Myths about driving

[Martin Cassini]

A myth (or example of official improperganda) is that traffic lights secure our safety. Two "accidents" I’ve been involved in, one when I was cycling along Gray’s Inn Rd and was hit by a car, the other when a friend was badly injured outside her flat by a car ricocheting off a taxi – both happened at lights. Lights and priority prompt inappropriate, conflicting speeds. Equal (or no) priority prompts slow approach speeds and sociable filtering. Accidents are not accidents. They are events contrived by the rules and design of the road. Another example of improperganda is the statement that speed kills. Speed is neutral, like electricity or fire. It’s inappropriate speed that kills – the very speeds we get at signal and priority-controlled junctions.