A Conversation for Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK

Cumbernauld and Traffic

Post 1

Syd

I think it's also worth noting that the Cumbernauld Town Planners built in a brave experiment as regards road safety. All of the housing estates in the new town were designed to be child safe and child friendly- children were not exposed to traffic because of the way the houses were aligned in relation to the roads.

The net result was that the first generation of Cumbernauld children to reach adolescence immediately caught the train to Glasgow,on the basis of the ( quite correct ) theory that being almost anywhere except Cumbernauld was a step in the right direction. On alighting from the train, they were immediately knocked down by the first passing motor vehicle they encountered. They had no concept of a car doing more than 10 miles per hour. Cumbernauld kids spent the early 1970s watching The Green Cross Code Man on TV and wondering what on Earth he was talking about.

Incidentally, The Green Cross Code Man was played by Dave Prowse, who later played Darth Vader in the first Star Wars movies, except for that bit where you get to see his face, when he was replaced by another actor. Unfortunately, nobody told Dave that that was to be the case until after the film was released, which must have been a tad annoying for him. But that has nothing to do with Cumbernauld, as far as I know.

And finally, on the subject of the "What's It Called " debate, "Only marginally less depressing, annoying and confusing than East Kilbride ", gets my vote. Having said that, at least in East Kilbride you can pretend you are at the Fun Fair as you spin round all of the many, many roundabouts at least twice, vainly looking for a road sign which actually directs you to the place mentioned on said sign.


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Cumbernauld and Traffic

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