You must be kidding leoj, the worst result possible will definitely occur when ever bureaucratic town planners are involved. Just look at the infernal mess they are making of our roads, with ridiculous roundabouts, cycle lanes & public transport corridors.

I am equally sick of fool senior cops, tyring not to smile & give the game away on TV, when they claim every kilometre over the speed limit is a killer. They are right, but only for your bank account after the fines.

I once had another officious official of the Sydney Harbours & Marine Authority threaten to arrest me if I sailed out of the heads, without a Dan buoy & life ring, connected by a prescribed length of rope on my stern rail.

I courteously explained I was heading for the Solomon Islands, single handed. Not only would there be no one to throw the things to me if I fell overboard, but they were a damn nuisance in heavy seas, when the rope was invariably washed out of it's bag, then all over the deck, causing considerable danger of tangling my feet. Thus I had them stored up forward.

When he still threatened to arrest me, I fortunately could advise him that my yacht was a British registered ship, & as master I was entitled to take any action I deemed fit, if he committed an act of piracy by trying to board it. My response would be violent in the extreme, as permitted by law.

He left, leaving me somewhat less inclined to accept tin pot officials.

Ah Hasbeen, You haven't disappointed as usual, with your comedic response?

Roundabouts save lives as do speed bumps on urban roads! By obliging the I'm alright Jack, [more money than brains,] tyre burning hoons, to slow down.

I see in the news, where one of your, [responsible driver,] mates, lit them right up and started a very nice barbeque amongst rev head race going patrons! Who foolishly thought, they weren't on that Mother's menu? Sheesh!

As for the water police? A VIP like you knows how to put those tinpot tyrants in their place!

I don't blame you for not wanting to wear a protective helmet, after all, you'll be at the helm when you come about and in absolutely no danger from the boom.

As for the lifebuoy and rope, they could have come in handy if you were castaway, needed to build a raft, and somewhere along the voyage, needed to dive overboard to spear a fish or rescue WILSON!? I'M SORRY WILSON!

As for a violently swinging boom whacking your upper story? I'd not worry! Not that there was much up there to hurt anyway? After all, that bump on the head, is your head?

I always worry when I go for my annual checkup and the examining Doctor shines a light in one ear and manages to bedazzle the assisting nurse on the other side? Boom, boom.
Alan B.

Hasbeen,

There is no way that the federal governments of the present and foreseeable future are going to let up on mass immigration. Why so has been discussed on here many times before.

The costs of fuel, energy, will continue to rise. Cities are already chockers and the political elite with business are hell-bent on increasing density of population and selling the high rise slums for the future.

Just you watch, people, the old and the young for starters, will be pushed into small units with shared facilities, 'open space'/'community spaces' as in shared planter boxes in lieu of backyards and gardens, perhaps on roof tops or using a margin of footpath space. It is already happening.

I reckon it is not far off that the large metropolitan cities will set low, 20kph max, speed limits and very high vehicle licence and registration fees. That plus expensive vehicle servicing and running costs, will see many people losing their private vehicles.

So yes, it will be back to bicycles for many and it will be sold as a virtue for health, social, community and so on.

Staying on the farm is a good idea.

Garbage Alan. As the Rural Watch coordinator for my area I have quite a bit to do with the cops.

They are backing our push to get rid of the dinky little roundabouts & traffic calmers in a local acreage sub development. Not only are they a menace to anyone in a truck, or towing a horse float caravan or equivalent, they are attracting the hoons.

These things are very pretty, at least while the developer maintain the gardens embedded in them attracting the tree change city slickers, but they supply a gymkhana course for the hoons from the nearest new slum, planned city development they call it, 15 kilometres away.

The taxpayer is seeing hundreds of millions wasted on roundabouts or huge intersections in lightly travelled country roads, which have not seen an accident in 25 years, thanks to fool planners & their grandiose rubbish. Meanwhile we still have main roads restricted to 40 Km/H due to unrepaired flood damage from back in February.

Put these clowns out in the real world, & they wouldn't last a minute.

What I really love are the roundabouts that are so small and restrictive that they are not big enough for a garden, so most people seem to drive over them rather than around; then there are the truly botanical ones that obstruct all view of oncoming traffic so that when some hoon is coming towards one, over the speed limit there is no way to know that he is approaching until he suddenly does a screeching right-hand turn in front of one.
In front, if one is lucky, a collision if not.

Then there are the roundabouts that have negative camber because it's too expensive to build them correctly and put in underground drainage.

What I really love are magic roundabouts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D22BOOGbpFM

Now that really puts the civil into civil engineering - just obey the road rules and it all works. Only in Britain, where people still know how to queue....