Equality Streets

29.12.15 A driver honked at me from behind as I walked diagonally across Tesco car park in Barnstaple. “Where are your manners?” I asked. “Why weren’t you looking where you were going?” he yelled. I struck him dumb with a tirade along the lines of “Ratso” Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy who screams at a New York driver, “I’m walking here!” But in my fury, I missed my chance to explain that I blamed him less than a system which turns people into ill-mannered thugs in the first place. This is another example of the inadequacy of context alone to change the bad habits of a lifetime instilled by the anti-social rules of the road. We need new rules, a new culture and a new driving test. The fundamental rule should be for all road-users to merge more or less in turn. Then we wouldn’t need traffic lights, those weapons of mass distraction, danger and delay, and road rage and “accidents” would become history.