In the part of the UK where I live, in the last few years local / county councils have erected what I can only describe as 'visual barriers' on the central reservations on the run up to roundabouts. This forces drivers to have to come to a complete stop at the roundabout as you are (now) prevented from scanning the other entry / exits points for vehicles before arriving at the roundabout. They are not to prevent pedestrians from crossing the road as when you are alongside these large solid fence-panel like structures, they are angled such that pedestrians can easily walk between them.
Another 'Safety' measure that robs drivers of their own judgement and forces compliance.
Also, the gas -and time- you waste during idle time at the traffic light and the gas needed to accelerate is a form of taxation. And it's a great analogy of how taxes -apart from being unethical- are very poorly wasted.
Traffic lights dumb us down for sure and they are also a compliance exercise like you say. The time I started passing red lights was when government made me sick with its plandemic laws. And I now feel very good about not being a complaint bitch.
Very good point. The fuel wasted on pointless acceleration and deceleration for nonsensical traffic lights is yet another analogy for the government wrench in the machine of free markets. The only problem with this analogy is that government is way more deleterious to the economy than the fuel inefficiencies of traffic lights.
Awesome article to address the classic “but muh, traffic lights.“ I had never thought about that nice traffic light / roundabout comparison in that way.
I do, however, think that your hypothesis needs to be rejected (although I don’t have any data). From my impression, roundabouts are much more common in Europe than in the US, but the US population is more freedom loving and anti authoritarian (although clearly not enough).
Thank you for your comment. It merits a debate, whether the US population is more freedom-loving. After the covid fiasco, I am not convinced. Sure, the do have some freedoms that Europeans don't, but Europeans also have freedoms that Americans don't. Who is to judge which is more authoritarian? I didn't see many anti-lockdown protests in the US. The left were "following the science," and the right were worshiping their daddy Trump, the father of "the vaccine" and his operation warp speed, when they weren't too busy gobbling Qanonsense about "martial law being good because white hats were arresting pedophiles and needed to keep the streets secure." Americans have disappointed me, with all their guns and talk about "revolt," the didn't lift a finger through lockdowns, mandatory masking, and forced injections into their children.
That is an interesting perspective, but I am not convinced. I see what you mean when you say you feel disappointed of Americans, though.
However, I would describe the kind of protests we did have during covid and continue to have because of immigration stuff not as "a fight for freedom" but, in a similar way to the Trump situation, protests for another government. Additionally, (leaving out Switzerland and Sweden) America opened up after the covid nonsense first.
Furthermore, I am unsure which freedoms you are referring to. There are no speed limits on some German streets, but you don't mean that, do you?
Indeed, different regions enjoy different remaining freedoms. It’s hard to tell and gauge this qualitative concept. Maybe the simplest and most meaningful one would be a gallup asking people whether they think government is necessary or not. The vast majority of freedom-loving Americans believe government to be necessary. They worship their constitution and deify their military. They identify as “libertarian”, yet they need their government to supposedly protect their borders, even though it’s that same government that disregards said borders.
A poll would definitely be interesting. People identifying as libertarian but worshipping govt is a real issue you point out (that I've noticed as well). On the one hand, (from my experience) many Europeans don't even know what libertarian means. On the other hand, some Americans seem to know the word but don't understand what it means.
But at the end, there may not be a huge difference, and it probably doesn't make sense to argue about who loves serving govt more.
I live in a small city, small but it is the capital of a Western US state. Most of the intersections have neither stop signs nor traffic lights. People slow down and stop when they see another car coming to the intersection, and otherwise drive through it. It works fine.
This proves that stop signs are not really needed.
But, I expect one day the city government will put up stop signs at all the intersections. It is what government regulators do.
In the part of the UK where I live, in the last few years local / county councils have erected what I can only describe as 'visual barriers' on the central reservations on the run up to roundabouts. This forces drivers to have to come to a complete stop at the roundabout as you are (now) prevented from scanning the other entry / exits points for vehicles before arriving at the roundabout. They are not to prevent pedestrians from crossing the road as when you are alongside these large solid fence-panel like structures, they are angled such that pedestrians can easily walk between them.
Another 'Safety' measure that robs drivers of their own judgement and forces compliance.
Yes. It’s seems to be all about conditioning compliance.
nice!
Also, the gas -and time- you waste during idle time at the traffic light and the gas needed to accelerate is a form of taxation. And it's a great analogy of how taxes -apart from being unethical- are very poorly wasted.
Traffic lights dumb us down for sure and they are also a compliance exercise like you say. The time I started passing red lights was when government made me sick with its plandemic laws. And I now feel very good about not being a complaint bitch.
Very good point. The fuel wasted on pointless acceleration and deceleration for nonsensical traffic lights is yet another analogy for the government wrench in the machine of free markets. The only problem with this analogy is that government is way more deleterious to the economy than the fuel inefficiencies of traffic lights.
Awesome article to address the classic “but muh, traffic lights.“ I had never thought about that nice traffic light / roundabout comparison in that way.
I do, however, think that your hypothesis needs to be rejected (although I don’t have any data). From my impression, roundabouts are much more common in Europe than in the US, but the US population is more freedom loving and anti authoritarian (although clearly not enough).
Thank you for your comment. It merits a debate, whether the US population is more freedom-loving. After the covid fiasco, I am not convinced. Sure, the do have some freedoms that Europeans don't, but Europeans also have freedoms that Americans don't. Who is to judge which is more authoritarian? I didn't see many anti-lockdown protests in the US. The left were "following the science," and the right were worshiping their daddy Trump, the father of "the vaccine" and his operation warp speed, when they weren't too busy gobbling Qanonsense about "martial law being good because white hats were arresting pedophiles and needed to keep the streets secure." Americans have disappointed me, with all their guns and talk about "revolt," the didn't lift a finger through lockdowns, mandatory masking, and forced injections into their children.
That is an interesting perspective, but I am not convinced. I see what you mean when you say you feel disappointed of Americans, though.
However, I would describe the kind of protests we did have during covid and continue to have because of immigration stuff not as "a fight for freedom" but, in a similar way to the Trump situation, protests for another government. Additionally, (leaving out Switzerland and Sweden) America opened up after the covid nonsense first.
Furthermore, I am unsure which freedoms you are referring to. There are no speed limits on some German streets, but you don't mean that, do you?
Indeed, different regions enjoy different remaining freedoms. It’s hard to tell and gauge this qualitative concept. Maybe the simplest and most meaningful one would be a gallup asking people whether they think government is necessary or not. The vast majority of freedom-loving Americans believe government to be necessary. They worship their constitution and deify their military. They identify as “libertarian”, yet they need their government to supposedly protect their borders, even though it’s that same government that disregards said borders.
A poll would definitely be interesting. People identifying as libertarian but worshipping govt is a real issue you point out (that I've noticed as well). On the one hand, (from my experience) many Europeans don't even know what libertarian means. On the other hand, some Americans seem to know the word but don't understand what it means.
But at the end, there may not be a huge difference, and it probably doesn't make sense to argue about who loves serving govt more.
It’s worth discussing like we do now, because we might stumble upon an insight previously unnoticed.
That is very true. It merits a short discussion, as you pointed out.
I live in a small city, small but it is the capital of a Western US state. Most of the intersections have neither stop signs nor traffic lights. People slow down and stop when they see another car coming to the intersection, and otherwise drive through it. It works fine.
This proves that stop signs are not really needed.
But, I expect one day the city government will put up stop signs at all the intersections. It is what government regulators do.
The government always desperately tries to justify its existence
Interesting take. Full marks for alluding to *that* particular Cardassian interrogation chamber session.
I’m glad you made the connection. TNG remains stellar. Too bad too few learned from the subtle ethics taught in many of its stories.
Subtle is the key word here.