Driving home this evening I happened to be listening to P.M. on R4. They broadcast an item on cycling in Paris. Apparently the Parisian authorites have decided that cyclists don't need to obey traffic lights. Particularly when turning right against the red. Some sexy sounding French lady explained that this was OK, in fact she felt safer, since all you had to do was take care and be vigilant. They then aired the views of a taxi driver who sounded off on how unsafe this was.
Then came the killer argument. The BBC reporter got on his bike to navigate the Arc de Triomphe interchange where he said something on the lines of , "...despite the 'chaos' the traffic takes care and thanks to the give way from the right rule it all works well. In fact the TRAFFIC LIGHT CONTROLLED JUNCTION ON THE PLACE DE LA CONCORDE AT THE OTHER END OF THE CHAMPS ELYSEES HAS FIVE TIMES THE ACCIDENT RATE OF THE UNCONTROLLED ARC DE TRIOMPHE JUNCTION".
Really, it's so bloody obvious isn't it. Needless to say Eddy bloody Maier didn't get it.
Listen lads, Turn Off The Damn' Traffic Lights.
But it gets worse for the dirigiste French does it not? This factoid is a proxy for the success of freedom and markets and is another nail in the coffin of bureaucratic central planning; traffic lights being bureaucratic road rationing by remote control
(PS. In a previous life I was a highway design Engineer - letters after my name and everything).