Who’s demanding the Council make U-turn
They want to scrap lights
It’s giving him frights
He’s raised a petition but (if he reads Equality Streets) he should learn.
OK, not my finest poetic hour. I drafted a comment but the local rag’s registration process is dire. I wanted to say: If the petitioner thinks traffic lights ensure safety, he is living in fantasy land. The latest safety audit from Westminster City Council shows that nearly half of personal injury accidents occurred at traffic lights. (How many of the remainder were due to priority? Compiled in the context of priority, the stats don’t tell us.) After Poynton removed its lights and designed the streetscape for a social rather than traffic engineering context, accidents simply stopped happening. The local economy is booming, noise and air pollution are down. Road-users are interacting and smiling rather than ignoring and snarling at each other.
