Tag Archives: the DfT

Anonymous executioners

Deaths on “smart” motorways – where the hard shoulder is opened for use at 70mph – reached their highest level in 2019. Article here. The destruction is completely avoidable. One obvious solution is to open the lanes on straight stretches … Continue reading

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Sorry – the easiest word?

The Public Accounts Committee has criticised senior DfT officials for failing to come clean about the spiralling cost of HS2. Apparently they have said sorry and will do better in the future. Well that’s that then.

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DfT and ministerial negligence

A government paper announces funding for local authorities to ‘tackle air pollution’. One of its grotesquely overdue measures is to ‘adjust traffic signals to cut congestion’. So the paper is an open admission that traffic lights contribute to 40,000 premature deaths a … Continue reading

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The goons (the unfunny ones)

I diverge on only one point with street designer, Ben Hamilton-Baillie. He thinks street redesign alone can bring about the desired behaviour change from hostility to civility, or danger to safety. I’ve always thought it should be preceded by, or … Continue reading

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Socially speaking

Socially speaking, road signs, road regulation and road markings are designed to make us do the wrong thing. You were there first? So what? The rules give me right of way over you, so tough! Thus pedestrians and toddlers in … Continue reading

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Ignorance is no excuse; inaction is abuse

Opponents of my reforms are in effect supporters of the current system, which presides over an annual casualty toll of 24,000 souls, many of them children. Ministers, the DfT and local traffic authorities, who back the system, don’t even have … Continue reading

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