"Crazy" transportation ideas?

Road intersections should be raised to pavement level to give priority to pedestrians . . . in 1971, 80% of seven- and eight-year-old children went to school on their own, by 1990 only 9% were making the journey unaccompanied, with more than four times as many seven- to 11-year-olds being driven in 1990 compared with 20 years earlier . . . [the] view that the roads are safer because the accident rate has gone down is deeply flawed . . . Quite the opposite. Child road deaths have fallen because there aren't many children near them any more. . . .Children's lives have been evolving in a way that mirrors the characteristics of the lives of criminals in prison. They, too, have a roof over their heads, regular meals and entertainment provided for them, but they are not free to go out. . . . Fifty years ago, cycle mileage exceeded car mileage. Now it's the other way around. While most children own a bicycle, few are allowed to use it as a means of transport . . . Compared with walking, bicycling has the potential to expand a person's geographical catchment area 10- to 15-fold . . . A new Danish road traffic act in 1976 made it the police and traffic authority's responsibility, in consultation with schools, to protect children from traffic on their way to and from school. They created a network of traffic-free foot and cycle paths, established low-speed areas, narrowed roads and introduced traffic islands. Accidents fell by 85%. In Denmark, more than 20% of all journeys are made by bicycle . . . for every life year lost through accidents [while bicycling], 20 are gained through improved health and fitness.

Crazy or prophetic? You be the judge--but a surprising number of the "crazy" ideas of British thinker and transportation planner Mayer Hillman have become "common knowledge" and the basis of policy in various countries around the world. Read more about Hillman in the Guardian.