Re: Has anyone ever noticed...
I grew up in a 'new town' designed so pedestrians never had to cross a road, with no traffic lights and a surfeit of roundabouts. When the corporation that controlled it was ended and the town was absorbed into the local council funding dried up. So now there are many roundabouts with traffic lights, many pedestrian traffic lights, and huge traffic jams in a town too small to merit them.
That's annoying, but I hate it more in a rich city like Edinburgh. There are huge traffic jams every working morning approaching the city caused partly (I'd argue mainly) due to lack of investment in the city on pedestrian bridges, underpasses, and roundabouts.
Gorgie Road is a prime example. Technically it's part of the A71, a major arterial route used by many commuters because the out-of-town bus service is so poor, yet it has six sets of traffic lights in less than half a mile. Locals don't even walk to the pedestrian crossings, they just cross anywhere and expect traffic to stop. It's designated a 20mph zone but during the day 20mph is aspirational, which contributes to terrible air pollution.
I've a friend who is a well to do (posh) English poet who asked me for help with an Extinction Rebellion protest in Edinburgh. I gave him general advice on how to safely conduct NVDA but I also told him there was an easier way. They have all these school kids doing climate strikes, so just place one at each pedestrian crossing in the city crossing the road repeatedly all day long. That would block the city more effectively than lock-on tubes and tripods.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
