Running out of room... (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Running out of room...

12:39pm Thursday 25th February 2010

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OK, I have a pet hate – it’s motorists who think they own the road and only they have a right to use them. Yes I know they pay their road tax but then so do I. I don’t, however, always have the car with me when I am hitting the roads.

As a keen runner, finding interesting routes to train for long distances means inevitably at some point I’m going to end up on a road without pavements.

I wear a high visibility jacket and I’m grateful for all the cars that give me a wide berth, but for every three that make room there’s at least one that decides I shouldn’t be there at all and giving me any indication they have seen me or changing course even by a couple of inches is not part of any Green Cross Code they’ve ever studied.

What is their problem?

I often have a similar experience when running down Chilbolton Avenue in Winchester. Now here is a road with plenty of room in either direction for cars to give a runner space. I know there are pavements but part of the road’s charm is its huge trees – great to look at but with the kind of roots breaking through the pavements that are guaranteed to trip up somebody with two left feet like mine.

So fellow motorists I have a plea - so long as we runners use the road with due consideration is it too much to ask that you do the same? Remember, many of us are probably training for ‘the big one’ and raising money for a good cause.

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