Yesterday I emailed several BBC news programmes and national newspapers the following. So far zero response:
So there will be no Brexit dividend, and we face tax increases to fund the NHS. Meanwhile, a fount of public money, currently squandered on a dysfunctional system that acts to our detriment, is overlooked.
Bizarrely, the field is ringfenced. I’m talking about traffic control. Annually, it costs tens of billions, but 22,000 killed or hurt on our roads every year testify to its bankruptcy.
Traffic officers have persuaded us we need their interventions to keep us safe. Poppycock. When traffic lights are out of action and we are free to use common sense, we approach carefully and filter. Congestion disappears. Snarls turn to smiles. Fuel use and emissions drop dramatically, because filtering at low speeds is up to 29 times more efficient than stopping and re-starting. As soon as the lights are “working” again, the jams, the danger, the choking air, the stress and rage are back.
As I explain in this piece, traffic regulation is the last bastion of institutionalised inequality, and a vast source of beneficial spending cuts.
Martin Cassini
