Road rage

I've got to get on my soap box ... or car roof. The roads in this region are atrocious, often leading to accidents and loss of life. And I don't just mean the occasional splattered pheasant or rabbit. Exaggerating? No, definitely not.
The landscape is crisscrossed with dykes and drainage ditches, some very wide and deep, and the roads which run alongside often have no barriers. Furthermore, there is considerable subsidence, so driving can be likened to a voyage over choppy seas as the road surface dips and rises.
A young man and his seven-year-old son died when their car plunged into freezing water next to a road a few miles from here days before Christmas in 2005. Six weeks later, a car carrying Portuguese factory workers clipped another vehicle and plunged down an embankment and into the icy water. Two drowned while one lucky teenager managed to smash the windscreen and swim to safety.

Troubled waters: the thin dividing line between life and death
Picture - Gareth Rees

Average speed cameras, a common sight in England, have been installed on some stretches but they don't solve the problem. Many Fen families know of a relative or friend who have had close calls after skidding down the embankments of these dykes (drains). 
Driving at a safe, even slow, speed along one of these roads on a cold winter's day can be quite unnerving. Many crashes are down to driver error and high speeds, but some are not. One road safety campaigner has been raising money to have safety barriers installed (by a private company) along a stretch of water near aptly-named Bedlam Bridge after a nine-year-old girl died in the water several years ago after the car she was travelling in left the road. But we are living in times of austerity and Ordinary Joe is subject to wage freezes and spending cuts. 
The Fens tend to be overlooked when it comes to real investment. OK, the population is sparse, but we still cough up as much for our council tax as those living in large urban areas who are spoilt with facilities.
But the government, the highways department, the county council, the district council, or whoever is responsible, still refuse to pay for the type of barriers used on thousands of motorway miles.
Life can be pretty cheap in the forgotten Fens.