Road to perdition?
WE HAD a remarkable response to a question we asked on social media last week. The question said simply: ‘Campervans – good or bad?’
Dozens of people were moved sufficiently to comment, with some unexpected replies.
By the way, to the couple of people who responded by criticising us for asking the question in the first place, I love their failure to see the irony in that they engaged in the debate regardless.
And I acknowledge the technical correctness of the guy who pointed out: ‘Objects can neither be good or bad. That concept is alien to almost all life on this planet, bar man.’ Touche. The bottom line is that the people who come to the rural West Highlands in campervans and motorhomes, or towing caravans, are demonised by some motorists for the frustrations they can cause among other road users. Indeed, I must fess up that I’ve been known to rant about them when I’ve been stuck in a long queue of vehicles trundling slowly along the A85, A82 or A828 behind an apparently oblivious campervan driver.
They are also criticised for dumping waste, including human effluent, in public places when they have been ‘ wild camping’.
But the reality is that they pay their vehicle excise duty – otherwise known as road tax – the same as anyone else and are entitled to be on our highways.
They also contribute to the economic prosperity of our area, which has seen a tourism boom in recent times.
So let’s cut them a little slack, with the proviso that any half- decent driver of one of these behemoths should be aware of what’s behind them and pull over to let quicker vehicles go past.