Cross about crossing the road!

Posted on 8th May 2020 by Martin Cassini

“You take a risk every time you cross the road,” said Nick Robinson on the Today Prog this morning. It shows how ingrained is unquestioning acceptance of the unacceptable. There should be no risk in crossing the road. It would be so easy to make roads safe. Abolish the rule of priority. Replace it with equality. Make drivers morally and legally responsible for safety. Stop requiring children to learn age-inappropriate road safety drill! Ffs!

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HS2 v H20

Posted on 3rd May 2020 by Martin Cassini

The car is a self-isolating transportation device par excellence. Instead of pouring billions into 19C technology – trains – shouldn’t the state be investing in 21C tech, redesigning the public realm to express equality, eliminating bottlenecks, and creating infrastructure for hydrogen-powered vehicles?

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Another nail in coffin

Posted on 1st May 2020 by Martin Cassini

Brake dust is as bad as diesel for producing tiny particles that penetrate heart, lungs and bloodstream. It may be even worse because it produces them in greater quantities. The stop-start drive cycle caused by traffic lights and priority junctions increases massively the release of particulates from both sources. Allowing traffic to filter at low speeds would vastly reduce these pollutants that are killing us softly. Independent article here.

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Traffic lights still “working”

Posted on 5th April 2020 by Martin Cassini

One of the photographs in Sophie Raworth’s illustrated narrative about a deserted London  shows traffic lights still operating. An opportunity to switch off the lights and save power is being squandered. Of course no heads will roll for this abundant waste.

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The overreaching state

Posted on 5th April 2020 by Martin Cassini

A new threat issued from Health Minister, Matthew Hancock, today. The government will introduce stronger measures, e.g. banning exercise outside the home, if “people” continue to flout edicts by foregathering (as distinct from twogathering?). There are parallels with traffic control which punishes the majority for the (often harmless) infringements of the minority. He should watch his step. The British public can be pushed too far. Why does it kowtow to an unacceptable traffic control system? Because it crept up on them unawares.

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Air quality post-Corona

Posted on 30th March 2020 by Martin Cassini

The lockdown means less traffic and less polluted air. But 45,000 sets of traffic lights still operate, producing 57,000 tons of CO2 every year, just from the electricity that powers them. Rarely reported is that lights produce congestion by blocking flow and preventing traffic from dispersing naturally. Scrapping most lights and letting traffic filter sociably (including foot traffic), would bring a permanent transformation in congestion and air quality, as well as in road safety and the economy.

 

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The unbearable crassness of agreeing

Posted on 28th March 2020 by Martin Cassini

In his report from Antarctica on Radio 4’s From our Own Correspondent, Justin Rowlatt shed tears at the collapsing ice-sheet. Yet still he found a reason to hope. He concluded that humanity’s defining characteristic is not belligerence but cooperation. Precisely. Our instinct for cooperation is the wellspring of my critique of the traffic system and blueprint for reform. In 2012, Rowlatt co-presented a BBC series, The War on Britain’s Roads, in which such critical insight was absent. It’s good that he is showing signs of development. This was my critique of the 2012 series.

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Corona bullet points

Posted on 25th March 2020 by Martin Cassini

We’re safer in our cars than on public transport – another reason for scrapping HS2 and using the money to transform our road infrastructure along the lines advocated here.

Corona also shows, as if we didn’t already know, that a good proportion of the workforce could work from home and avoid stressful, polluting, pointless journeys to and from workplaces.

Moreover, why don’t they (whoever they are) delay school start times? As well as cutting congestion and pollution, it would give teens the rest they need to perform better and live longer, healthier lives.

 

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Simple messages

Posted on 3rd March 2020 by Martin Cassini

Sadiq Khan thinks 20mph will banish accidents and serious injuries on London’s roads. Obviously no bad thing if it does. But would you want to be hit by a bus doing 20? Nor would I. These people see things in simplistic terms. Tony Blair once repeated the lazy phrase, “speed kills”. No, it’s speed in the wrong hands, or inappropriate speed that kills. Speed is like fire. Can be good, can be bad. Instead of learning to drive by numbers, we should learn to drive by context (more on this at the Speed tab). The 20mph campaign is well funded, so maybe that’s why it’s made such headway. Or is it because it delivers a simple message, whereas understanding what is meant by context requires some thought?

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Another pitch to the Press

Posted on 3rd March 2020 by Martin Cassini

No doubt you heard about the Max Planck study which found that poor air quality is a greater threat to life than war, malaria, HIV or smoking.

Replacing conventional traffic control with freedom to filter at low speeds and low revs would cut pollution dramatically (by up to 29 times). Moreover, it would transform road safety, congestion, quality of life and the economy. It’s something that could be done more or less immediately, bringing instant benefits.

 

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