from Chris Mosey’s Car Wars, on the Newbury Bypass, p134:Then Charlie Brooks, the debonair Old Etonian and racehorse trainer declared himself against the bypass. ‘People are getting pretty vociferous at dinner parties round here,’ he said.I wonder…
Those miniature delivery road trains in Utrecht that Bicycle Dutch put up last week? They were already in Labour’s great 1998 transport policy white paper, A New Deal for Transport. We will support local authorities and the haulage industry in the…
Friends of the Earth press release, “Road traffic reduction bill becomes law”, 21 March 1997: Charles Secrett Executive Director of Friends of the Earth said:”This is wonderful news and a momentous occasion in transport history: for the first time…
Stumbling through things from the end of the Major government and start of the Blair government, in the brief period between the end of the big road expansion era and the start of the too afraid of being accused of waging war on motorists to say o…
from that brief moment at the end of the Major government when front benchers on both sides were both happy to make the sort of statements that would today have the tabloids frothing about anti-car militancy. Hansard, 10 June 1996. Note also the d…
Questions to the Secretary of State for Transport about Cyclists, Hansard 13 January 1997. Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody (Crewe and Nantwich)Would it not be a good way of ensuring that more mothers were confident about allowing their children to ride to sc…
From the Good Health debate, Hansard, 20 July 1990. Sir George Young (Ealing Acton)Yes, but there is no point in installing cycle tracks if all that happens is that motorists park in them, which is what tends to happen in London. I am all in favou…
This, in the 16 November 1990 Road Safety debate made me giggle. Mr Roger King (Birmingham, Northfield)As a car driver, I am aware of the role of cyclists in moving about our cities. Many courier companies in London are now using cyclists and they…
Road Safety debate, from Hansard, 16 November 1990. Mr Anthony Steen (South Hams)My hon. Friend mentioned cycling. Great progress has been made in our major cities to provide for cyclists. I think that about 90,000 cyclists come into London every …
Still looking into the Thatcher government’s position on cycling. First, this, from Cycling Policy in the UK by Laura Golbuff and Rachel Aldred of the UEL Sustainable Mobilities Research Group: Also in 1977, the Labour Government???s Transport Whi…
amazing comment by a tireless defender against the War On The Motorist, from Hansard, 30 March 1984: Mr Greg Knight (Derby North)Several hon. Members have spoken of the need to educate cyclists. However, if any road user needs to be educated it is…
From the third reading of the Cycle Tracks Bill, Hansard, 27 April 1984: Mr Timothy Wood (Stevenage)I believe that there will be an increasing use of bicycles over the coming years. This will happen because of two major factors. First, the cost of…
See previously and again. We really have been saying this for 30 years. In the third reading of the Cycle Tracks Bill, Hansard, 27 April 1984: Mr Simon Hughes (Southwark and Bermondsey)The figures are interesting. The Cyclists Touring Club tells u…
This whole “debate” of two speeches is packed with amazing snippets for the archives of history repeating. From Hansard, 16 May 1985. We’ve got claims that there is a cycling revolution going on, that the department is “encouraging” local authorit…
Just another instance of claiming that there has been a cycling revolution, because there has been some sort of fluctuation in the statistical noise of miserably low cycling rates, from Hansard, 21 May 1985. Mr James Craigen (Glasgow Maryhill)In t…
An exchange from the house, recorded in Hansard, 10 June 1985, which is rather reminiscent of Norman Baker’s recent letter to local authorities, and their reply. Mr Jack Dormand (Easington)Is the Minister aware that there is a growing desire among…
Amazing exchange from a brief debate on road congestion, Hansard, 10 July 1989, in which disastrous and soon to be booted out Transport Secretary Paul Channon tells Andrew Smith explicitly that, because the Rover car plant is in his constituency, …
Road Safety debate, Hansard, 3 Nov 1989. Mr Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North)I often cycle to this place. It is impossible to get here entirely on cycle routes from north London, which is where I live. The last part of the journey, which takes me do…
I collect quotes in which politicians boast of or “welcome” recent growth in cycling. Apparently, there has been a massive recent growth in cycling constantly for 30 years. Imagine that. This is a particularly fun one, from Hansard, 23 November 19…
my suspicion is that the Thatcher government, with its Great Car Economy, saw cycling as a mode of transport in terminal decline and saw no reason to modify policies that would have the effect of suppressing cycling. I understand the “cycle tracks…
J Med Ethics. doi:10.1136/medethics-2011-100085 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION We agree with the BMA that governments around the world should continue to provide public health information to their citizens to inform them about the potential…
FAO, David Cameron. Some nice lines from the BMA’s 1992 book on cycling, concluding remarks on helmets and other “roles for the individual”, p94: In turn, this points to two conclusions: first, that it is dangerous to pass all responsibility for r…
People still talk about the 7/7 effect on cycling in London — the theory that fear of terrorism and/or the weeks of disruption that followed the bombings led to people taking up cycling in London. I’m a skeptic, and have doubts that, if there eve…
The BMA’s 1992 book on cycling, compiled by Mayer Hillman, made me giggle. Another set of attitudes which has been progressively changing relates to appearance. A track-suit and trainers, which are in many ways ideal cycle-wear, are no longer rega…
On the Locomotive Act of 1865, from Chris Mosey’s Car Wars p26:This had the effect of greatly stimulating production of the newly invented bicycle as a faster alternative. Bicyclists were at first abominated as “ironmongery riders” and “cads on ca…