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Killing fields - roads governed by priority

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…

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Added by Martin Cassini on February 10, 2010 at 14:30 — No Comments

The evidence of your own eyes. Irrelevant?

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."

Added by Martin Cassini on February 4, 2010 at 22:00 — No Comments

Adversarial culture

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.

Added by Martin Cassini on February 3, 2010 at 21:30 — No Comments

Bristol lights-off trials

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.

Added by Martin Cassini on February 2, 2010 at 11:00 — No Comments

Give us wings

On Today, Conran CEO, Roger Mavity, said finance directors tend not to make good CEOs. FDs are an important part of the team, but you need energy and caution. A well-designed car has one brake and one accelerator. Two brakes and no accelerator makes an unexciting journey. Applied to politics? It does feel as if former Chancellor, Gordon Brown, now PM, has a brake under both feet. Good FDs are better at controlling than creating. You need a balance between the two skills. Nothing… Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on January 22, 2010 at 17:00 — No Comments

£20m public money down the drain

Transport for London spending our money wisely again (not). Article here.

Added by Martin Cassini on January 6, 2010 at 10:30 — 2 Comments

Pedestrian killed at traffic lights in Vancouver

Further proof, if it is needed, that traffic lights are no guarantee of pedestrian safety. On the contrary. Story here.

Added by Martin Cassini on January 5, 2010 at 11:49 — No Comments

Knock-kneed Hockney

On David Hockney's edition of Today about intrusive authoritarianism, Bob Marshall Andrews said this legislatively hyperactive government seeks to deter wicked behaviour by restricting civil liberties - an approach doomed to fail. David Willetts said it's better to harness human nature than seek to control it (a view I share and expressed in In Your Car No-one Can Hear You Scream!). Hockney was asked how far he would go,… Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on December 29, 2009 at 11:00 — No Comments

Naked cyclists - wrong helmets on show?

Health and safety trump social convention in this story from NZ.
Happy Christmas
Martin

Added by Martin Cassini on December 23, 2009 at 10:00 — No Comments

Speed limits

As if they needed it, local councils are being "given permission" by the DfT (Dept for Transport) to create 20mph zones. There is also talk of reducing rural speed limits to 50. I'm all for low speeds where warranted, but new restrictions will open the door to more expenditure on enforcement. Wouldn't it be more sustainable to reform the system to stimulate appropriate speed based on context?

Added by Martin Cassini on December 22, 2009 at 10:42 — No Comments

Jargon and inaction

Public sector jargon can do "tangible harm", says an MP select committee. "Civil servants have phrases like 'stand ready'," said David Blunkett, "which actually means 'we're doing nothing about this unless absolutely forced to do so'." It echoes the lights-off trial agreed by Westminster on 8 April, then neutered and delayed by TfL (who claimed the credit for the idea along with Boris, who turned down the proposal in 2008).

Added by Martin Cassini on November 30, 2009 at 11:00 — 1 Comment

Michael Palin on refugees, Bob Dylan on arms dealers

A remark in today's Observer about asylum seekers is equally relevant to the alienation caused by traffic controls. "As individuals we are not hostile to each other," says Palin, "but systems get in the way." Too right. But systems are devised by individuals. Those in power have been made aware of the defects in the traffic control system (which helps kill or injure 30,000 people on our roads every year). Yet they continue to enforce it. "By threatening my baby, unborn and unnamed, you ain't… Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on November 22, 2009 at 20:00 — No Comments

Villains of the Peace

Left to our own co-operative devices on roads with equal or no priority, we get on fine. But on roads ruled by anti-social priority - which upsets the social order and sets the stage for lethal conflict - we suffer the fallout. And we get the blame when things go wrong. The villains of the peace are traffic managers. They f**k you up, the engineers; they may not mean to, but they do.

Added by Martin Cassini on November 22, 2009 at 19:30 — No Comments

Once Upon a Time in the West (of London)

18.11.09 In the early evening winter dark, cycling down Park Lane towards Hyde Park Corner, near the Hilton, a bus overtakes me then pulls in to stop. At first I assume he is going to leave a gap for me to carry on through (my flashing cycle lights are on front and back) but no, he blocks and forces me to stop. He is at an angle to the kerb - as I brake, I thump the side of the bus hard with my open gloved hand, twice, to express my fury. There is just room between kerb and bus for me to reach… Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on November 20, 2009 at 0:00 — No Comments

WMD, D & D

On my bike yesterday, turning right into Park Lane at Brook Gate bordered on suicide. As I pedalled through the second set of lights, they changed to amber. I still had to get across four lanes of pent-up traffic to my left, about to be released from red on its final stretch before Marble Arch. Three lanes could see me. But hidden behind a bus in the inside lane, a BMW suddenly appeared, rocketing forward. I thought when he saw me trying to get to safety on the left (Hyde Park) side, he'd slow… Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on November 18, 2009 at 12:22 — No Comments

The system v children and motorists

Britain is breaching the UN Convention on the rights of the child, says the Children's Rights Alliance for Europe. It is the most punitive nation in Europe, with child protection services unfit for purpose. "We punish children through the courts for things that were once seen as pranks," says Dr Mike Lindsay. "Six children were given Asbos for climbing a tree in Gloucester. We seem to want to criminalise and punish everyone." He is calling for an overhaul of the juvenile justice system.… Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on November 15, 2009 at 11:30 — No Comments

The misappliance of science

On the Today programme, scientist and author of The Master and his Emissary, Dr Iain McGilchrist, talked about the role and function of the brain. He deplored the destructive intrusion of compliance, regulation and other mechanisms into our lives, which interrupt the flow, and waste our potential for creative thinking (or words to that effect). Highly relevant to traffic control which wrecks the organic nature of social interaction.

Added by Martin Cassini on November 14, 2009 at 14:30 — No Comments

Pawns in their puerile game

In a new game devised by traffic engineers, drivers in Camden will be "rewarded" for doing 20mph by getting three green lights in a row, and "speeders" will be punished with a red. Not sure how it will work in different traffic volumes, or how they will stop "speeders" without stopping non-speeders in the same wave. Of course there would be no need for such games if we were free to act according to context, unmolested by "experts".

Added by Martin Cassini on November 12, 2009 at 22:00 — 1 Comment

And now for something completely similar

Spotted in today's Metro: Disabled driver Harold Cadwallader was given a £40 parking ticket after the sun bleached the print off his blue badge. Wardens said they could not be sure it was valid. "I rang the council but they advised me to put my badge where the sun doesn't shine," said Harold, 87, of Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Added by Martin Cassini on November 12, 2009 at 16:00 — No Comments

Traffic control causes "accidents" and delay

In 45 years of using White City roundabout (below the Westway), I've never seen congestion or an accident. Saturday 7 Nov 09 is the first time I've seen it with the shiny new signals "working". Congestion. And a crashed abandoned car. How do the authorities justify expenditure when it causes delay and harm? The traffic control dictatorship is alive and well, and we all suffer the consequences of its unchecked intrusion into our lives.

Added by Martin Cassini on November 10, 2009 at 14:30 — No Comments

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