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Martin Cassini's Blog Posts Tagged 'rules-of-the-road' (8)

Break the chains of human bondage?

It’s hardly credible that a system which puts the onus on children to beware motorists, instead of the other way round, is supported by the law of the land. Again, it’s hardly credible that a system which denies choice and defies commonsense is enshrined in the rules of the road. Time to break them thar rules?

Added by Martin Cassini on March 18, 2011 at 11:30 — No Comments

Right and proper?

Pursuit of what is "sensible, just, right and proper" was stated by an MP as motivation for rejecting EU guidance on voting rights for prisoners. Yet MPs back a traffic control system which endangers life, subverts our social nature, and puts the onus on children to beware motorists. What is "sensible, just, right and proper" about that? In deferring so abjectly to traffic "experts",…

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Added by Martin Cassini on February 11, 2011 at 14:30 — No Comments

Big society

Called "the largest transfer of power from the state to the individual", the big society has an obvious application to the roads. Provided there is a change in culture from priority to equality - with roadway redesign to express that equality, and legal changes to support it - scrapping most traffic controls and leaving us to our own devices will see many of our congestion and road safety problems vanish in a puff of exhaust…

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Added by Martin Cassini on July 19, 2010 at 18:30 — No Comments

Stranger danger

There is too much fear on the road - a sort of generalised stranger danger. As fellow humans, drivers don't want to bully pedestrians, but the rules of road tell them to ditch their manners in obedience to a system of control which takes absolute precedence. We are cowed into submission by rules which make us cow others into submission. The scenario I'm picturing: waiting to cross the road as a pedestrian and being…

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Added by Martin Cassini on July 13, 2010 at 11:30 — No Comments

Backwardsmen

London News had a report about a crackdown on cyclists who ignore traffic lights. "Cyclists must learn to obey the rules of the road," said Kulveer Ranger, the mayor’s transport adviser, thereby expressing support for a system which makes roads dangerous in the first place, inspires delinquency (see last entry), and fails to deal with the structural defect at the heart of our "problems" on the road.

Added by Martin Cassini on June 24, 2010 at 23:00 — No Comments

A near miss

Outside Lambeth North tube this evening, as I was about to cross the road, a bus come to a stop in the left-hand lane just short of the traffic light. A guy had already started to cross in front of the bus, apparently unaware that the (shaded) traffic light was green. He must have assumed the light was red because the bus was stationary. I began to follow him, but an instinct prompted me to hold back and call out, "Careful!" At that instant, a BMW sped past in the outside lane, missing the guy… Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on May 27, 2010 at 22:30 — No Comments

Justice and equality

In his book, Injustice,…

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Added by Martin Cassini on May 24, 2010 at 9:30 — No Comments

James May isn't far off

May has it about right when he says, "I've always believed that society should have as few rules as possible ... In May's world there'd be only one law: don't be a prat. That actually covers everything. Not paying your tax is being a prat. Neglecting your children is being a prat. Doing 100mph through a town centre is being a prat. As long as you're not a prat, you can do what you like." - It's another way of saying, "Be considerate", which is what the vast majority are when free to choose.… Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on June 17, 2009 at 13:30 — No Comments

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