Something I won't miss

There's this junction that I cross every day. Traffic coming in to it has to do a little wiggle and cross over the tram tracks before carrying on. There's no way that the cars about to do the wiggling can see if the road ahead is clear, and there's no real way for them to notice that there's a second set of lights that is supposed to stop them from crossing on to the tram tracks when there's a tram a-coming. The result is pure chaos.

Essentially, it's possible for traffic coming in both directions to believe it has the right of way, and more often than not, this leaves a tram stuck for a minute or two while the whole knot tries to untie itself. Add to that a few cyclists and the bizarre urge that some pedestrians have to cross roads, and you're looking at a little pocket of stress for all involved.

It doesn't have to be this way.

The situation only arose a couple of years ago, when they built the trams, changed the contraflow, and vastly ramped up the amount of traffic struggling through this chicane. I can imagine what the 3d imagery looked like - a mother and a push chair on the traffic island, a couple of cars, and a tram full of smiling tourists - rather than sardine-frazzled commuters. It probably looked deadly.

It was never going to be like that, but it could be a damn sight better.

Almost every traffic junction in the city has some sort of problem. Pedestrian traffic lights that don't change unless there's no traffic. Junctions where both pedestrians and cars are stopped at the same time, when one or other could move without risk. A one-way system that drives cyclists and, recently, motorbikes on to the pavement. And this is in a city which acknowledges that it has traffic problems - some of the blame for those problems must lie with those responsible for planning the traffic system. or maybe it's deliberate - maybe they want to force people out of the centre of the city by making it impossible to drive there safely and in comfort?

I'm gradually beginning not to care.