Just grit and bear it!

There have been countless stories of people falling over and hurting themselves during the recent snow that affected much of the nation.

Heavy snow falls brought the country to a standstill with severe disruptions on roads, rail and everyday life. The Government and local authorities came under heavy criticised for being ill prepared particularly when it came to gritting the roads. I agree that we should and could have been better prepared given that we have plenty of warning. However, the severity of the snow fall did catch everyone by surprise and whilst I endured a great deal of grief to get to and back from work, I quite enjoyed the snow. It was a pleasant surprise to have this much snow for a long term.
I want to go back to the point about local authorities not being properly equipped to deal with the “crisis” as many called it. Even if we did had all the grit that we needed, we would not avoid the “accidents, slips, trips and falls”, (recognise the words? Where there’s blame…Yes I thought you did!) on driveways and footpaths or do we expect the authorities to grit every inch of ground on which snow fell?
I take issue with the assertion that someone must be to blame for the accidents and falls people had. Why is it that someone needs to take the blame for your accident? It’s inevitable that people will fall over when it is icy. No amount of gritting and precaution will completely eliminate risk for everyone. As a society, we have gone too far in allocating blame and believing the TV ads reminding us ‘where there’s blame, there’s a claim’. A sense of perspective is in order.