Equality not priority

[Martin Cassini]

If, instead of rule by priority (a traffic engineering model), we lived by values of equality (a social model), then the cogs in the current machine that clash – above all safety and efficiency – would mesh. Like shuffling cards we'd merge in turn. Congestion would melt away and roads would be safe. The spanner in the current works – priority – stems from railway engineering. Clearly rail needs segregating from road – trains need greater distances to pick up speed and stop. But given equal rights and responsibilities, road vehicle and foot traffic could co-exist in harmony. Instead of an anal engineering model rigid with coercion and control, we'd have a relaxed social model based on camaraderie and empathy which matches our human nature. Priority puts us at odds with each other. Equality puts us in the same boat, pulling together. When I pitched lights-off trials to Boris and the GLA two years ago, they came out with this excuse for inaction: "The idea is too radical. It would be hard to win over public opinion." Now they plan to remove 145 sets of lights, but fail to appreciate or communicate the wider context. No wonder there is opposition from vulnerable road-user groups. Done right, it would be possible to get doubters on board and go further: scrap the majority of London’s 6,000 signals, leaving only 145 in (part-time) operation. And then reduce the UK's 50,000+ signals that hold us to ransom 24 hours every day of every year. Regulators always play the safety card. But as long as they inflict priority streets upon an unsuspecting public, their accident stats are relevant only in the context of their own prejudicial, defective, jealously-guarded system.