<html> <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)"> <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> As Walter put it so well, they are playing with fire in the streets of  Lagos today. For the reasons that he and Joshua mention, but also because – and this is something that transport planners often simply do not take into consideration since they try to ‘solve’ their problems within a very partial systems analysis in a broadly and relentlessly systemic world – they either have no memory or no knowledge of what happens when you mess with the ‘small details’ of people’s lives. In this case as Walter points out, actually millions of people.   History is strewn with the bodies of specialists who proposed ‘transportation solutions’ to inconvenient problems, only to see a fast and massive reaction on the streets that has toppled governments in very many cases. (It’s really quite a long list and at some point we might all sit down and draw it up as a sweet reminder.  Transportation is indeed dynamite!)   And oh yes, I have not forgotten in this that push from the law enforcement side for whatever reasons. My best guess is though that the transport guys were just looking for  good excuse to get these guys out of circulation.   This leaves us at the end of the day, however, with what is among the most ‘inconvenient truths’ of transport planning and policies in cities across the Global South today – those damn motorized two-wheelers. Certainly an enormous problem, but a far more subtle and astute response is called for.   Eric Britton </div> </body> </html>