Free to Choose

Free to Move

All Blog Posts Tagged 'traffic-regulation' (7)

Is streetscape redesign enough?

Often cited as places where drivers behave considerately are car parks, because they are not part of the regulated road network. In a Tesco par cark yesterday, when I was on foot and asserted my equal right to the road space, I was given the finger not only by the male driver, but by his wife. They were in a big car with a personalised number plate, whatever that tells us. The unpleasant experience reinforces my belief that street redesign – while an essential component in the quest for…

Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on February 6, 2012 at 15:13 — No Comments

Symptoms and causes

Pondering human agency in war and disaster, Neal Ascherson (Observer 20 March), quotes a freelance engineer he met in Uganda whose (unspecified but sage) advice about road-building was largely ignored. "As an engineer, I can tell you the root of all human mistakes. It’s people putting things right, before they have finished finding out what’s wrong." Could he have been referring to…

Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on March 21, 2011 at 11:00 — No Comments

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

Referees and red lights

Football and traffic regulation have plenty in common. Their governing bodies are both anti-freedom and antediluvian. Both are scandalously overdue for reform. On the roads, we could replace regulation and control with one rule: drive on the left; and two bits of advice: take it in turns and mind how you go. "Accidents" would virtually disappear, but in the event of a disputed…

Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on March 6, 2011 at 9:30 — No Comments

Puppets on a string

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…

Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on January 8, 2011 at 12:00 — No Comments

Criminal commonsense?

Returning from Sainsbury’s in Vauxhall to Waterloo at 8 this morning, a driver managed to cut his journey time by over half, with matching savings in fuel use and emissions. How? By ignoring the barrage of red lights that sought to block his progress, even though there was no traffic, let alone conflicting traffic. The route took in the small signal-controlled roundabout on the south side of Lambeth Bridge, which conjures…

Continue

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

Happiness v misery on the roads

Clearly we're going to be more tolerant and make better judgements if we’re in a frame of mind of relaxed alert rather than a state of stress. The Observer had a piece about Warwick Business School economics professor, Andrew Oswald, an expert on the relationship… Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on July 13, 2010 at 12:30 — No Comments

© 2024   Created by Martin Cassini.   Powered by

Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service