Lethal law of the land

Posted on 5th March 2023 by Martin Cassini

State policy and the law of the land set the tone for road-user relationships. Current rules promote a culture of conflict, competition, intolerance and enmity that causes injustice and harm on a vast scale. It would be so easy to change the rules of the road to promote empathy, cooperation, compassion and peace. Why do those in charge of our roads fail to take constructive action?

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

When is a pedestrian a “dumb-ass prick”?

Posted on 5th March 2023 by Martin Cassini

The other day, on foot, I asserted my right-of way at a junction. A van driver sped up and braked, ready to turn left, looking away from me, to his right, for approaching traffic. So he could have hit me if nothing was coming and he had carried on. So with my gloved hand, I smacked the bonnet of his van to warn him of my presence. It prompted him to wind down his window and yell, “You dumb-ass prick!” I tried to point out that pedestrians have right-of-way at junctions, but he spat back, “It’s my priority!” Thus is played out on our roads millions of vile incidents, all caused by the evils of an inadequate driving test and the dysfunctional rules of the road.

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

Sunak’s “sin”

Posted on 24th January 2023 by Martin Cassini

Professor John Adams challenges the safety claims made for seat belts. The safer you feel inside your insulated cabin, the more likely you are to take risks and endanger other road-users. So the cause of road safety would be better served if we felt less safe. If he had any insight, Rishi wouldn’t apologise for not wearing a seat belt, he would condemn intrusive roads policy that acts to our detriment.

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

Taking back control?

Posted on 5th January 2023 by Martin Cassini

Now Keir Starmer’s at it, talking about taking back control. Doubtless he has no intention of letting drivers decide when or what speed to go. Driving by context instead of numbers is probably too subtle a concept for any politician to grasp, deferring as they do to advice from “experts” bent on coercive control.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Trivial pursuit

Posted on 28th November 2022 by Martin Cassini

Bristol City Council is introducing a congestion charge because, it says, “We have a duty to reduce harmful emissions”. The real way to cut emissions of CO2, NO2, and brake dust, is to rid your city of traffic lights, those weapons of mass distraction, danger and delay.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Blinkered Panorama

Posted on 3rd November 2022 by Martin Cassini

I stumbled upon a BBC Panorama last night, about the relationship between drivers and cyclists. It covered similar ground to another Panorama (?) that aired a year or two ago, presented by the same Richard Bilton. Like other commentators on the subject, he seems unable to think outside the box marked priority, and along with his interviewees, including Rod Liddle, follows the conventional path of blaming people instead of the dysfunctional system which puts road-users at odds with each other.

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

No alternative?

Posted on 1st November 2022 by Martin Cassini

No alternative to tax hikes and painful cuts to plug “the fiscal black hole” (of £50bn)? The IFS says they are inevitable, and the commentators I hear or read all agree. But of course there is a source of beneficial cuts that could plug the hole – the bizarrely-ringfenced field of traffic control. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve pitched the idea to the Press and TV, to no avail. This little blog, which reaches hardly anyone, is my only pulpit.

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

System evils

Posted on 30th October 2022 by Martin Cassini

Yesterday, I crossed from Piccadilly to Leicester Sq. I had a good gap, but disobeyed the pedestrian light. It prompted a van driver not only to honk angrily but to swerve towards me, presumably venting his frustration at a hundred red lights he had just endured, and at a pedestrian transgressing a sacred rule of the road. It’s hardly credible that a system which promotes such fury and intolerance is promoted by the law of the land.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

So obvious

Posted on 26th October 2022 by Martin Cassini

It’s extraordinary that an inherently lethal system is backed by public funds and the law of the land. Over 20,000 humans are killed and seriously hurt on our roads every year, with tens of billions supporting a system that makes roads dangerous in the first place. The obvious solution is low-tech and low-cost. Put the onus on the driver to beware walkers and cyclists. Make them automatically liable for any collision. Then electric cars wouldn’t need sound effects, and we wouldn’t need the barrage of vexatious regulation that costs the earth and fails to keep us safe. At last the Highway Code was catching up with its hierarchy of road-users – the vulnerable at the top and the mighty at the bottom. But it has hardly been publicised, let alone enforced. Why?

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

Rage against the lights

Posted on 23rd October 2022 by Martin Cassini

Who will rid us of the meddlesome geeks who impose dysfunctional, high-cost regulation which fails to keep us safe and ruins air quality, quality of life and space for all road-users?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment