AS MOTTOES go, one of the best is E. M. Forster’s “Only connect”, which is particularly apt for the application of maths and physics to the business of getting around one’s home town. This might seem an unthrilling topic at first sight, but if urban traffic management goes wrong it is likely to do more than just frustrate and enrage drivers: it could diminish commerce, create ghettos and dead areas where property values slump and crime rises, and stimulate a move out of town by more affluent citizens.
Questions about traffic management are becoming more pressing for the too obvious…
