I am delighted to say that signs warning of new 20 miles per hour speed limits as you enter Wrexham have already been vandalised. Our dear leader here in Wales Mr. Mark Drakefrd is not one to allow hard data to get in the way of his desire for more meddlesome and pointless Government as we saw numerous times in the scamdemic. Drakeford makes two big claims for the new limit.
Firstly, he says it will help the planet and fight global warming, yadda, yadda, yadda. Of course folks trundling along in second gear taking longer to make journeys will actually see more harmful emissions but Drakeford says we must follow the science. Whatever.
Then he claims that slower cars will save the NHS in Wales £92 million a year. It could, of course, save that amount by firing all of its employees with the words diversity, inclusion or net zero in their job titles but that will not happen so we must cut car speeds. But will that save the NHS money? It is not as if any deaths may be avoided altogether it is just that slower cars might postponre death for some folks.
The two groups most likely to be killed by cars are the old and schoolkids. The latter have a whole life of being treated by the NHS ahead of them, mowing down fewer of them actually increases the burden on the NHS. As for old folks: according to the Guardian newspaper (so it must be right) more than 40% of health spending in the UK is spent on treating those of retirement age. And then there is social care on top.
So here is my modest proposal to slash the burden on the NHS in Wales: increase the speed limit outside old people’s homes to 70 miles an hour. It would be transformational.
Of course, I am not serious, just as I was not serious with my previous modest proposal on Welsh health care. And Swift, my fellow Anglo Irish graduate of Hertford College, was not serious with his original Modest Proposal. Sadly I feel the need to state that I am not serious such is the level of dim-witted dull humour abroad in Wales today.
My point is that Drakeford’s claim that his reduced speed limit will save the NHS cash is one that is not born out by fact unless he can abolish the ageing and dying process altogether. My modest proposal would clearly save the State a fortune on healthcare just as the poor selling their children to be eaten as food by the rich would have moderated the Irish famine.