Is it Me?

Last night I drove from London in a 4-wheel drive vehicle and I was struck by the amount of cars on the motorway unable to go anyway whatsoever - notice I said cars, lorries were moving, so were vans and of course 4 x 4s, cars weren't bizarre but true. A couple were literally in the configuration of the image above, at first I thought I was having an out of body experience or tiredness hallucinations, so I stopped recharged and had the necessary cup of mocha, couldn't manage a whole cup of coffee (I'm so not a coffee drinker) and rejoined the motorway, only to realise, it was really happening. However in emergencies, which last night was, I made an exception.

I was with a long-time girlfriend from back home, doing something very normal, returning from her cousins 50th birthday party, which was held near Thurrock. On the way there, the motorway's smart information system kept warning us of one and a half hours delay on the M25 from Junctions 20 - 18, frantically, we tried to work out if that was in the direction we were going, had it been, party would have been aborted and the next exit would have kicked started journey home.

So we managed via google maps to establish that the traffic was anti-clockwise to our journey, PHEW! on we proceeded with our girl-trip, as we hit the M25 off the M1, we entered a winter wonderland, I slowed down, traffic kept moving, conversation kept on flowing - brilliant. Off the motorway, clear A roads, clear B roads, arrived at party safe and sound, beautiful space, amazing food, precious time. This is what our vehicle is supposed to do, enable us, keep us safe and moving and add to our life's journeying and experiences.

Party over, return trip ahead of us, fuelled with our emotional top up, we were ready, nothing could have prepared me for what I experienced. Excellent B roads lead to excellent A roads that safely deposited us on the motorway, things were progressing so far so good, and then........so the four laned motorway started to drift into three and then two lanes, snow was building up on the central reservation and literally reducing our lanes, we were down to two and then something started happening, the frequency of stationary cars in the hard shoulder, or at least I think it was the hard shoulder, I really couldn't see any line demarkation, so I am going to assume the cars were stranded on the hard shoulder, there wasn't the customary sighting of passenger(s) on the verge, people opted to stay in their vehicles instead of braving the blizzard.

It wasn't quite midnight and the build up of cars on the hard shoulder started to increase in frequency, driving conditions were not good. So on the party leg of the journey, we passed at least three gritting vehicles, did they forget the other side of the motor way? I'm going to assume so, four lanes whittled to two and then to one on the M1, car building up on the hard shoulder increased and so did the signs warning of accidents and eventually, we spied a vehicle upside down with two ambulances parked up in front of it.

Completely unacceptable, so at this point a major shout out to the men and women working last night in conditions from a frozen hell. How valuable and instant the feeds on the motorway's overhead signage were, they managed to cordon off the motorway with ample notifications and visible lane closure features that kept the traffic moving and which was far more up to date than my so-called state of the art SAT NAV. The work of the motorway staff was literally life saving.

Premium cars would literally just stop in front of us, I must also say, everyone slowed down and kept their distance, the odd idiot was speeding in and out of traffic to prove they had a high-performance vehicle (good luck with that).

So why the "Is it Me?" question, well, travel back in time to when I had a nine month old baby in my SUV car, February 2004, no more than 2.5cm of snow on the ground and driving 20 MPH, my car designed to be a family car skidded onto the Stratford Road in Birmingham into oncoming traffic and an angel took the wheels and guided our car safely away from the traffic, literally. The next day, that car was traded in for a 4 x 4 vehicle and I've never looked back. I think all I want in life from my vehicle is to return home safely to loved ones or to return home safely with the ones I love.

So recently when upgrading to another 4 x 4, the sales person was more interested in selling the virtues of the infotainment and gadgetry surrounding the user inexperience in-vehicle. The option for 4 x 4 was in the same selection window as the paint of the car, Paint Vs 4 x 4? Really? I was asking questions like, will this get me off my drive in snow? Is there wade capabilities of this vehicle? So that question popped up because we are all the sum total of our experiences. June 2014, driving through Moseley (again in Birmingham) crazy inexplicable traffic, a child in my vehicle and another child waiting at school for me, my vehicle's height advantage allowed to me see that traffic on the oncoming side was non-existent. Much to the annoyance of other road users, I was able to quickly change lanes and then I experienced it, what appeared like a river bursting its banks the middle of summer in Moseley, rendered cars useless, enter in the mix, the wade technology question. So that was my concern, will this allow me to cross river like conditions on route to my child's school? Yes, I'll buy, No! no thank you.

Last night was perfect systemic failure, being generous, there's at least thirty one days when my 4 x 4 tech is applicable, I cannot afford to be upside down on the motorway like that family was last night in conditions like the one I was driving in, we have one vehicle instead of two cars, all it takes is one journey, since I have no idea what my taxes are being spent on (since it clearly isn't keeping all the roads free of snow, anything with a slope/slight incline rendered her vehicle useless), I therefore have to assume it isn't me.

So the girlfriend from back home, she works as a doctor, she is regularly saving people's lives, she invested in a premium car which she had to abandon at three o'clock in the morning and put her life at risk to walk home. She didn't want to put me out by having me drop her home. Our journeying took this format, she drove to me, parked up her car on my drive, we drove to and from London in my car, parked up and my drive, cleaned off her car and off she went, less than ten miles, I lost contact with her twenty minutes after her departure, I was ringing her telephone and was frantically worrying about her, I finally received a text message stating "Just reached! Had to abandon the car and walk." So this is 2018! really?

How is this possible that in 2018, hospitals are asking members of the public to help drop hospital workers in because there is no other way to safely transport the life savers into work to save lives. I know it's not me.

My life was kept safe because whilst the majority of people were sleeping, a handful of workers were informing me of the dangers ahead on the motorway with demising returns on my hard earned taxes (I hear the few - but your taxes were spent on the information system, my response to that, not good enough). My friend will do all she can to get to work on time tomorrow to save more lives whilst the premium car she was in put hers at risk. We were told to buy diesel, we did, now we are told don't buy diesel. Her car is not diesel, that still did not ensure her safety home last night. I'm passionate about the environment but I'm also passionate about my safe journeying, about all our collective safe journeying.

Something strategic needs to be done about this, I'm fully aware of the fact that emerging technology is improving our experiences on the roads, but visually, all I pass on the roads where I live are stationary vehicles. Recently, out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a driver with what looks like mesh coverings on the tyres of his premium vehicle, I was drawn to them, I've since researched into them and apparently, it's a product that covers your tyres in the snowy conditions, I have never seen them advertised and haven't seen them since, not even in this adverse weather conditions did that product make it to the home page of that business. So having had that experience yesterday, I'm compelled to make safer winter driving conditions my absolute mission and I know it's not me.