Monthly Archives: June 2011

International farce

In Belgium last week, a driver honked at me as I crossed on a zebra. Why? Because junctions there, in France too, often have traffic lights and zebras, delivering absurdly contradictory messages. I was already virtually across, having seen him stop … Continue reading

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Is it OK to cross a red light?

In the US, the “crime” of crossing on red is called “red light running”; in the UK, it’s “red light jumping” (RLJ). But surely it’s only dangerous if you cross at speed, in neglect of other road-users. Instead of waiting and polluting pointlessly, shouldn’t … Continue reading

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Bad air day

If 4000 premature deaths a year are due to air pollution from traffic, which is indeed the case, then traffic officials and governments should be accounable for measures that damage air quality. Sitting outside a cafe in Paris as I … Continue reading

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Roads minister on speed (as it were)

Until the last paragraph, this sounded reasonable … People shouldn’t need speed limits to “tell them what speed to drive at”! Too often the limit is a target, and even 20 in an urban setting, especially with children around, can … Continue reading

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Government lies

A prominent news story yesterday was the prospect of stiff fines for Britain’s failure to meet emissions reduction targets, particularly nitrogen dioxide which causes 4000 premature deaths a year. The main source of NO2 is traffic. Radio 4 News quoted … Continue reading

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True care and attention

Traffic managers assume we are incapable of negotiating safe movement under our own steam, so they herd us like sheep. They brainwash us into believing that we could not live, indeed we would die, without their system of control. The … Continue reading

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More misappliance of science

In the summer you expect jams on the A303 because of man-made bottlenecks, i.e. dual-carriageways funneling into single. But nearing the end of a mega jam the other day, I saw it was due to something else: traffic lights at a roundabout. … Continue reading

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Speed rap

They say that any publicity is good publicity. I’m not so sure. Anyway, it’s out there, so it might as well be on here. One news story here, another here.

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