From: Ceri 
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Gidday All,

The scary thing is that I'm not sure. One would wonder if the stones
themselves may be a traffic hazard...


   Austria's road safety solution: the Druids  
by Michael Leidig
Ottawa Citizen, 
Sunday August 10, 2003

   VIENNA - Druids have been brought in to reduce the number of
accidents on Austria's worst stretches of autobahn.

   The Druids have put up huge roadside monoliths to restore the natural
flow of "earth energy."  After the huge pillars of white quartz were put
up beside a deadly stretch of road during a secret two-year trial, the
number of fatal accidents fell from an average of six a year to zero.

   Gerald Knobloch, who describes himself as an archdruid, used a
divining rod to inspect the 300-metre stretch of Austria's A9 highway in
Styria and restore "earth energy lines."

   "I located dangerous elements that had disrupted the energy flow," he
told the Sunday Telegraph.  "The worst was a river which human
interference had forced to flow against its natural direction.  By
erecting two stones of quartz each weighing more than a ton at the side
of the road the energy lines were restored."

   The pillars had a similar function to acupuncture, he said. 
"Acupuncture needles also restore broken energy lines.  What acupuncture
does for the body, the stones do for the environment."

   Harald Dirnbacher, an engineer from the highway authority, admitted
they turned to Mr. Knobloch as a last resort.  "We had put up signs to
reduce speed, renewed the road surface and made bends more secure, but
we still kept getting accidents.  At that point we couldn't think of
anything else to do and we decided we might as well try anything."

   "I admit when we first looked at it (energy lines) we were doubtful. 
We didn't want people to know in case they laughed at us, so we kept the
trial secret and small-scale. But it was really an amaizing turnaround."

   Scientists are skeptical of the claims.  "Natural sciences need
evidence.  Whatever can't be measured, does not exist," said Georg
Walach, a geophysics professor at Leoben University in southern
Austria.  "These energy lines and their flow cannot be grasped or
measured, and their existence is therefore rejected by scientists."

   However, the motorway authorities are extending the Druids' role
across the country, paying them about $5,600 for each investigation - a
fraction of the cost of resurfacing the road.  "Of course, the fall
accidents could be due to something else, as we are continuously
repairing the roads," said Mr. Dirnbacher.

   The Sunday Telegraph



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