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- Manslaughter charges at last? - Equality StreetsEquality Streets on Admission
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Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Country of the Blame
Brake! wants “tougher sentences for killer drivers”. As usual, the blame is misdirected. The priority system is the cause of our problems on the road. By fashioning an unequal killing-field, it makes victims of us all. We live in the … Continue reading
Stuck
Our roads are stuck in the age of deference. By making side roads and pedestrians defer to main road drivers, regardless who arrived first, the traffic system is chronically out-of-date, as are most of the people who run it.
A state of violence
A new law against domestic violence – coercive control – is on the statute books. Isn’t it time to outlaw violence against the public in the form of priority-driven traffic control?
Wrong end of the stick
(To paraphrase from this piece about education by Simon Jenkins): Traffic engineers crave quantification. They have made what is measurable important (e.g. questionable accident stats) instead of what is important measurable (such as quality of life and space).
Fit for what purpose?
The current traffic control system is fit for the purpose of enriching the traffic control industry, but is it fit for people’s safety, convenience or pleasure?
Walkers v drivers
Walkers and drivers can coexist in harmony. But not under the current system. Why do we allow drivers to own the road and intimidate walkers? Why must children learn traditional road safety drill, and why should adults observe it? Vehicles are the killing … Continue reading
Rousseau (2)
From the Guardian article (in the previous post), Theo Hobson continues: “If we want to reform our world, pragmatic rationalism is not enough: we need this bold vision, of full humanity regained.” Similarly, if we want to civilise our roads, we must … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Equality Streets, public realm, Rousseau, Theo Hobson
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Parallel with Rousseau
In his Discourse on Inequality (1754), Rousseau proposed the idea of “the state of nature”, a period in human life when natural compassion held sway and ensured equality (Theo Hobson, Guardian). With civilisation, this primal equality disappeared, chiefly because property was invented. “From … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged equality, Equality Streets, inequality, Rousseau, Theo Hobson
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Stopping and restarting
James Tate of Leeds University appeared in a One Show item last night about the added air pollution from traffic stopping and restarting. Apparently, it boosts the production of poisonous nitrous oxide by cooling catalytic converters which are most efficient … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Equality Streets, James Tate, Leeds University, stop-start
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Bad day in Braunton
Supported by a pusillanimous Parish Council, vested interests and the forces of reaction have won in Braunton, where new traffic lights are going in at a cost, I estimate, of £400,000.
