Govian sense overruled

Posted on 15th July 2020 by Martin Cassini

On the subject of making it compulsory to wear a mask in enclosed public places, Michael Gove said it’s always best to trust people’s commonsense. Agreed. So why are we forbidden from using commonsense about when or what speed to go? We all lose when officialdom gets involved. Now mask-wearing is compulsory, and on the roads, the use of intelligent discretion continues to be unlawful.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

More misdirected govt funds

Posted on 19th June 2020 by Martin Cassini

“Why fund one special interest group at the expense of others? You could make roads safe for ALL users, and maintain freedom of choice, by replacing priority with equality as the central rule of the road, as explained at equalitystreets.com“. That was my reply to a tweet from transport minister, Grant Shapps, he who plagiarised and misrepresented our IEA report, Seeing Red, in his semi-literate government report, We’re Jammin’. His original tweet: “Brilliant to see cycling levels increase by around 70% compared to early March 🚴🚴‍♂️. And really keen to ensure healthy active transport sustained, so am providing councils with funds to install urgent infrastructure to keep cyclists safe – with more of this to come soon! 🚲”  – Pah! More funds misdirected. The entire caboodle, from the dysfunctional rules of the road to street design and the driving test, needs reform, to ensure safety and efficiency for everyone.

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

KO’d by a traffic light

Posted on 7th June 2020 by Martin Cassini

In a violent end to last night’s anti-racist demo in Whitehall, a police officer was knocked off her horse and sustained a head injury from … a frigging traffic light! And those WMD – weapons of mass distraction, danger and delay – are still operating 24/7 even in the near-absence of traffic in lockdown.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

H not HS2

Posted on 17th May 2020 by Martin Cassini

With social distancing, public transport is an increasingly less viable option. Let’s pull the plug on HS2, and spend the money on eliminating bottlenecks, creating a hydrogen fuel infrastucture, redesigning streets to integrate road-users on a level playing-field, and turning priority junctions into all-way give-ways.

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

Sorry – the easiest word?

Posted on 17th May 2020 by Martin Cassini

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.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Poor TfL?

Posted on 16th May 2020 by Martin Cassini

TfL is getting a £1.9bn bail-out because revenue from fares and the congestion charge have collapsed. When I last looked, TfL’s budget was over £5bn a year, with 100 managers on salaries of over £100,000, with BUPA and generous pension provision among the perks. Much of TfL’s vast budget is spent on vexatious traffic control, and the con charge was introduced before the sociable Equality Streets approach was even tried.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Sledgehammer

Posted on 16th May 2020 by Martin Cassini

London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, is banning cars and vans from central London “to make roads safe and improve air quality”. Of course these could be achieved without the sedgehammer blow of an outright ban: by shifting the power balance in favour of the vulnerable, making drivers responsible for road safety, and allowing only clean-fuel cars, vans, buses and taxis from entering the zone.

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

Humankind

Posted on 12th May 2020 by Martin Cassini

In Humankind: A Hopeful History, Rutger Bregman says we are brainwashed into believing that we are a no-good, selfish species. We are “built” to trust each other, but society creates systems that bring out the evil in us. It could be a summary of my take on traffic control v the people, and endorses what I write about in these pages!

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

Traffic policy and the law

Posted on 11th May 2020 by Martin Cassini

“The trouble with the law is it excludes commonsense,” said historian and former Supreme Court Judge, Lord Sumption, on PM today. “We are quite capable of getting through this by using our survival instincts and exercising commonsense, without the interference of the nanny state” (or words to that effect). His remarks referred to Covid-19, but apply equally to traffic and the law, echoing many of my own remarks on the subject.

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

Peaceful coexistence

Posted on 9th May 2020 by Martin Cassini

There are calls to allocate more road space to cycling and walking. That’s fine, as long as it goes hand in hand with deregulation. Otherwise, the cycle of coercive control will continue to maximise emissions, cause needless delay and road rage. No traffic lights and no artificial priority will bring lower speeds and the elimination of accidents where control plays a disruptive role. Given equality, walkers, wheelchair users, children, blind people, cyclists, riders and drivers will be able to coexist in peace.

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