Hair-raising tactics at roadside

It might sound like the stuff of legend, a joke, or even the latest in “fake news”, the buzz phrase of the moment. But residents of the lovely and quiet Moray village of Hopeman have taken to using an ingenious and yet simple method of slowing down speeding drivers. Donning the obligatory hi-vis jackets and brandishing hairdriers — yes, hairdriers — they are aiming to make it look like traffic police are in the vicinity and doing speed checks.

The aim is to get people to slow down and there are other tricks being deployed to make sure children, in what were once safe streets, are protected from roaring traffic. In its own right, many people will think it good that the community has rallied together to protect its own, and they should be applauded for that.

But it’s also a signal of the sort of things that may well become the norm in future; that is, that we all have to start doing more of the things we used to before we expected those in authority to help us out.

As resources, in all walks of public life, get more and more stretched and costs get hacked back by councils, police, the NHS and others with diminishing resources, the likelihood is we will all need to question whether there are areas we can step in to plug a gap.

English politicians have sparked a debate about whether we should do more to look after our elderly rather than expect the state to do it. What else could we do to help our communities? Well done to the villagers of Hopeman for taking a stance to protect their young; will we all have to do more of this in future?

“Many will think it good that the community has rallied together to protect its own”