Bill Boaks - Road Safety

Road Safety

Boaks was a major advocate of pedestrian and non motor vehicle traffic rights, and a need for additional care in road safety. He did not object to all motorised transport - he used a car painted with zebra stripes before switching to his armoured bicycle - but he did object to the increased volume of road traffic at the expense of other forms of transport. He favoured having all freight carried by rail and was an advocate of helicopters as a potential means of alleviating traffic congestion. He also noted and highlighted the problems caused by pollution and the damage caused to properties beside roads favoured by heavy goods vehicles. Boaks's central campaign point was simple - he wanted the inversion of the law concerning Zebra crossings, so that all roadways would be treated as if they were Zebra crossings except those parts painted as such, thus giving pedestrians the right of way at all times. The idea was that it would save countless lives by increasing drivers' sense of responsibility, and would cause such chaos in urban areas as to force people back onto public transport rather than using private cars.

To reinforce his point, Boaks would sometimes deliberately hold up traffic at crossings. He later took to pushing a trolley or pram full of bricks back and forth repeatedly, at Zebra crossings. Occasionally he would sit in a deckchair in the fast lane of the Westway (A40) in North Kensington, reading the Daily Telegraph.