I have just been looking at the detailed figures for road fatalities in France, and the largest increase by group was pedestrians. More of them were killed in 2016 than in 2010, whereas every other group was well below the 2010 numbers. Since that year overall fatalities have been reduced by 58%. 20% of car deaths are for young people who are new to driving. The amazing thing is the number of HGV drivers killed while not wearing a seat belt. Autoroutes are safer than ever, but although the speed limit is 130 kph, the average driving speed is 118 kph. The same goes for all roads, driving below the limit. I do wonder if comparisons between different countries use the same measuring methods.
The increase in overall French highway deaths started in 2013, rising each year. France cuts speed limit on roads after alarming rise in deaths | World ... The UK managed to reduce highway deaths to June 2017 by 5% from the previous year. It could be as the UK roads are much more crowded it slows traffic down or the blasted cameras everywhere.
The good thing about the extra revenue from speeding tickets is that it will be going to the health services. That has taken the heat out of some of the arguments against.
I think both..... there much less of the back roads with little traffic of which there seem to me many thousands in France..... Also I dont know what the drink drive accident rate is in France.... but the law is widely ignored..
You only have to witness the commercial drivers having a red wine lunch in Les Routiers to know there is a problem.
I was very impressed with the overall standard of driving in France recently. Dozy English on any British motorway have no clue of lane discipline. The French were excellent in that regard, hence I felt a lot safer on their motorways than ours.
You can't win sometimes... https://www.technologyreview.com/s/...idental-experiment-in-halting-global-warming/ At least people are trying...
I do hope that the UK will not throw away all the progress made on waste disposal. https://www.theguardian.com/environ...-eu-recycling-targets-despite-plastics-pledge
Pun intended? This is a garbage decision - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...wing-roads-through-pristine-amazon-rainforest - wave goodbye to the last lung of Earth.
Edit: It's not an audio link, it's an article, just click on the text Yet another problem global warming is 'uncovering'. All this for the sake of making a handful of greedy ****s richer I don't think our species deserves to survive.
Eurostar are starting a direct service from London to Amsterdam from the 4th April with tickets costing £35. This will be in direct competition with the airlines, and they are making a big point about the environmental benefits. Unfortunately you will not be able to return without changing in Brussels as no immigration or customs controls have been sorted out by the UK.
Usual spin and another opportunity to take a dig at the UK. But what does it actually say in The Guardian? "Tickets for the two daily trains – starting from £35 one way" - anyone who has travelled on Eurostar will know that their "starting from" prices are rarely available and if you travel anywhere near peak-times they are considerably more. "Passengers travelling from Amsterdam and Rotterdam will have to connect through Brussels for passport controls and security screening until the two governments complete an agreement allowing passport checks to be conducted in the Netherlands." - so not quite how you positioned it is it?
Why can you travel to Amsterdam non-stop from April but not back the same way until the end of the year? I can only assume that matters have been sorted in Holland to allow it. It therefore follows that the same arrangements have not been sorted out in the UK. I don't know why.
It's quite simple - you can go through a passport check at St. Pancreas because there is the infrastructure, but there is no such infrastructure at Amsterdam CS and it requires the agreement of BOTH countries - which is exactly what it states in the article. But you choose to state that the reason for having to change was because of the UK. As I said, any opportunity to slag off the UK
Why can't you use the same infrastructure that exists at St. Pancreas for incoming passengers? I have never used it so don't know. The main thrust of the posting was about it being competition for the airlines which are thought to create more damage to the environment, which is why I posted it on this thread.
The idea had also been suggested that the Deutsche Bahn wanted a direct link from Frankfurt through to St. Pancras. The problems are that the train would stop at Cologne, Aachen and Liege before arriving in Brussels. This would mean the relevant infrastructures in all of those places - ie. passport and baggage controls, the need to keep Eurostar passengers separate from the rest of the station etc. Personally I can get the inter city from Cologne, change in Brussels, stretch my legs etc. etc. A through train would only win me about 30 mins, and I guess it's the same from Amsterdam.
Interesting article on climate change: https://www.theguardian.com/environ...16-days-earlier-than-a-decade-ago-study-shows
You always go for the cheap - not surprised you use sarcasm. Post what you like. I am nobody. It was on the debate thread that I tried to suggest we input some thinking rather than go for the easy article or video as they are generally cheap and meaningless.. If others disagree they can post as they see fit. I quit as Mod because my views were out of line with some of the more party political on here. On a thread like the environment I suspect there are things that can be shown that are simply interesting rather than just party political. As somebody who dislikes all parties I just get fed up with the number of posters on here who simply hate the Tories and will not try to create a balanced argument. I know others share my opinion - and some don't.
