Joe


on the origins of cycling’s bogeyman

These have to be read in the context of the introduction of the first dual carriageway roads. Amazingly, in 75 years, some folk still haven’t noticed that the context has moved on a bit…29 April 1937: Mr William Craven-Ellis (Southampton)asked t…


on rights and duties

Meant to bank this astonishing piece, from the Pedestrian Crossings debate, 26 July 1951. Sir Austin Hudson (Lewisham North)… I happened to be Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport just after the pedestrian crossings???the Belisha b…


who could’ve guessed?

Hansard, 5 July 1939, in full, without comment. Mr William Leach (Bradford Central)I would add my congratulations to those which other hon. Members have addressed to the Minister on his accession to his present office. He starts with very consider…


on obese Bristolians

nice feature on the Avon Longitudinal Study in today’s Nature. In 2007, however, data from ALSPAC and several other large human biobanks were used to scour the human genome for single-letter variants associated with obesity. The work turned up a g…


in worse times

in case you thought current and recent governments were bad, look at what you get when you go back to the days of futuristic New Towns and Highways In The Sky… Cycling debate, Hansard 10 Dec 1976. Mr John Horam (Gateshead West)The hon. Member ha…


when cyclists were easily satisfied

I should have banked this one, too, from that May 1978 Highways Bill debate. Sir George Young (Ealing Acton)As chairman of the all-party Friends of Cycling Group I welcome New Clause No. 1….I welcome the clause for two reasons. First, it puts th…


on sentimentality and old buses

final bits of marginalia from Chris Mosey’s Car Wars before it gets filed away in the Embassy library. However, when they [1950s London trolleybuses] were phased out a decade later, a spokesman for London Transport said, “The public never really t…


on asking motorists to play nice 2

need to bank this CCW WF line about the “3 feet please” thing for future reference. This provoked a response from David Love in the Comments, who among things writes: Sure, segregation would be great but in London at least there’s no room and no m…


on advanced stop lines

might refer to this, from The Cycling Lawyer. … I moved on to ???total tolerance??? which is how I see enforcement of advanced stop lines. The statistics on Simon???s computer did not break down how may traffic light offences were advanced stop line (…


on fuel duty and modal shift

no idea how or why this came to be in my backlog, but it answers a common claim or two…Potter, Stephen; Enoch, Marcus; Rye, Tom; Black, Colin and Ubbels, Barry (2006). Tax treatment of employer commuting support: an international review. Transpo…


on the shapes of clouds

this comment was about different tumour genome work, but it could apply just as well to the Gerlinger article… Jim Woodgett said:Are these findings surprising given the well understood nature of the instability of tumour genetic integrity? Once …


franklin on shared pavements

just putting this quote from John Franklin’s “Principles of cycle planning” (PDF) in the bank for possible reference on shared pavements… Cyclists and pedestrians are often considered together. Both are vulnerable road users, but that is as far …


on mixing where possible

Someone just reminded the BCC list of Give Cycling a Push: PRESTO Cycling Policy Guide Infrastructure (PDF). It’s definitely not the best of the documents available on the topic. Flicking through again, I noticed this passage, referenced to the CR…