Monthly Archives: May 2011

Cable (and) cars

In the Guardian (21 May), Vince Cable warned about the scale of economic decline and the coming squeeze. He stressed the time and pain required to rebuild our broken economic model. He predicts the impact on living standards will come … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Dissing and disabling us

The Observer has an article about indoor pursuits and health+safety fears causing a decline in the physical strength of children. Similarly, by prohibiting autonomous acts, traffic controls weaken our ability to make decisions. Increasingly, pedestrians and drivers are incapable of crossing … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The point of Poynton

Traffic control produces congestion, pollutes the planet, kills the joy, sucks tens of billions from the public purse, makes roads dangerous, and yes, kills children. Spontaneous lights-out-of-action events and lights-off trials show that humans are more than capable of negotiating … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Huhne in another context

Whether Chris Huhne tried to pass the buck or not, his saga reveals the contortions to which citizens can be driven to escape the tentacles of a system that values the letter of the law above the spirit. Speed does not kill. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The anti-social network

The traffic control system.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Against my religion?

I’ve written elsewhere that filtering on opportunity to cut journey time constitutes a higher imperative than stopping unnecessarily at traffic lights and adding CO2. The idea that obeying regulation at the expense of the planet and in defiance of commonsense is … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Citizen crim

“Speeders” all – Harriet Harman, Stephen Fry, Martin Cassini, Chris Huhne (and you?) – tarred with the same brush for driving according to context rather than driving by numbers. Were we involved in accidents? No. But we crossed a line painted by a … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Relative values

According to happiness studies, we value work, money and property at the expense of relationships, writes Tim Lewis in this piece about The Social Animal by David Brooks. The same could be said of traffic regulation which generates hostility instead of empathy – … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Cycling on pavements

Useful reference in a post by John Adams: ‘On the subject of pavement cycling, Mike Chalkley found Home Office guidelines from 1999 that state: “… provisions are not aimed at responsible cyclists who feel obliged to use the pavement from … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Good cops

I’ve been stopped several times for cycling (carefully) through red lights, twice by police cyclists in the City, once by a motorcyclist in Russell Square. I listen politely to what they have to say, then ask if I can ask … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment