PM GMT

Again this is a rant about how bad JM's gov was.

No it's not. It's a point about political expediency and concentrating on what matters rather than silly things like traffic cone hotlines.

What is your point with regard to Traffic cones and the unnessery placement of them  on the road, and the posability to place presher on the contractors who leave them thear.

That government should have better things to do than get involved in the minutiae of road-building logistics.

This problem piss's off millions of drivers a day,costs the econome millions due to delays.
Point please...

Source for your assertion that is costs the economy millions? I thought the reason it didn't work in the first place was that it was found that the vast majority of these cones were needed, even if it didn't seem like to drivers caught up in contraflow. Much better to invest in public transport infrastructure rather than sticking plasters and unnecessary red tape on road-building contractors.


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[ Parent ]

Re: (Comment Deleted) (#7)

by HOWLERMONKEY on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 05:42:02 PM GMT

So what do you propose?


[ Parent ]

Re: John Major's good idea. (#8)

by Patrick H on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 08:02:13 PM GMT

I propose nothing. Without wanting to come across as some sort of small state ideologue, within reason, it's nothing to do with government the logistics of how a construction firm builds roads.

It's not in the companies' interests to block roads unnecessarily and it's not in the country's interests to have state-sponsored road-building wardens with clipboards and checksheets telling people their traffic cones are bigger than standard regulation.

And like I said, it was found once the scheme started in about 1992 or so that it was a fallacy that there were a large amount of roads unnecessarily cordoned off without work being done on them, no matter what it might look like to the uninformed and exasperated motorist stuck in traffic.

The answer, then? Take the train.


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[ Parent ]

Re: John Major's good idea. (#9)

by HOWLERMONKEY on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 10:01:03 PM GMT

I often do.... as it is my personal preference for travelling.
The next time I'm sat in a contraflow at Trewithin downes, Gossmoor, Mear, M3, M25, M40, A40, or the Marliybone road, I shall think of you.

I think were done here.


Re: John Major's good idea. (#10)

by Patrick H on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 10:18:20 PM GMT

I think were done here.

Aye. Pleased to meet you. :)


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[ Parent ]

Re: John Major's good idea. (#11)

by HOWLERMONKEY on Sat Jul 01, 2006 at 12:08:09 AM GMT

My pleasure:)


[ Parent ]

Re: John Major's good idea. (#12)

by Henry79 on Sat Jul 01, 2006 at 03:26:33 AM GMT

Strikes me that we should be looking at transport policy more seriously. Its interesting but when Major did this I suspect the reason why he did it wsa that he thought it might catch votes from motorists. I do think that there is a democratic dilemma here- on the one hand actually the best environmental and energy security policy would be to encourage people not to use their cars- as one of the main reasons they use them is the convenience factor of using a car making it more inconvenient is better, on the other a policy like this gets votes. I don't know where to go on this one- I'd love Blair to put in more road calming measures and crack down on speed limits but on the other I know it would lose us the votes and possibly the next election.


Re: John Major's good idea. (#13)

by HOWLERMONKEY on Sat Jul 01, 2006 at 07:01:33 PM GMT

I will put up a transport policy post on my blog ASAP to act as a catch-all for this subject.
As opposed to traffic cones, witch is a small issue. (But thay still piss me off no end.)

Catch you all thear..Howler


[ Parent ]

(Comment Deleted) (#14)

by Anonymous on Sun Oct 08, 2006 at 09:42:09 AM GMT

This comment has been deleted by alexhilton


John Major's good idea. | 14 comments (14 topical)