As you probably know by now, Take My Scrap Car is all about doing what’s right by the environment. Everything we do is geared toward ensuring that the kinds of clapped-out old bangers than have no place on British roads are scrapped and recycled appropriately. And we work extremely hard to get the job done, but a new proposal from a fairly senior source suggests that a totally different type of scrapping could also be helpful.
Has the time really come to think about scrapping traffic lights?
An 80% Reduction
According to the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the United Kingdom as a whole would benefit enormously, if we were to take a full 80% of all traffic lights out of operational use, once and for all. It sounds a bit odd, admittedly, but they seem adamant that it would in fact improve road safety – difficult to believe as it may be. 
According to the pages of the report, so much of the traffic regulation currently in use across the UK is nothing but “detrimental to road safety, the economy and the environment, it also imposes huge costs on road-users, taxpayers and communities.”
So, where does all this come from? Well, those penning the paper insist that while vehicle numbers on UK roads haven’t changed a great deal in 15 years, traffic lights have reproduced to the tune of a massive 25% during the same period. And in terms of why this matters, it apparently all comes down to the way in which being forced to stop and start unnecessarily is apparently a big deal, when factoring in how many cars and drivers it applies to.
“The importance of the road network means the cumulative effect of these measures imposes an enormous burden on the UK economy. Just a two-minute delay to every car trip equates to a loss of approximately £16 billion a year,” wrote the IEA.
“There is a strong economic case for replacing standard traffic regulation with strategies that harness voluntary cooperation among road-users.”
The Alternative?
Of course, the folks at the IEA aren’t silly enough to think that just ripping out all these traffic lights and letting drivers go about their business would be a good idea. Far from it, the results would be pandemonium. Instead, they reckon the authorities should replace the lights with other traffic control measures, which aren’t simply computer automated and thus flawed in their efficiency.
“A high proportion of traffic lights should be replaced by filter-in-turn or all-way give-ways,” they wrote.
“Many bus lanes, cycle lanes, speed cameras and parking restrictions should also go. Culling such traffic management infrastructure would deliver substantial economic and social benefits.”
It’s an idea that won’t be without its critics, but it’s worth acknowledging the fact that similar programs have been implemented in other countries to great effect. The same 80% cull of traffic lights was gone about in Bohmte, Germany and Drachten, Netherlands, which apparently in both cases made a huge difference.
What do you think – has the time come to get serious with overuse of traffic lights?
