January 2011 Blog Posts (10)

Sometimes I comment at the end of articles that hit my Inbox, like the following in response to this about the NYPD cracking down on cyclists who run red lights. "So much blame going back and forth! The real culprits are policymakers who force us to live and die by a flawed system. Why do we "need"…

In his new film, I Am, Tom (Liar, Liar) Shadyac, who gave away most of his Hollywood millions, explores the idea that our materialistic way of life goes against our true nature, which is to co-operate and unite. He wants to show that the power to change things lies in our own hands. Readers will see parallels with FiT…

Funny how ideas travel full circle. Post new-Labour thinking is in reaction to the statism of Brown and the legislative mania of Blair. Politics lecturer, peer, and adviser to Ed Miliband, Maurice Glasman, sees the "big society" as the rightful territory of traditional Labour, because, alone among the parties, Labour’s values are…

Re the Guide Dogs Association for the Blind in the Telegraph: in the inimitable line uttered by the chain gang boss in Cool Hand Luke, "What we have here is a failure to communicate." From Boris…

Traffic regulation takes legal precedence over equality and social custom. Instead of being able to respond to social and spatial prompts in the world about us, we must obey a context of regulation and reprisal. Instead of a sociable, "After you," we are wound up into thinking, "Get out of my way!" How much longer are we going to put up with manipulation by overpaid, unaccountable regulators lording it over us and making us dance to their…

Comment on my mjcassini YouTube channel: "I am a police officer in a large town in Western Australia with a population of approx 32,000 people. We have countless roundabouts and not one traffic light. These roundabouts keep traffic moving and drivers only have to 'give way' to traffic in one direction, so are far safer. Sure, there are minor bumps, mainly caused by inattention or inconsiderate driving, but the number of serious or fatal…

Never expected to quote Meg Ryan in relation to traffic system reform, but her comment about the value of "mindfulness meditation" (today's Observer) is apt: "by simply refocusing our awareness, we reshape our experience." The awareness that needs refocusing on the road is from priority to equality, which will level the playing field and allow all road-users to interact sociably and safely. Article…

In a typically alarmist manner that missed the real point by a mile, Torquay’s Herald Express warned of trouble at the junction of Torbay Road and Shedden Hill where "traffic lights have been out of action since December 20". As is often the case in these situations, the opposite was true. No lights meant no trouble, as evidenced by this typical reader's comment: "I've been past that junction several times since the lights were out of…

Online exchange re Road to Nowhere videos (at my mjcassini YouTube channel): 'janhanjanhan' wrote, "Removing lights can only work for intersections with little traffic where lights make us stop when it's safe to go (as said in Part 1). Removing lights from major intersections would result in chaos - everyone would block each other in the intersection, or just one direction would…