No more roadblocks for chinwags


The practice of drivers stopping in opposing traffic to have a chinwag in the middle of the road must come to an end.

The practice has spilled over from decades gone by when bus drivers used to regularly stop their buses in middle of the road and have a conversation. This practice is completely illegal and should be prosecuted to the limit of the law.

There are situations where drivers know it would be very dangerous to stop their car on a whim and brazenly carry on with babble in the middle of the road. Even where they are ushered to drive on by other drivers, they stand their ground and will get out of their vehicles in a rage and engage in highly abusive and threatening behaviour.

 They will bang at windows of drivers behind them, create a scene, may engage in a physical confrontation, all for the sake of talking to someone they know. They are in the wrong but are convinced they have every right to stop traffic in flow because they come across an acquaintance or friend.

We have problems enough with people talking and texting on mobile phone and the crashes that result, never mind deliberately obstructing traffic for conversations. It is time to get these drivers who think they own the road off the road.

Maurice Fitzgerald
Shanbally, Co Cork