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Author Archives: Martin Cassini
Blame the children?
A half-heard news item on Today was about 11 year-olds immersed in their mobile phones being three times more likely (than 10 year-olds?) to be hit on the roads. No doubt the usual suspects will blame children’s lack of awareness. … Continue reading
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Tagged child safety, mobile phones, road safety, traffic regulation
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What’s weirder?
The ideas behind Equality Streets have been called “counterintuitive” (a polite word for weird?). Are equality and filter-in-turn weird, or is the traffic system – by imposing unequal rights and subverting our social nature – more than a bit weird?
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If
If I’m right: that the edifice of traffic control, based as it is on anti-social priority, is flawed and misguided; and that self-control on streets designed for equality are safer and more efficient than streets governed by priority and signals, … Continue reading
Dead red time and space
Scenes like this are repeated ad infinitum up and down the land.
Social protocol trumps regulation
In his column in today’s Guardian, Oliver Burkeman discusses “norm violations”, e.g. queue jumping. It helps explain why on the roads, equality and self-control are safer and more efficient than priority and signal control. As I often say, you’d cause a … Continue reading
Hoggart on HS2
A Commons committee says the £33bn we’re to spend on high-speed rail will be a waste of money. The transport secretary says that’s nonsense; we have to “compete” with other countries. But I’m just back from Manchester where a fast … Continue reading
Congestion charging + HS2 = public waste x 2
What does HS2 have in common with the congestion charge? It will cost the earth, and it is being imposed before large-scale traffic system reform has even been tried. Cars are uniquely convenient, allowing you to go door-to-door at times of your choosing, and … Continue reading
On the roads, self-interest = mutual interest
In banking and consumer affairs, regulation may be necessary, because self-interest is driven by profit. On the roads, regulation is counterproductive. Why? Because self-interest = the common interest. My interest in not hitting you mirrors your interest in not hitting … Continue reading
“In praise of …” Guardian on Poynton
A few years ago, the Guardian ran an editorial against me in praise of traffic lights. Are they beginning to see the light? http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/09/in-praise-of-poynton-intersection “ … the doubters have been confounded” – this links to a piece in a local paper … Continue reading
Minister on the road to nowhere
On 8 May 2013, before the start of a conference organised by PACTS (government road safety advisory council) for the UN’s Decade of Action, I met transport minister, Patrick McLoughlin. What did he think of Poynton? He looked blank. I … Continue reading
