Category Archives: at war with the motorist

AWWTM: Democratising mobility

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Joe

Shortly before parliament rose for the summer, an unusually large audience tuned in to the entertaining spectacle of Prime-Minister’s Question Time in a week when a scandal-rag had sunk in its own great scandal. I don’t suppose anybody noticed the … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: Cycling abuse

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Joe

I stumbled upon an article in The Lancet, volume 138, issue 3554, of the 10th October 1891, which it seems has been overlooked by the internet so far. It celebrates the rise of the bicycle, but warns against its abuse … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: You can do better than this

Posted on August 7, 2011 by Joe

The Cycling Embassy has a manifesto and a set of demands. But it needs something shiny, a pretty picture to grab the attention of the people who need to read that manifesto and meet those demands. We’re looking for poster … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: Pickles peddles pointless parking press release

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Joe

This week, the Department for Communities and Local Government put out a press release about town centre parking. Unlike last time, they didn’t even have to announce that Pickles is ending The War On The Motorist™. On that point, their … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: Smoothing the flow: pushing more kids into cars

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Joe

We know that Boris Johnson’s fantasy of “smoothing traffic flow” will act as an incentive for people to get into their cars and, even more so, for businesses to move more stuff around. In a city like London there is … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: Delivering excellence

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Joe

In a post about designing ever increasing amounts of truck and van dependence into business models, I mentioned that an “Edgar’s Cool Water” had followed me on twitter and had justified their business with the argument that some people in … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: Friday photo: Ribblehead

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Joe

As in so many of the things that the Europeans do better than us, the model by which our railways came about is shared with the Americans rather than our continent. When the railways arrived in the middle of the … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: Once more unto the bridge, dear friends, once more

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Joe

After the Conservative group of the London Assembly walked out on the first attempt to discuss Jenny Jones’s Blackfriars Bridge motion, the members redeemed themselves somewhat by voting unanimously — all parties, all members — against making Blackfriars Bridge and … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: Won’t somebody please think of the children?

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Joe

In December 2005, an article of massive importance was published in the British Medical Journal. Doctors counted up the number of children being admitted to A&E with musculoskeletal injuries (breaks and sprains — many of which would have been caused … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: Appendix: Bad Science Bingo in the BMA’s “safe cycling” pages

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Joe

This is just a crude brain dump of a post that comes after the serious series — posts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight. Sorry, I just can’t get over these extraordinary pages on the BMA’s website. … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: How did the BMA get bicycle helmets so wrong?

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Joe

In 1958, the UK licensed a drug for treating morning sickness. It worked very well. The studies all showed that pregnant women suffering from morning sickness received much relief with the drug. Three years later it was withdrawn, but not … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: The BMA, the BMJ, and bicycle helmet policy

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Joe

The reason I pick up the bicycle helmet theme again this week is that the BMJ is running a sidebar poll of their readers (or, more accurately, of cycling tweeters and recipients of Robert Davis’s emails ), asking whether it … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: Risk compensation and bicycle helmets

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Joe

Some months ago I left a series on bicycle helmets hanging while I got distracted with other things. We had looked at what the best evidence for the efficacy of helmets in preventing injury in the event of a crash … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: Setting ourselves up for economic collapse

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Joe

In January last year, while shadow chancellor, George Osborne said that the lesson of the credit crunch is that “the economy must never again be allowed to become so structurally unbalanced and poorly prepared for a downturn.” He was referring to … Continue reading →

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AWWTM: Friday photo: modern mail

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Joe

This is the view from my office kitchen back when I had that real job (before I gave it all up to do this instead).  The sun is rising over the city, with the Docklands towers just visible, pale in … Continue reading →

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