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War and Peace

In today's Guardian, Professor Fawaz Gerges writes that by withdrawing troops from Iraq, Obama will begin to repair the damage done by Bush, enabling a new relationship based on mutual interest, not domination. Similarly, on the roads, we need to abolish priority, vehicle dominance and coercive traffic control, so we can start coexisting in peace on Roads FiT for People. Gerges says Iraqis must take ownership of their country. Yes, and…

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Added by Martin Cassini on March 20, 2010 at 16:30 — No Comments

Overpaid and over here

The more I observe traffic controls, the more I think they exist to occupy and solve problems created by traffic engineers. They certainly don’t add to the sum of human happiness. We have within us the ability to negotiate safe, efficient movement, but traffic systems prevent us from using it. Cycling home last night, I saw congestion tailing back from Lambeth North to the roundabout at Westminster Bridge. After overtaking the jam, I saw the…

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Added by Martin Cassini on March 19, 2010 at 10:00 — 2 Comments

Sociability = efficiency

Two minor events that made a minor difference. Driving through Camden today, I slowed to let pedestrians cross, also allowing a van to exit from a side road, at no cost or inconvenience to me or the vehicles behind, proving once again that the sociable way is also the efficient way. In Kilburn, I slowed to let an elderly woman cross. She gave me a big smile of surprised thanks. It seems so natural to stop and so perverse not to. But that’s what the rules of the road tell us to do: ignore the… Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on March 16, 2010 at 20:30 — No Comments

Highway robbery

89-year-old partially-sighted Chideock resident, Nancy Underwood, has to make four bus journeys to cross the road from her house to the post office. First she has to get the bus to Bridport, 3 miles east, where she uses a zebra to cross, and wait for the bus back. Her way back across the A35 means a bus ride to Charmouth four miles west, where she can cross, then a fourth bus back to Chideock. Her daughter, Kathy Scott, says she can wait 20 minutes for a gap in the traffic. The heavily-funded… Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on March 13, 2010 at 12:57 — No Comments

Traffic lights v inner lights

The current system disables us. It prohibits individual decisions based on context. It puts us in fear of putting a wheel wrong. We face mortal danger and needless delay from artificial rights-of-way. Given freedom to choose and to move, we could act according to our inner lights. We could interact sociably in a public…

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Added by Martin Cassini on March 12, 2010 at 21:44 — No Comments

Them and Us

The "Kitchener" poster (see Photos) is prompted by a £225 tow-away charge I got this week for "failing" to display my valid resident's parking permit, and a £120 out-of-rush-hour bus lane penalty. Also there is this about Westminster's relationship with a parking enforcement company. What happened to Peace and Love?

Added by Martin Cassini on March 6, 2010 at 12:30 — No Comments

Yorkie or googly?

Unlike the next blog entry, this story, also in the Metro, plumbs the depths of state-sponsored scammery. After the River Ouse receded in York, three flooded cars were given penalty tickets when wardens saw they were parked on double yellow lines.

Added by Martin Cassini on March 3, 2010 at 9:30 — No Comments

A fine fine?

In today’s Metro: North Lincs Council is slapping £20 fines on motorists who leave their engines running while parked up. The ABD (Association of British Drivers) says “it’s a ridiculous money-making scam”. I disagree. I think it’s high time, but I’d introduce incentives. The usual culprits are bus and truck drivers who don’t pay for the fuel they so wantonly burn. I’d give bonuses or prizes for returning low fuel consumption figures. It would also encourage smoother driving, reducing… Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on March 3, 2010 at 9:27 — 1 Comment

No freedom to think

Government road safety adviser, Robert Gifford, is trying to get drivers to behave better through a Think! campaign. Guess what. He doesn't propose extending our freedom to think! The role of control in corroding sociability on our roads has never been studied. Who will give me a grant to study it?

Added by Martin Cassini on March 2, 2010 at 10:00 — No Comments

Blame the drivers!

"There’s no such thing as a dangerous road," says Robert Smith, road safety manager of Dorset CC, "only bad and dangerous road behaviour". That's the depth of ignorance we’re dealing with. We are not born bad. A nurturing environment brings out the best in us. On the roads, given freedom to choose, and given road design that expresses a sociable rather than a hostile context, we co-operate in the interest of the common good. Meanwhile, Smith continues his vendetta against straitjacketed drivers.

Added by Martin Cassini on March 2, 2010 at 10:00 — No Comments

A portable wind-up

Waiting at portable traffic signals on a straight stretch of road for unmanned roadworks, gaudy orange plastic fencing fanning off in each direction, I wondered again at the arrogance of traffic managers to assume inability or presume guilt without a shred of evidence, and to usurp our responsibility and judgement. The "works" occupied less space than a parked car.

Added by Martin Cassini on February 22, 2010 at 12:30 — No Comments

Crash Blossoms

From Simon Hoggart in The Guardian 13.2.10. "Crash blossoms" are headlines which mean something ridiculously different from the intention, e.g. Eighth Army Push Bottles Up Germans, or Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge, or Doctor Helps Dog Bite Victim. They arise because English nouns, adjectives and verbs are uninflected. The phrase "crash blossoms" comes from a headline in Japan Today about a musician whose career had flourished even after her father had died…

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Added by Martin Cassini on February 16, 2010 at 16:30 — No Comments

Blossoms in the Dust

This 1941 Mervyn Leroy film stars the impeccable Greer Garson as Edna Gladney, an early campaigner for children's rights. Gladney successfully lobbied the Texas legislature to remove the stigma of illegitimacy from birth…

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Added by Martin Cassini on February 16, 2010 at 15:30 — No Comments

Are you a sheep?

Today I received an email from a traffic engineer who wrote: "You simply cannot present a case against signals as you are not a signals expert and do not address all the reasons for them; you generalise and choose to ignore any evidence that they might be suitable at certain locations". Actually, I've always said that signals might be needed at major junctions at peak times, although I add, "but how do we know until we've tried it"? If traffic "experts"…

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Added by Martin Cassini on February 16, 2010 at 8:00 — No Comments

Education parallels

Professor Dylan Wiliam thinks the calls for a new education debate could delay change. "We don't need one because we know what we need to do" [improve the quality of teaching]. Is the same true of traffic system reform? In the wake of Portishead, Bristol is planning a couple of minor lights-off trials of its own. The elected councillor gets the ideas and wants action on a large scale, but he is trammelled by unelected officers whose raison d'être is to…

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Added by Martin Cassini on February 16, 2010 at 8:00 — No Comments

Killing fields - roads governed by priority

Below is a classic (appalling) case of closing the stable door. A signal-controlled junction in East Boldon near Sunderland has claimed another life (12 personal injury "accidents" in the last decade). Instead of removing the source of the danger - traffic lights based on directional…

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Added by Martin Cassini on February 10, 2010 at 14:30 — No Comments

The evidence of your own eyes. Irrelevant?

There is a tendency among traffic engineers to dismiss eye witness accounts as anecdotal evidence, and direct experience as irrelevant. If it can't be counted, it doesn't count. If it can't be weighed or measured, it doesn't exist. A remark overheard at a traffic management meeting seems to sum it up. "Our traffic systems would work fine if it weren't for the problem of pedestrians."

Added by Martin Cassini on February 4, 2010 at 22:00 — No Comments

Adversarial culture

Have we got the roads we deserve? Are they a reflection of the selfish side of the English character? The culture of the road is like the culture of Parliament or English law: adversarial, competitive. Instead, to make Roads FiT for People, we need coalition, co-operation, consensus.

Added by Martin Cassini on February 3, 2010 at 21:30 — No Comments

Bristol lights-off trials

In the wake of our Portishead proof (cuts in journey time of over 50% and no incidents since the lights went out on 14 September last year), Bristol is committing to a couple of trials. Too few and too small in my view, and deregulation is not enough on its own. Among other essentials is a shift in public awareness. Story here.

Added by Martin Cassini on February 2, 2010 at 11:00 — No Comments

Give us wings

On Today, Conran CEO, Roger Mavity, said finance directors tend not to make good CEOs. FDs are an important part of the team, but you need energy and caution. A well-designed car has one brake and one accelerator. Two brakes and no accelerator makes an unexciting journey. Applied to politics? It does feel as if former Chancellor, Gordon Brown, now PM, has a brake under both feet. Good FDs are better at controlling than creating. You need a balance between the two skills. Nothing… Continue

Added by Martin Cassini on January 22, 2010 at 17:00 — No Comments

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