In the news

They should really get ChatGPT to proof read these amateur articles. Hard to decipher what actually
happened.

Fuck awful!
This sets a better tone.
https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/murder-manhunt-land-rover-driver-9755105

It is very poorly written

That seems a strangely low key article given what was reported.

If you need more proof that cyclists lives don't matter.

Can’t upset drivists. I can hear the #WhatAbouts from here.

Any reputable studies on when the hatred against cyclists started in the UK? Seems like an interesting and impactful thing for a sociologist to pick apart.

My hunch is that it’s an artefact of late 19th / early 20th century classism, when workers increased their presence on the roads through the use of the recently invented bicycle, which must have pissed off the horse/carrriage/car-using upper class to no end. Fast forward to mass manufacture and sale of automobiles by the wealthy to the UK Everyman, and the bicycle must’ve been additionally loathed.

With the exceptions perhaps of Oxford and Cambridge, I reckon hate of cyclists correlates pretty well with Tory voting tendencies on a map.

With the exceptions perhaps of Oxford and Cambridge, I reckon hate of cyclists correlates pretty well with Tory voting tendencies on a map.

Not really. I think in Britain you find hate for cycling where you find cars and cyclists in some combination, given the poor design of Britain's infrastructure and the way cycling almost vanished as a pracitcal and popular means of transport for so long, allowing an "us and them" mentality. Advertising sells driving as freedom, the reality is stressful and constraining , cyclists whizz past while they're stuck, sometimes "get in the way" and so it goes.

In rural Scotland, the drivers in the rural areas are typically very cycling-friendly even though almost nobody there cycles themselves, while the cities can be as bad as anywhere down here (although this varies). How does your theory map onto that? I don't think it does.

Heidi Alexander a potentially decent pick for Transport.
https://x.com/Heidi_Labour/status/1258670658302750720

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Used to be a regular on Q1, hopefully not awful.

That was actually lovely to read, rare for a twitter thread.

This (below) in particular is something I wish more people could understand, the freedom cycling in London gives you, how quickly you can get about and the fact that it becomes a real place that you know and not just stops on a the map.

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Did you read the comments on the Derbyshire paper?

Who would fund the survey?

Would they get past the don't pay road tax bollocks?

Wasn't one of the stories that he danced his way into the studio completely naked except for a sock over his cock?

That's not necessarily predatory behaviour, but if that's not a sackable offence then lol I'm off to rail lines of coke in front of the exec board whilst not letting them have any.

Seems like something that would fall under DoT but there’s no appetite or capital for addressing the issue.

Good news so far

Any reputable studies on when the hatred against cyclists started in the UK?

Well, in a nutshell—the first riders were generally well-to-do people, as bikes were quite expensive. This started well before the safety bicycle. As carriageways were generally unmetalled, many velocipedists must have taken to ride along the pavements (correctly 'footways' nowadays, but initially called thus because they were the first part of the streets to be paved), and there was a very early ban on cycling on the footway in London.

Even on a velocipede, people were terrifyingly fast compared to walking, even faster when they were able to ride ordinary bicycles and later safety bicycles, and when jaunts into the countryside became popular with the upper classes, they were felt by many to terrorise the rural population, e.g. children who were used to playing in country lanes.

Mass cycling came along somewhat later, but the pattern of dislike of cycling had been established and was exploited by those who had moved on to motoring, often the same futuristically-minded people for whom previously the bicycle had been the agent of change (as documented very well by Carlton Reid in his book 'Roads Were Not Built for Cars'). Now well-to-do people were 'inconvenienced' by mass cycling and the idea became to (a) frighten people into thinking that walking and cycling were dangerous, as opposed to admitting that the danger came through driving), to (b) construct sidepaths and other means of keeping riders 'off the road', to (c) impose other burdens on them (a big battle was held over the requirement to have rear lights, with cycling advocates arguing that the onus of not crashing into riders from behind should be on drivers), and to (d) legislate in such a way that drivers were rarely held responsible for causing death and injury. There was definitely classism there.

Subsequently, the change documented by Sempé here came about:

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/179185/

Rien n'est simple.

Carlton's book is very good on this, and there's also a good study, in German, by Volker Briese, which contains a good deal of sociological reflection:

https://john-s-allen.com/pdfs/Volker_Briese_Radwegebau.pdf

Back when public information films/campaigns were a thing, if cycling had seen the resurgence it has in the last two decades there probably would have been studies and the equivalent of "Think Bike" (which was about motorbikes) or "Clunk Click", but those days are long gone.

She may want to rebrand herself, but she is responsible for the Silvertown Tunnel. Weak politicians just go along with what the road-building lobby proposes. Among other things, she signed off this load of tripe:

https://b260ea75-d3b3-42a4-aec2-f3fe04b727b9.filesusr.com/ugd/04c9c0_93765d59e3694967ae20f8e6652e3c1f.pdf

It will become clear what bullshit this whole letter is in a few years from now when, as ever, motor traffic in the area will have increased massively, the cost of the tolls will have been passed on to customers, and the next road-building proposals will be along to build our way out of congestion yet again.

Most politicians don't understand the first thing about transport. It's why there's long been such a heavy turnover of Transport Secretaries, and there are no competent specialists in sight. She certainly isn't one, so I'd suggest not to believe the hype.

Please don't @reply me.

whilst not letting them have any.

Steady on. No need to be a cunt.

They couldn't at tribunal ascertain whether he did or did not dip in the soufflé . That's as I understand the case

Please don't @reply me.

Sorry, Will, I've done that a couple of times recently, haven't I? Not paying attention. Will do better.

Maybe Gregg is autistic? "A friend said Wallace had "no filter" and claimed he may have autism himself. Wallace has never been tested for autism due to a feeling of responsibility that he passed it down to his son, the close therapist friend said."

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/gregg-wallace-dropped-autism-charity-more-people-come-forward/

Wow, that letter says exactly the opposite of any traffic modelling done on the project.

(I live round the corner from it, but for anyone who isn’t aware I’ve attached a screengrab from TFL’s own study)

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