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Rapid Responses: Rapid Responses published:
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Rural Drivers need a different response
- Agnes P Wood (6 August 2002)
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Re: Rural Drivers need a different response
- Kevin E Mayne (7 August 2002)
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rural drivers
- douglas salmon (8 August 2002)
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Agnes P Wood, GP Penicuik Health Centre Penicuik Midlothian EH26 0NJ
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Some of the comments on 'War on the Roads'were disappointingly simplistic.Condemning each and every driver as a potential murderer is unlikely to stimulate reasoned debate. Similarly a catchy slogan,such as 'drive less' while perhaps less offensive to responsible drivers,ignores the real differences between rural and urban dwellers. Not for the rural dweller is the choice between walking, travelling by train or bus and driver. In some villages in Scotland one bus a day in each diraction is the norm, and you have to get to the village first! Daily supplies such as milk, bread and papers are not delivered. The Doctor's surgery and chemist may be miles away. The nearest hospital can be 20 - 30 miles away and involve complex changes of bus and train. Ambulance response times even with blue lights can be 20 mins. GPs need their cars for home visiting as the population is aging and housebound and rural practices can have practice areas covering 100s of square miles. It is not only global differences which dictate different solutions. Even within as small a country as Scotland there are widely differing needs. Unless attention is paid to efficient and affordable public transport which is resposive to passengers needs rather than maximisation of shareholder profits then rural dwellers will continue to drive often until they are very elderly and arguably unsafe. The car is unfortunately a necessity for mamy people. Also waiting 20 mins in the freezing Scottish rain on a deserted country road for a varibly timetabled bus is unlikely to tempt anyone to forsake their car. So, please, no more emotive diatribes about drivers ruining the NHS or the world and more attention to what might conceivably lead to a mor satisfactory state of affairs for both urban and rural dwellers. Competing interests: I drive a Renault Clio every day 3 miles to and from work as a GP in a semi-rural practice. |
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Kevin E Mayne, Director, CTC Godalming, Surrey, GU7 3HS
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While not covering specifically Scotland it is worth checking out the biggest survey of rural trends in the UK, the English Countryside Agency's "State of the Countryside" www.countryside.gov.uk 93% of people think a disadvantage of the countryside is that there is more need for a car. But in a table of service availability it shows that over 75% of the rural population is less than 4km from a school, post office, library, cash machine, pub and shop. That's a walkable distance for many, and cycleable for all. The Doctor that promotes car use in rural areas speaks directly against the benifits of public health that would arise from making these short journeys on foot or bike. Let's compare 3,500 road deaths with 157,000 for coronary heart and 30,000 related to obesity. |
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douglas salmon, Partner in general practice b20 3he
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People who choose to live in rural areas, who choose to make their lives dependant on cars, impose costs on every body else; the costs of increasing car use include the burden of injuries caused, pollution, destruction of social networks, loss of natural habitats and also perhaps the present rise in obesity and diabetes. It seems reasonable to examine the consequences for others of peoples behaviour, wherever they live. |
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