On 11/11/2018 09:20, Peter Keller wrote:
On 11/11/18 12:05 AM, wrote:
On Saturday, November 10, 2018 at 9:44:59 AM UTC, Peter Keller
wrote:

I was in Bucharest (pop only 1.9M) last summer, and I can vouch
for how impossibly congested that city is.

I have driven around there a couple of times and they don't call it
the "Paris of the East" for nothing! Terrible for driving in.

I was in Paris in about 1973. It was really awful, terrible and
horrible then - cars everywhere, impatient drivers, road rage,
rear-end collisions, the works. Bucharest seemed even more congested
with long periods of traffic at a standstill. I was again in Paris
about 6 years ago, and what a transformation! There seemed to be far
fewer cars (whether they are officially discouraged I don't know) and
the drivers seemed much more courteous; waving others on, giving way
often and all that. Traffic lights were rather irrelevant; cars,
pedestrians, bicyclists etc just looked out for each other and
arranged themselves and generally went happily on their way. And I
could cross the Champs-Élysées and Place de l'Étoile on foot;
certainly not possible in 1973.

In France in 1973 there where 18000 deaths by motor vehicle. There are
now 3500 but traffic has doubled. That is a big shift in attitude - and
medical response.

Interestingly, the figures have levelled off over the last 10 years,
where the effect of NCAP should be seen. Making people feel too
comfortable, perhaps?