Martin's Musings
	What if? Good Friday and late afternoon returning from Vyntoner House I witness a speeding car crash into the Priory Restaurant.  Traffic soon blocks all four approaches to the Crossroads at the heart of our community.  A man lies injured, fortunate that he was not a few inches further on else he might have been slammed through the smashed window and far more badly injured.  Damage to him, damage to vehicles, damage to a building, damage to a local trade, damage to other people in terms of shock - waste of police, ambulance and local people’s time, a waste of road users’ time as they had to wait to continue their journey (and you can add on the cost to the N.H.S. caring for the injured party and the police and law courts as they prosecute the dangerous driver). Arriving home I share the tale with Julie.  “What if I had been at that point with the twins”, she said, “we could have all been killed?”  True.  And a frightening thought.  If it had been an older or frailer person who had been hit, they too might have died.  I do not know if someone has died on the Crossroads before now but is it going to take a death before something is done to regulate traffic flow more safely? I know from conversations when I first came to the village that every conceivable option has been considered.  I know that those who are aware of the dangers ‘creep’ the junction until they can see that it is safe to proceed.  Even so, the lack of pavement in the area of most pedestrian use constitutes a danger to life; those who are visiting here are not aware of the need for extreme caution; and there comes a time when with increasing pressure on our roads old options need to be re-visited. I for one know what I would do.  The inevitable result is that some traffic would have to ‘Q’ for longer.  Living where I do you know I would suffer as much as many others with having to wait.  But given the choice of that and of taking the funeral of someone who had been killed on that crossroads I know which option I would choose. Martin Flowerdew