February 2010 Blog Posts (9)

Waiting at portable traffic signals on a straight stretch of road for unmanned roadworks, gaudy orange plastic fencing fanning off in each direction, I wondered again at the arrogance of traffic managers to assume inability or presume guilt without a shred of evidence, and to usurp our responsibility and judgement. The "works" occupied less space than a parked car.

From Simon Hoggart in The Guardian 13.2.10. "Crash blossoms" are headlines which mean something ridiculously different from the intention, e.g. Eighth Army Push Bottles Up Germans, or Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge, or Doctor Helps Dog Bite Victim. They arise because English nouns, adjectives and verbs are uninflected. The phrase "crash blossoms" comes from a headline in Japan Today about a musician whose career had flourished even after her father had died…

Continue

This 1941 Mervyn Leroy film stars the impeccable Greer Garson as Edna Gladney, an early campaigner for children's rights. Gladney successfully lobbied the Texas legislature to remove the stigma of illegitimacy from birth…

Continue

Today I received an email from a traffic engineer who wrote: "You simply cannot present a case against signals as you are not a signals expert and do not address all the reasons for them; you generalise and choose to ignore any evidence that they might be suitable at certain locations". Actually, I've always said that signals might be needed at major junctions at peak times, although I add, "but how do we know until we've tried it"? If traffic "experts"…

Continue

Professor Dylan Wiliam thinks the calls for a new education debate could delay change. "We don't need one because we know what we need to do" [improve the quality of teaching]. Is the same true of traffic system reform? In the wake of Portishead, Bristol is planning a couple of minor lights-off trials of its own. The elected councillor gets the ideas and wants action on a large scale, but he is trammelled by unelected officers whose raison d'être is to…

Continue

Below is a classic (appalling) case of closing the stable door. A signal-controlled junction in East Boldon near Sunderland has claimed another life (12 personal injury "accidents" in the last decade). Instead of removing the source of the danger - traffic lights based on directional…

Continue

There is a tendency among traffic engineers to dismiss eye witness accounts as anecdotal evidence, and direct experience as irrelevant. If it can't be counted, it doesn't count. If it can't be weighed or measured, it doesn't exist. A remark overheard at a traffic management meeting seems to sum it up. "Our traffic systems would work fine if it weren't for the problem of pedestrians."

Have we got the roads we deserve? Are they a reflection of the selfish side of the English character? The culture of the road is like the culture of Parliament or English law: adversarial, competitive. Instead, to make Roads FiT for People, we need coalition, co-operation, consensus.

In the wake of our Portishead proof (cuts in journey time of over 50% and no incidents since the lights went out on 14 September last year), Bristol is committing to a couple of trials. Too few and too small in my view, and deregulation is not enough on its own. Among other essentials is a shift in public awareness. Story here.