Wednesday 2 March 2011

The One Show

Veteran anti-traffic light campaigner Martin Cassini has wangled himself a slot on this evening's show on BBC One between seven and seven-thirty.

Be there or be square!

UPDATE: he got his thirty (rather than fifteen seconds of fame) near the end of the show. If you missed it, you missed nothing. Go and visit the post to which Dick Puddlecote links in the comments for a fuller exposé of Martin C's work.

7 comments:

Bill Quango MP said...

I once counted the traffic lights from Kingston-upon -thames to Canterbury.
There were 19 for the first 2 miles.
Then for the remaining 70 miles only another 1.

Mark Wadsworth said...

BQ, ta. I have promised Martin C to do a Fun Online Poll on this very topic next week so that we can guesstimate working-hours-lost-per-year as a result of traffic lights.

Bayard said...

Mark, timing red lights when I'm sitting at them led me to discover that most lights seem to operate on a one-minute cycle. Obviously, at more complex junctions the cycle time is greater, but one minute seems to be the default.

Dick Puddlecote said...

(I'll try again)

Thanks for the heads up, MW.

I think this was one of his little miracles.

It was only a small spot, but hopefully a few more will consider the fact that life can be easier if people are allowed more responsibility.

Mark Wadsworth said...

B, that's what they said on the programme - average wait time is SUPPOSED to be about a minute.

DP, yup, good link, that's the same fellow.

Bayard said...

B, that's what they said on the programme - average wait time is SUPPOSED to be about a minute.

I can see that could be true in conditions of light traffic, where you get through the lights in one cycle, but in heavy traffic it's never going to be true and when in London or any big city, apart from in the wee small hours, is the traffic ever light?

Mark Wadsworth said...

B, exactly, that is what we have to find out - on average (or in total) how many minutes per commute journey per day do people lose at traffic lights? For some it is nil, and for others it might be half an hour.