Martin Cassini is a TV programme-maker and
campaigner for traffic system reform. He advocates replacing priority (an engineering model) with equality (a social model) to provide a level playing-field on which all road-users can act sociably. This, he says, would remove the "need" for most traffic controls, and solve many of our road safety and congestion problems, which stem from those very controls.
Cassini has contributed to ''Economic Affairs'' (journal of the
Institute of Economic Affairs), ''
The Times'', ''
Guardian
Guardian usually refers to:
* Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another
* ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper
(The) Guardian(s) may also refer to:
Places
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'', ''
Daily Telegraph
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'',
BBC Newsnight and Traffic Technology International.
Cassini's reforms overlap with the
shared space movement of
Hans Monderman and
Ben Hamilton-Baillie, which is demonstrating in
Bohmte and
Drachten
Drachten () is a town in the northern Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Smallingerland, Friesland. It had a population of around 45,186 in January 2017 and is the second largest town in the province of Friesland.
History Begin ...
that peaceful coexistence can flourish when road-users are free to use their own judgement on roads designed to stimulate rather than enforce appropriate conduct. His ideas also echo the theory of
spontaneous order
Spontaneous order, also named self-organization in the hard sciences, is the spontaneous emergence of order out of seeming chaos. The term "self-organization" is more often used for physical changes and biological processes, while "spontaneous o ...
, which states that the more complex the dance of human movement (e.g. a skateboard park), the less useful are attempts to control it.
Cassini helped instigate a lights-off trial in
Portishead, Somerset, which began on 14 September 2009. Conducted in association with North Somerset Council and
Colin Buchanan, it went permanent after journey times fell by over 50% with no loss of pedestrian safety, despite greater numbers now using the route (over 2000 vehicles and 300 pedestrians an hour).
Minor trials took place in Westminster, Oxford, and Bristol in 2009. But deregulation is not enough on its own, says Cassini. It needs to be accompanied by changes in
road design, culture, the driving test and the law.
Cassini is a member of the International Advisory Council of the Kyoto World Cities New Mobility Program.
Publications
*
Articles and references
ref>
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
Whole article''Buchanan report''
* ''In Pursuit of Elegance'' by Matthew May, Broadway Books (Crown Publishing Group, division of Random House, New York), 2009
*
''Shropshire Star''
External links
''
Colin Buchanan'' -"The effect of removing traffic control regulations at road junctions in the UK"
SSRN Author Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassini, Martin
Living people
English documentary filmmakers
English columnists
1947 births
People from Shepperton