Cardiff lightmare

[Martin Cassini]

Ian Perry writes: The traffic light situation in Cardiff is CRAZY! I guess the delays lead people to use their cars less and stay at home more. The cycle lanes being built are just as mad. Also our MP is determined to build a new road to the airport, and a new business park on the M4 ... Seeing what is going on elsewhere, and what is being done here, makes me want to get out!

[Martin Cassini]

Ian, you've prompted the idea of pitching a no-lights trial to Cardiff. Other councils are interested, so why not Cardiff, especially as you identify it as a suitable case for treatment? Can you list some of the worst-offending junctions and upload photos? If you are implying that it’s deliberate policy, I came across something similar in Cambridge. At a public meeting I buttonholed a councillor and listed simple improvements that would solve many of Cambridge's congestion “problems” ...

[Martin Cassini]

... Nodding in apparent agreement, the councillor said they were all good ideas. “So why don’t you take action?” I asked. “Because," he said, "we want to get people out of their cars”. - “So you have a secret agenda?” - “Oh no, “we’re quite open about it.” - When, I wonder, were traffic engineers and policymakers licensed to enter the field of social engineering? Through policy that pinches road capacity and blocks flow, they produce congestion, then get millions from the DfT for a congestion charge “feasibility study”, using our money to promote another layer of unproductive bureaucracy to fleece and oppress us, under cover of solving problems of their own making.