They've woken up to their senses in Kensington & Chelsea and decided to get rid of a load of traffic lights.
The intro paragraph shows just what we're up against here: "This might be a motorist's* dream - but health and safety officers** don't agree. Who will win the fight***?"
* It's not just a motorist's dream is it? What about people on buses? Traffic lights are just as infuriating for people on buses as for motorists.
** Elfin Safety officers, as a general rule, are talking crap.
*** It's not a fight is it? It's an experiment! Let's turn off the traffic lights, and see what happens. If all hell breaks loose (which it won't at most junctions), then leave it for a week and if it doesn't settle itself down, then turn 'em back on again, by all means.
Disclaimer - I do not own a car, I use public transport and occasionally mini-cabs. I was tipped off to this seismic event by anti-traffic light activist Martin Cassini, who cycles around London.
Sunday, 7 October 2007
Outbreak of commonsense in Kensington
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6 comments:
Any half decent health and safety officer would agree with you. Traffic lights are a nightmare. They've put in a set in Bristol that are out of synch with the next set less than a hundred yards away. Result? Gridlock.
Any half decent health and safety officer ...
Has anybody ever met one of these? If so, do any of them work in road and traffic management?
They do exist - I was one once ;) Well, on a part time basis, I was a nominated deputy. This is a profession that frequently gets bad press and it isn't always justified. Good health and safety management isn't about petty rules or masses of paperwork; it's about basic common sense.
Remember the furore over the introduction of the working at height regulations a couple of years back? The nonsense about not using ladders didn't come from the H&S profession; it came from people who don't understand how good safety management works. In essence (that said, I think the regulations were unnecessary as they merely state the blindingly obvious):
Look at your operation, identify who is at risk and manage that risk accordingly. Now, if you are a window cleaner, you are perfectly able to use a ladder - just make sure the damn thing is secured before shinning up it - see? Common sense.
Agreed, there may well be Elfin Safety officers who apply common sense. But do any of them work in traffic management and road design?
I will watch with interest. The experiment at Kensington High St made it a far better place to be on foot and behind the wheel.
Maybe... I do recall once, a fellow driving instructor teaching a road traffic planner to drive. That spoke volumes...
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