And there has been a cultural shift in the past fifty years.
I'm old enough to have been brought up always to consider other people, in everything I did or said. My friends were inculcated with the same mores, and barring criminals and psychopaths, so was everybody else.
Don't inconvenience other people, be responsible and don't do foolish things. These were the rules of living.
Well, that's over! Now it's me me me, more me, and then just a little bit more me for good measure.
Feel ill, go to A&E; children behaving badly, the teacher's fault; something not working, somebody else must be to blame ... and so on.
Apply this selfishness to every aspect of living, as is mostly done now, and we soon reach our horrendous road culture.
I didn't cycle after I got my Lambretta at sixteen, but when I had a bike I always rode with lights front and back and I, like all my friends , was careful. There was no option, no lights and a policemen would pull you over and give you a good telling off, which felt like a strong reprimand and was acted on.
Three years ago I went on a cycling holiday in Jordan and it was fantastic. First time I'd been on a bike for decades, and I managed, just. But the roads were practically deserted and the short journeys we did in built up areas were done
very carefully. I would never ever cycle here, awful narrow broken roads, too much traffic and far too many selfish me-me types about.
Just being on any road now in Britain is a challenge, which is why I pick my travelling times and destinations carefully. Going into town is becoming a rare
event.
Sad what Britain has collapsed into.
