Ever since the government suppressed the 1981 Isles report for
suggesting that compulsory seats belts might cost lives by
encouraging speeding, the psychology of road use has been treated
as anathema. The idea that signs, lights, cameras
and "controlled" pedestrian crossings might distract driving
vision and decrease safety is intolerable to those who love
regimenting others.

The one English example is the "half-naked" Kensington high
street. Cleared of barriers and safety clutter, its accident rate
has fallen by 44% in two years. Only in Britain would such a boon
be "experimental", fought tooth and nail by safety engineers in
league with contractors and, I must assume, undertakers. There is
hardly a street in Britain not being upheaved for some pedestrian
segregation scheme, each aimed at reducing personal risk and thus
increasing the chance of an accident.