The problem is that many neighborhood streets were designed to be wide so you could feel completely safe driving on them, however the problem is that this makes you drive faster, meaning that when accidents do occur, they’re more severe, and happen more often. This is also why many people speed on stroads, because they feel comfortable at 60 when the limit is 45.
This is a decent analogy, but ignores the practicality of the situation.
How exactly do you get the UK electorate to support this, there really isn’t any benefit to them, it’s just like throwing money into a bonfire. Besides it’s not like the UK economy is currently doing that well, and given that, it’s unrealistic for anyone to support the government just taking more money away intentionally. You’re basically begging for a far-right populist to come in just because they say this is a terrible idea, which is in and of itself the primary reason why it’s a terrible idea.
This is good, now let’s do the same thing on the rails.
I don’t know how common this is, but in my city the buttons don’t affect the light cycle (though it could be argued that they should). Currently they are only used to activate the crossing audio to aid disabled users.
Don’t let them off the hook - driving safety should be taken way more seriously than it is. But don’t think that telling people to drive better solves the problem. You tell people to drive better by making design choices that cause them to feel more comfortable driving safely. Design isn’t the whole problem, but it’s at least 90% of the solution.