2026-03-12
"A civilised society designs its roads for the lost, the frightened, and the mistaken"
"An uncivil one lays traps for them"
Is Martin Geddes writing about those dastardly Russians? Or the inscrutable uncaring Chinese?
Well, no, as it happens.
It's about own beloved (or not) local government, some of whom seem to have taken road "safety" well beyond the limits within which "safety" has hitherto been sensibly confined.
And as one who has indeed cycled the chaotic streets of Shanghai and survived, I can say that the Chinese may have differing standards to ours but their emphasis on safety in street planning goes so far as to give cyclists (they have rather more of them than we do!) their own traffic signals that prevent cyclists from having to mix it with vehicular traffic when navigating through busy road intersections. Maybe we could be similarly accommodating in awkward city junction scenarios ... there must be a fair number of "suitable cases for treatment" around our towns and cities.
Still, with local government reorganisation about to merge numerous local councils together in the name of "devolution" (how will that work? Yes, it will create fewer but bigger councils that will be more remote from "we the people" than now) it would not surprise me if Martin has hit on an idea for which our town planners may think the time is right.
Indeed, he claims to have already found at least one example.
