Now that’s what I call irony (apologies to Darland residents)

I HAVE an apology to make (yes you heard correctly, a budding politician prepared to apologise): to the residents of Allison Avenue, Darland Avenue, Hunters Way, Kingsway, Preston Avenue, Windyridge and in particular the lovely lady I spoke to in Audley Avenue less than two weeks ago.

Because this particular lovely lady had brought to my attention a serious problem plaguing residents of Darland, one which I had discussed with Cllr Chishti en route to that canvassing session and which I witnessed firsthand whilst I was canvassing Audley Avenue: learner drivers. Everywhere.

“I appreciate that they have to learn somewhere,” she explained to me, “but it can be quite annoying sometimes.”

It took only a quick glance up and down the road to realise what she meant. Darland is a beautiful estate (and there aren’t many around). It seems like a perfect place to live: little traffic (it’s not exactly on a road to anywhere) and quite peaceful, with some residents experiencing a breathtaking view of Capstone Valley (if it lasts, but that is, after all, a different matter entirely).

The trouble is, it is also a perfect place to teach learner drivers: the roads are near-deserted, and there are a whole host of manoeuvres which can be demonstrated, explained and practiced whilst on the estate.

It is a tough call to make on this one – on the one hand, residents quite rightly want their peaceful roads, but on the other hand, learner drivers need to be taught somewhere with little traffic for the safety of all road users (including cyclists and pedestrians).

However, my mind was made up yesterday, and I shall not be jumping around ready to denounce driving instructors for teaching learner drivers on the Darland estate. Why? My sister was taught to drive there. My friends have been (and no doubt will continue to be) taught there.

And from yesterday it is where I am being taught to drive.

Yesterday I realised why Darland is used for instruction from the point of view of the instructed: whilst my instructor was explaining a point parked up in Hunters Way, only around five cars passed us – two of which passed just as I was preparing to pull away – and a similar amount passed us when he first explained everything before I started driving in Allison Avenue – a dialogue of approximately twenty minutes.

What amused me whilst I spoke to the lovely lady of Audley Avenue was the way she seemed to back down upon my revelation that, in not too distant a future, that would be me driving past her house (though with my employment situation at the time, I could never have predicted how soon it was to be). For upon the aforementioned revelation, the lovely lady merely smiled and said “well it’s not that much of an issue.” How sweet of her, but surely I should be trying to get into her good books, not the other way around?

Which is precisely why I decided to write this post (that and I am actually quite pleased with myself again – in contrast to last week’s dire AS-level exam results) – to explain briefly why I would not support residents trying to prevent driving instructors from utilising this instruction gem and to apologise unreservedly for being one of those students being instructed in Darland.

One of the most important things in people’s lives is the ability to get from A to B quickly, but safely. The most popular way of doing this today is by car (present company accepted, Cllr Ward, when you read this) and people want safer drivers on the road. This can only be achieved by practical on-road instruction – but we cannot have the instructed starting their first lesson by driving in an area dense with traffic – it would be a massive hazard.

Darland is one area in Medway where this can be achieved safely and I would like to think that students in the future will be pulling away in Hunters Way like me, rather than Canterbury Street.

At least this avoids one potentially ugly mess…