March 2010 Blog Posts (20)

Utica NY is getting rid of some of its traffic lights. A month of lights flashing will be followed by a month with lights hooded over.…

Having already paid the odious con charge (odious in its operation and odious because it was imposed before deregulation was even tried), I drove to the City of London to check the new building on the skyline (the Heron Tower by Liverpool Street). I might regret the decision because of an unforced error, which I'll describe in a minute. The number of red light stops that are forced on you is farcical. One set of lights after another,…

More parallels in the New York Times/Observer. "New evidence supports the idea that altruism is hardwired into all but the most hardened sociopaths ... Babies reveal an innate inclination to help ... Frans de Waal, author of 'The Age of Empathy',…

In today's Guardian, Professor Fawaz Gerges writes that by withdrawing troops from Iraq, Obama will begin to repair the damage done by Bush, enabling a new relationship based on mutual interest, not domination. Similarly, on the roads, we need to abolish priority, vehicle dominance and coercive traffic control, so we can start coexisting in peace on Roads FiT for People. Gerges says Iraqis must take ownership of their country. Yes, and…

The more I observe traffic controls, the more I think they exist to occupy and solve problems created by traffic engineers. They certainly don’t add to the sum of human happiness. We have within us the ability to negotiate safe, efficient movement, but traffic systems prevent us from using it. Cycling home last night, I saw congestion tailing back from Lambeth North to the roundabout at Westminster Bridge. After overtaking the jam, I saw the…

I visited Japan last year and was extremely impressed with their transport policy. One of the main things that strikes you is that everyone cycles. There are reasons it happens there and some of these could be used to encourage more cycling here.

Cyclist are treated like kings. You can cycle anywhere and mostly this is on pavements, even the narrow sort that we have in England. You are even allowed to cycle inside shopping arcades so none of this second-class road user experience…

The current system disables us. It prohibits individual decisions based on context. It puts us in fear of putting a wheel wrong. We face mortal danger and needless delay from artificial rights-of-way. Given freedom to choose and to move, we could act according to our inner lights. We could interact sociably in a public…

Unlike the next blog entry, this story, also in the Metro, plumbs the depths of state-sponsored scammery. After the River Ouse receded in York, three flooded cars were given penalty tickets when wardens saw they were parked on double yellow lines.