I squinted at one of those small closely-printed laminated notices which local councils tie to lamp posts all the time.
They look innocuous, but you never know what’s lurking do you?
An unnoticed sheet of paper might be bearing something of quite enormous consequence for our daily lives.
Especially in Aberdeen where I was, because new roadworks seem to criss-cross the city on a weekly basis causing misery for motorists.
Or maybe it was something to do with the curse of HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation) which plague so many streets; yet another on the way or a notice that someone was renewing a rental licence, perhaps.
It turned out to be neither roadworks nor HMOs on this occasion.
The notice was bringing news that the council was consulting about turning the stretch of road I was standing on into a 20mph speed zone.
‘A car’s tyres screeched as it accelerated at a frightening pace…’
Probably a good idea as there is a children’s play park half-way along the road, so quite a few young families crossing from one side to the other at various times and always the risk of a toddler running out.
It’s also a narrow street when clogged with parked vehicles on either side; another hazard to manoeuvre around, making it potentially dangerous.
As I stared at the council’s worthy proclamation, my concentration was pushed to one side by a commotion at the top of the hill close to the play park.
A car’s tyres screeched as it accelerated at a frightening pace down the hill past me.
It must have been at around 60mph, but possibly more as it gave an impression of leaving the pit lane to rejoin a Formula 1 race.
Except it wasn’t being driven safely in a proper environment or in the capable hands of a skilled professional driver.
I hate to jump to conclusions, but the model of car and recklessness of the situation screamed boy racer.
Who will police new Aberdeen 20mph zones?
A child or mother caught unaware while stepping out from between parked cars as he hurtled towards them would have had no escape at that horrific speed.
In his wake I could see one of those food-delivery cyclists whom he’d just torn past.
I wondered for a half-second if he’d weaponised his car to frighten the cyclist deliberately.
Maybe he’d got in the boy racer’s way and annoyed him.
I couldn’t prove anything, but it was a reasonable hunch: drivers do daft and dangerous things behind a wheel out of frustration.
The bizarre thing about it was that the boy racer then slammed on his brakes seconds later at the other end of the street – amid more smoking, screeching tyres – to perform an emergency stop from 60 to zero.
So he could allow a teenage girl to cross the road; a real knight of the road, this guy.
But show-offs are dangerous, too.
And while all this was unfolding, the food-delivery cyclist perambulated past and plonked himself in front of the boy racer again because his car was held up by lights at a junction.
Lord knows what happened next as they disappeared around a corner.
I just wondered how the police and council could legislate against this type of thing.
A 20mph limit is clearly suitable in this location, but who polices it and how do you stop such a random rush of blood to the head with people like him stalking the streets?
20mph Aberdeen speed limits may make sense, but I’m not sure about trunk road reductions…
We are often at a crossroads over speed limits, not sure of which side of the road we are on; are they always helpful in a practical sense or more of an ideological hindrance?
Whereas they are clearly appropriate in a hazardous built-up area with a play park, they might not be elsewhere.
Such as stretches of the A96 and A9 to and from Inverness.
The abysmal ongoing failure of the SNP devolved administration to implement full dualling is shameful.
Now they are considering reduced 50mph limits on single-carriageway sections, which is rubbing salt into the wounds.
No wonder 90% of P&J readers have sensibly rejected the idea.
Put forward in the name of road safety, but simply adding to driver frustration.
It’s a big issue on these major roads, which have been given minor attention during two decades of broken promises.
Frustration is a known factor in accidents: a trigger behind lack of concentration and potentially rash driving decisions.
I spent 25 years going forwards and backwards along the A96 between Aberdeen and Inverness, dreading the hair-raising antics; I also suffered wearying frustration and close shaves.
Highland MSP Fergus Ewing, who fell out famously with his own SNP hierarchy, dismissed the proposal as “misguided”.
Speed limits should be about horses for courses instead of flogging dead horses with failed A96/A9 policies.
David Knight is the long-serving former deputy editor of The Press and Journal
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