Abstract: | Although widely accepted, traffic controls are an unnecessary evil, imposed on a road network by governments with no commercial incentive to ensure the free flow of traffic. Far from making our roads safer and less congested, traffic lights make matters worse. They take our eyes off the road, obstruct our progress and cause needless delay. In the process they damage our health, the economy and the environment. There is another way: remove controls and restore the common law principle of first-come, first-served – or 'filter-in-turn', as it's known in the Channel Islands. The optimum form of traffic control is self-control. The onus should be on government to prove otherwise. |