The essence of cycling is to keep moving, but London’s chaotic roads often make this difficult. My solution: fewer, not more rules, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
I normally approve of anarchy. There is too much regulation everywhere. The great Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman boldly advocated “shared space” in cities. He wanted kerbs, road markings and traffic signals minimised and replaced by “human discipline”. All road users should navigate urban space by watching out for each other all the time.
Um.
I think that there should be serious consideration given to rolling back traffic laws, where there’s a specific argument in favor of doing so. Inertia can be stifling.
In the US, for a long time, right-on-red was illegal. (Right-on-red permits someone to turn right at a red light as long as they come to a full stop first and yield to other traffic.) There were (plausible) arguments that this would be dangerous. A few states tried it, and it worked all right, and today, essentially the entire US permits it (New York City being a notable exception).
If you had asked me to just guess whether it was safe without empiricial testing, I don’t know if I’d have gotten the answer right.
But there’s a big difference between “being open to trying out specific rollbacks” and “eliminate all of the rules en masse on philosophical grounds”.
Um.
I think that there should be serious consideration given to rolling back traffic laws, where there’s a specific argument in favor of doing so. Inertia can be stifling.
In the US, for a long time, right-on-red was illegal. (Right-on-red permits someone to turn right at a red light as long as they come to a full stop first and yield to other traffic.) There were (plausible) arguments that this would be dangerous. A few states tried it, and it worked all right, and today, essentially the entire US permits it (New York City being a notable exception).
If you had asked me to just guess whether it was safe without empiricial testing, I don’t know if I’d have gotten the answer right.
But there’s a big difference between “being open to trying out specific rollbacks” and “eliminate all of the rules en masse on philosophical grounds”.