I am neither a "troll" or a "prick" (in my opinion.)

To those of you that took my point - thank you for your comments.

To those of you who "flamed" the post - next time you dial 999 - think
on....

Trust me - if you are going to have "that" MI/Stroke/Anaphylaxis/Meningitis
moment - you really want it NOT to be snowing/blowing a gale etc.

Enjoy your enthusiasm - and I understand the science and the challenge - I
merely made the point it is not all "fun".

Oh and thank you grovel, grovel to the taxpayer for paying my wage (in
case you had forgotten - I pay it too!!!).

Have a safe night.

Remind me - Col, to tell my Local Healthcare Trust to take all the
Ambulances off the road - because they are making people sick :-(

Next time you dial 999 remember to ask the controller to send a nice eco -
friendly BICYCLE!!!


"Col" wrote in message
...

Thank goodness he had a gas-guzzling 4X4 on standby, the likes of
which probably contributed to the athsma attack in the first place.

Dougie wrote:
Fortunately - for the 12 year old kid turning blue with an asthamatic
attack - my service provided me with a 4x4 vehicle which allowed us
to get oxygen and a nebuliser in time to save her life....

I hope you all think snow is fun.

I'm sure I'm one of the few who broke a sweat in these conditions.

Just making the point.

And, sadly, to reinforce the point that 'mild' weather is just as dangerous:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3448713.stm


--
cupra (remove nospam please to mail)

In article , "Jack Harrison" writes:


....

... But what was inexcusable is that given the seven day warning
of the snow - a superb forecast - and the immediate run-up to the blizzard,
the road authorities failed us yet again.


I am surprised at this claim. I don't think any road authority failed us.
The forecast was acted upon and my experience is that roads were salted
and gritted *ad nauseum* pior to the blizzard. No amount of salt or grit
could possibly have prevented the poor driving conditions which resulted
during and immediately after the blizzard. The worst situations occurred
because of the sheer weight of traffic (Scandinavia doesn't have to deal
with one tenth of our peak traffic flows.)

Many of our roads run at absolute full capacity during the rush hour, and
any small incident causes congestion. When the entire road network has
two inches of snow dumped on it within an hour, high winds bringing down trees
- blocking roads - and bringing down power cables - blacking out streets and
sets of traffic lights - the weight of very slow moving traffic compressing
snow into ice, and this occurs around the rush hour(s), then we know all hell
is going to be let loose.


I spent 6 hours on what is normally a one hour journey. And there was less
than 5 cms of snow.

I spent three and a quarter hours on what is normally a thirty five minute
journey. One important route was blocked by a fallen tree and no one could
get a vehicle through to it because the roads were locked solid by stationary
traffic. I came across three other trees (or parts of trees) partially
blocking roads. Also three motor cyclists forced to push their vehicles
in the wheel tracks of cars because of drifting snow. One broken down bus
completely blocking one side of a very busy arterial road, and a county town
with it traffic lights knocked out by a power failure.

And then there were the accidents...

Just what could the road authorities have done which they hadn't already?

I just took the Thursday off as leave, and enjoyed the brilliant blue sky,
winter sunshine and a WHITE countryside:-) Magic!


Cheers,

keith




---
Iraq: 5 thousand million pounds, 50 lives, and counting...
The Politicians will now seek to blame the Spooks.

Keith Dancey wrote:

I am surprised at this claim. I don't think any road authority failed us.

Birmingham City Council are conducting an inquiry into who's fault the
problems were. I believe no one other than the people who can't drive in
snow and ice are to blame.

The forecast was acted upon and my experience is that roads were salted
and gritted *ad nauseum* pior to the blizzard. No amount of salt or grit
could possibly have prevented the poor driving conditions which resulted
during and immediately after the blizzard. The worst situations occurred
because of the sheer weight of traffic (Scandinavia doesn't have to deal
with one tenth of our peak traffic flows.)

While that's true in the rural areas of Scandinavia, around cities such
as Oslo and Stockholm traffic is just as heavy as in comparably sized
cities here.

Jonathan

In article , Jonathan Stott writes:
Keith Dancey wrote:

The forecast was acted upon and my experience is that roads were salted
and gritted *ad nauseum* pior to the blizzard. No amount of salt or grit
could possibly have prevented the poor driving conditions which resulted
during and immediately after the blizzard. The worst situations occurred
because of the sheer weight of traffic (Scandinavia doesn't have to deal
with one tenth of our peak traffic flows.)

While that's true in the rural areas of Scandinavia,



NO. It is true of their largest cities: nowhere near the peak traffic flows
of our largest cities.

.. around cities such
as Oslo and Stockholm traffic is just as heavy as in comparably sized
cities here.

Had they faced a blizzard conditions in the middle of their rush hour
causing trees to block roads and power failures knocking out traffic
lights, they would have ground to a halt, also.

Cheers,

keith



---
Iraq: 5 thousand million pounds, 50 lives, and counting...
The Politicians will now seek to blame the Spooks.

Keith Dancey wrote:

NO. It is true of their largest cities: nowhere near the peak traffic flows
of our largest cities.

Had they faced a blizzard conditions in the middle of their rush hour
causing trees to block roads and power failures knocking out traffic
lights, they would have ground to a halt, also.

True. But you miss my point about the traffic density of Scandinavian
cities - comparing the traffic of Stockholm and London is nonsensical
because London has 10 times the population of Stockholm.
Stockholm-Birmingham comparison is closer (Stockholm has a population of
about 750,000, while Birmingham's is about 1,000,000).

And having been stuck in a Swedish traffic jam, I know that traffic
problems exist there as well as here!

Jonathan

In article , Jonathan Stott writes:
Keith Dancey wrote:

NO. It is true of their largest cities: nowhere near the peak traffic flows
of our largest cities.

Had they faced a blizzard conditions in the middle of their rush hour
causing trees to block roads and power failures knocking out traffic
lights, they would have ground to a halt, also.

True. But you miss my point about the traffic density of Scandinavian
cities - comparing the traffic of Stockholm and London is nonsensical
because London has 10 times the population of Stockholm.
Stockholm-Birmingham comparison is closer (Stockholm has a population of
about 750,000, while Birmingham's is about 1,000,000).


My original claim was that we have an order of magnitude greater peak
traffic flow than Scandinavia.

I do not think that is contradicted by comparing their largest city
with one of ours which is not our largest.


We have greater problems: I think the "road authorities" did everything
that was expected of them, and we still got stuck:-}


Cheers,

keith




---
Iraq: 5 thousand million pounds, 50 lives, and counting...
The Politicians will now seek to blame the Spooks.