Speak your mind.

It is something we love to do, and take for granted that we are allowed to "see it, and say it", and to a large degree, we manage to do it successfully every day. Simple opinions on lunch, to passionate opinions on other much bigger matters.

One thing I have learned is, the ability to do this will depend entirely on the platform you choose to use. While there are many to choose from, Twitter and Facebook have always been my favourites. Open to the world, very limited censorship, and it is a way of just putting a thought out there. Much as I do on this blog too, although the blog has a much smaller audience most of the time.

The further away from public forums (in general) I get, the more I realise, that while interaction on them is higher, it is often overly personal, rather then focusing on the matter at hand. User accounts and profiles give people some sort of belief that they know you or understand you. Some will even go as far as to profile you and decide what the hidden message within the post was. Impossible to believe that something can be as simple as WYSIWYG.

Having run forums for almost two decades now, this is really nothing new to me.

Freedom of speech is a great thing, but also something which is hard to keep a grasp on, after all, as soon as you lay hands on it, the freedom part is somehow lost. Be it a simple change of wording, right through to complete censorship, any interaction or intervention is damaging to the flow.
A social platform is there, like soap boxes are in Hyde Park Corner. Jump up, have your say, duck from the rotten tomatoes being thrown at you from the disapproving, and move on. Agree or disagree, my opinion is my own.
Of course there is room for response, and once I step down from the box, I will happily stand and entertain any rebuttal offered from any opposing people.

What is not on, is sadly something we see far too much of, from a place where examples of how to conduct yourself should be coming from. MP's and Parliament. Shouting, jeering, talking over someone until they can't be heard anymore, then snorting and laughing at their success in shouting you down. In short, shouting people down, talking over them, or removing their ability to have their say, purely because you disagree with opinion is NOT freedom of speech.

With Twitter, I can say things which completely go against the grain of the conversation. Not to be disruptive, but because it is what I feel on any matter at hand. I will of course receive replies from people. But the key here is, they will be uncensored replies, much as my comment was. Name calling, go for it, I don't know you. As long as you are are expressing yourself in an honest fashion, say what you feel you need to. We are all different, and some people will be more aggressive and use more profanity than others, but as long as the message within is clear. All good.

Of course, there is one big thing in this freedom of speech thing...  Commitment. Being committed and standing by your comments is the key. If you feel you might regret saying it, or are worried that someone else will judge you in an unwanted way, based on what you say, don't say it in the first place. You can't take back the spoken or printed word, so why should digital media be any different?
If you have the balls to say something, leave it there. Be proud of your conviction, stand up for what you believe in, and stay standing.

All too often now, things are said in the public domain, threats, anger, statements of questionable fact. If you were wrong, just say "hey, I was wrong". Don't go hiding things and pretending they never happened. That just screams opportunistic bully. You can't go having a spat with someone because what they say doesn't fit with your belief system, or because the right things were not said, then when all is said and done, delete everything you said. That just screams pathetic.

If you search me on the internet, you will see over the years I have said many things, some of which I was completely wrong on, and I have gone on to say just that. However, the original content remains. Complete with any comments made on it by people (so long as they have not deleted them themselves). I just don't see the point in going to all the trouble of screaming and shouting, looking for attention and demanding an audience, only to then hide it all away again. That just tells me that you are a little embarrassed about what you have said to someone, and you are worried that people will realise what kind of person you are. God forbid they know the truth. But hey, maybe they might like and respect you more for being so passionate about something.

Being passionate about something is being willing to debate, discuss, and share a platform, not dominate, control and censor the other person, or remove content you feel is not in keeping with peoples perceptions of you.

This is all to common all across social media these days. "Tweet Not Available" appearing on content, where the person is being called out on their comments, but has chosen to hide what they said, rather than be called into question about it.
This sort of use of social media, and other media platforms is "drive-by" . Not gonna stop, not going to risk getting into a discussion, just simply going to drive by and spray my words from the window, then run!

Going into the red. Bus Lanes!

In so many walks of life 'going into the red' is a bad thing. Bank balance, fuel guage, temperature gauge, and even, yup you guessed it... The Bus Lane!

It is the dreaded bus lane that I thought I would have a little ramble about today.
Many a time, driving a familiar route at certain times of day I chuckle to myself, as all the law abiding, fearful drivers sit patiently (and impatiently) in the normal lane, waiting in a long queue of traffic in a mix of cars going straight on and being held up by those turning right.... Meanwhile, the left lane, THE BUS LANE is clear for traffic going straight on and left. But no one will use it.

Duh, Its a bus lane I hear you say. Yes it is, but like yellow and red lines, bus lanes also have hours of operation, and the times I refer to are those times of day when the bus lane is no longer in effect. Its fair to say that when driving along at 30mph, watching for idiots pulling out, pedestrians on the phone walking into the road, and cyclists who don't see to care for their own life, reading the operation hours of a bus lane comes low on the list of priorities. (I will come back to this later)

However, when sitting in stop start traffic, and running along side a bus lane, especially a road you are caught on regularly , my recommendation to you is this... Read the hours of operation. Make a mental note of the times, and remember them next time you use the road. In general its not hard to rememeber as there are only a few sets of hours used on most lanes.

All Day
7am-7pm
7am-10am and 4pm-7pm
7am-10am
4pm-7pm

Not that much to remember now is it :)

The next thing to do is pay attention to the time of day you travel, and keep an eye on your clock or watch in the car (assuming you keep it adjusted correctly)

Its not just one or two places, nor is it just around the hour the restrictions change. I have frequently buzzed along up a 'not in service' bus lane only to receive glares from other drivers queuing, or even having them swerve into the lane to stop me passing. Its not my fault you are not paying attention, or are just in fact an idiot.

This basically brings me to something I have wondered for a long long time now. Is there really no way to use a basic lighting system to show a bus lane is allowed to be used by normal traffic? The emphasis seems to be on penalising the unauthorised use of them, rather than encouraging the use of them when they are not in service. It only takes a broken down car, road works in the middle of the road, or some other incident to bring the single 'permitted' lane to a grinding halt, and causing the fearful drivers to sit there politely waiting to navigate their way around the obstruction. Meanwhile, all traffic simply turning left is trapped in this queue.

Of course this could be avoided by drivers taking the time to pay attention to the signs, have a little read, and take advantage of the out of service bus lane. But the fact is... THEY DON'T!

In recent years, to ease congestion, and negate the need to widen motorways further, electronic signage has been used to advise motorists that they are permitted to drive on the hard shoulder, turning it into another lane. This can of course be reverted back to a hard shoulder at any time. So with this in mind, and as a trial for the really back areas for this on roads like the South Circular for example, how about replacing the standard bus lane hours of operation signs with ones more commonly found in town centres for car parks. With an electronic section, set to the hours of operation of the lane, but ultimately controlled by bodies like TfL, who could make the bus lane usable to clear congestion around an incident, or indeed extend the closure of the bus lane to traffic when traffic issues are causing serious delays for buses. (see it works both ways).

I have thought over the years about how this could be done. A simple red / green traffic light system on the hours of operation sign, giving a simple indication that the bus lane is open for use by other road users, right through to the above suggestion, which actually came to me writing this.

Working in the logistics business, I know how frustrating it can be for vehicles to be caught up on a long road, just waiting to turn left. And from a private road users perspective, I am flabbergasted by the number of people willing to sit in traffic purely driven by the fear of driving along or into a bus lane. Another thing I have noticed is that this 'fear' is so powerful, people actually swerve around bus stops laid with red tarmac.

While I know the aim of a bus lane is to ensure the bulk of commuters, those willing or required to use buses, are able to get to where they want in a timely manner, while the buses manage to stick quite closely to their timetables. And I'm all for that. having used buses quite a lot in the past its lovely to bypass the traffic and get there in a quarter of the time. Actually I can see that its an encouraging factor when it comes to deciding how to make your commute. 40 mins of traffic or a 15 min value for money bus journey. Personally I usually choose to drive.

So, people of London and other mighty cities, TfL, and dear Boris.... For those who concentrate SO much on the goings on on the roads that they can't read the hours of operation, for those caught in the moment and not aware, and for those who are terrified of the red tarmac which invaded our highways and threatened to charge us £100 for laying a wheel on to it (even if it is only a bus stop and the driver cant tell the difference) Please can we consider a way to make the drivers of the roads choked with traffic and bordered by expensive to drive in lanes, aware of when they are allowed to break free from the traffic, and make a run for freedom (a left turn).

Control over that extra lane could make such a difference. It has on the motorways, now to help those trapped in the cities (by their own stupidity)

And to those people reading this thinking aaaah..... Do something about it, get to know the roads on your journeys, and pay attention to the time of day. Its not a lot to do, but could be very rewarding. A quicker journey home, and the priceless looks on the faces you pass by. Try it.