Nudge theory and Equality Streets

Posted on 17th October 2011 by Martin Cassini

On PM today, head of nudge unit Dr David Halpern said, “People want to do the right thing but they don’t always have the information”. More to the point, certainly where road-user interaction is concerned: people want to do the right thing (take it more or less in turns), but prevailing culture and regulation make them act against their better nature.

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Noisy but nifty

Posted on 16th October 2011 by Martin Cassini

A comment thread about some of my traffic videos was brought to my notice here. It contains a video of Hanoi traffic – noisy but nifty, with no hostility or needless delay.

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Greening not green

Posted on 15th October 2011 by Martin Cassini

The outgoing transport minister didn’t even reply to my overtures when the Coalition took office. Any hope that his replacement, Justine Greening, would present an open ear were scotched when she said on R4 that transport “offers great challenges and opportunities, such as Crossrail and high speed rail.” In shaving mere minutes off the journey between London and the North, HS2 will doubtless end up costing two or three times the estimated £32bn; and it will cost the earth, especially the beautiful part of Earth called the Chilterns. Meanwhile, what about the scope in traffic system reform for transforming road safety, journey time, air quality and quality of life? Not a word.

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Censored

Posted on 15th October 2011 by Martin Cassini

Interesting to see authorities and media lumped together in this Guardian piece about the Wall St protests. I’ve been doing it for some time re. my efforts at traffic system reform, which are falling on stony ground in both government and media. Oh, I get the odd invitation to brief an MP, and the odd response from newspaper/TV/radio editors, but mostly it’s a brick wall, and nothing meaningful happens. Increasingly I think their resistance to change amounts to collusion in a system which, in the words of Kenneth Todd, “causes untold injustice and harm”.

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The “bible”

Posted on 13th October 2011 by Martin Cassini

Not all traffic engineers are fools, but they have inherited a defective (priority-based) system which gives rise to the torture rack of traffic control and is rarely questioned, partly because it is enshrined in a book known in the profession as “the bible”, so dogmatically are its tenets applied. Its characteristically long-winded title – The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions, is usually abbreviated to TSRGD.

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Improper nomenclature

Posted on 10th October 2011 by Martin Cassini

As mentioned elsewhere, traffic authorities refer to a driver who disobeys a red light as a red light jumper (RLJ). But what if you proceed carefully, after checking there is no conflicting traffic? In the eyes of the authorities, you’re still an RLJ. Doh. It’s only crossing at speed that is dangerous – the speeds encouraged by priority and signals! Should traffic lights be banned on the grounds that they encourage inappropriate speed and take our eyes off the road?

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80mph limit?

Posted on 30th September 2011 by Martin Cassini

The biggest guff spouted on the subject is that raising the limit will increase emissions by 20%. No, it’s not mph that matters – it’s rpm. At 70mph, old petrol cars rev at 3,500rpm. Longer-geared diesel or newer cars rev at 2000, using about a third less fuel and producing a third less CO2. On safety, what about middle-lane blockers who not only waste motorway space but cause bunching and get away scot-free when “accidents” occur? But the whole “debate” – about driving by numbers instead of context – is puerile.

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Blood on their hands

Posted on 25th September 2011 by Martin Cassini

It’s not surprising that cyclists inhale twice as much exhaust soot as pedestrians, but further proof  is here. Moreover, the s++t in the air is multiplied by a factor of four by the system of control which prohibits infinite filtering opportunities. Whichever way you cut it, as stated elsewhere, policymakers and traffic managers have blood on their hands.

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New traffic lights – old mistakes

Posted on 22nd September 2011 by Martin Cassini

Traffic lights are being installed at a T-junction near Bideford despite my proposal for a less expensive, safer FiT (filter-in-turn) solution. Story here.

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Causes of congestion

Posted on 15th September 2011 by Martin Cassini

As was flagged up in a recent post, the Transport Select Committee’s report on congestion published today says nothing about the  role of traffic lights or any other interventionist traffic management measure. Not a thing. Summary of report here.

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