As instigator of the trial, I am more than happy to accept this challenge to be the first to step into traffic when the lights are switched off. I too am cynical about ‘experts’. But I’m not cynical about human nature. When given a choice, the vast majority act cooperatively (and you can’t even legislate for maniacs). Trouble is, the current system removes choice. If the idea of no controls fills you with the fear of someone stepping off a cliff, you should find it’s a cotton-wool landing. Have you never seen a junction where the lights are out of action? Poetry in motion. It’s the rule of priority which makes roads dangerous. Priority produces a “need” for lights – to interrupt the priority streams of traffic. Remove priority, and you remove the need for lights and the need for speed, enabling everyone to do what is natural and intrinsically safe: approach carefully and filter, more or less in turn. Filter in turn (FiT) could also prove to be the most efficient form of junction control. The trial should tell, although the three consecutive trial junctions on Victoria Street originally agreed with Westminster were cut by TfL to one. That might not be extensive enough to give human nature a chance to show how well it can do when free of counterproductive traffic controls, and free to use commonsense and common courtesy.

Thanks for your comment. I look forward to you blindfolding yourself and then stepping out into oncoming traffic.

The notion of ’shared space’ is an interesting one, but expecting pedestrians to stop the traffic is simply daft. In some parts of Europe that is the priority on zebra crossings. The result of which is more injuries to pedestrians who try to step out, ‘forcing’ the traffic to stop.

But like I say, please do put a blindfold on and start walking in front of the traffic.

being disabled I can accept when using a wheelchair many people do give away, but on the other hand I’ve been injured when a drive refused to stop telling he enjoyed doing cripples, another knocked me over because he could not find a place to park because cripples had all the parking spots. and another said he did not see me.