Disobey

[Lucille]

Related:

The Praxeology and Ethics of Traffic Lights
http://mises.org/daily/4745

It's over. There can be no hope for the state now. Its time has finally come to an end. If you think this is irrationally optimistic, click here and watch the video. You will see the state's raison d'être smashed asunder.

How often do you hear the minarchist say, "Well, I don't like government, but we at least need things like traffic laws. We need a government to keep us safe"? For all those who call libertarians crazy for wanting to abolish the Federal Reserve, how much more dangerous and criminal would they accuse us of being if we actually began to publicly advocate the abolition of traffic regulations? Yet, here it is, on video, for the entire world to see, that Hobbes was wrong.
[...]
It is a clear-cut case of what is known in Austrolibertarian circles as spontaneous order. Rational human beings organize themselves and cooperate voluntarily without the need for government. It is not government, but people that build a civilized society. All government can do is destroy civilized behavior through its violent coercion.

What these examples of regulated and unregulated intersections show is about as close to a perfectly controlled social-behavioral experiment as one can possibly get, and they demonstrate concretely the truth of the libertarian position on the nature of man and society. In addition, they show the problem of "transition" from a socialist society to a free one is a rather insignificant problem. Were the state to completely disappear tomorrow, people would immediately begin to adapt and thrive in the new situation.

What this also demonstrates is yet another example of how government decivilizes people. The Austrolibertarian is aware of a plethora of government interventions into the free conduct of human beings, done in the name of safety, that either make us all less safe or simply create more daily annoyances. Such things include gun laws, airport security armed with naked-body scanners, the invasion of third-world countries, and even the regulation of household plumbing. None of these things make us safe. At best, they treat people more like animals than rational human beings. On average, they are harbingers of death.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

In the city of Detroit, red lights are purely optional. You literally fear for your life if you're alone waiting at a light.

Lol. I've been on streets like that. Absolutely no reason to stop at a red light if it is safe to go. It's less safe to stop. No danger of the Police in those situations. They know better than anyone.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

But wait...wut???

WTF do you live, that you have to get permission from the cops to cut down a tree over 6 inches????

Another lol. If you country folks only knew what it was like in the city and suburbs.

 

[acptulsa]

I remember back in the '60s some states had some wonderful "smart traffic lights". They had sensors to count how many cars were coming from all four directions and would change the signal accordingly. If the government really wants to save energy, those "smart traffic lights" would be all over the place now.

Tulsa has those almost exclusively. They are an improvement, but not perfect. Too often they are set for rush hour conditions. So, you wind up with an intersection where the light is programmed to change when two vehicles come from the side streets. At four a.m., that second car could be a long time coming--and our sensors can't usually sense a motorcycle at all. The usual method is to back up a bit, then pull forward a bit, thus fooling the system into thinking you're two cars. Rude drivers who pull completely into the crosswalk tend to wait for a long time, as the sensors are not in the crosswalk.

They are an improvement. But I still like those cities that set all their traffic lights flashing at night--either red one way (the equivalent of a stop sign) and yellow the other, or red all four directions (thus making a four way stop). The guarantee of a brief stop is better in the wee hours than sitting (burning carbon fuels) and waiting for no one.

 

[dannno]

I'm a big fan of the round-a-bout

 

[PaulConventionWV]

A small percentage does and they write more tickets. Be realistic about it.

A bigger small percentage.

 

[PaulConventionWV]

It's true. So in that case, obey.

How To Gum Up Any Institution
http://lewrockwell.com/north/north1108.html





I love that story!

What story?

Also, thanks for the link.