De Beauvoir Cycle Gang Strikes Again

I meant to reply to this, Oliver, you are right, technically speaking, but Niall is right that in colloquial use traffic has evolved to mean motor traffic.

I don't disagree with that--my point is that it's a lazy an ignorant usage.

People don't say 'motor traffic' or 'pedestrian traffic' or 'cycle traffic' in spoken English.

Of course they say it, just not as often as using 'traffic' for 'motor traffic'.

Language evolves, and you might not like the direction it evolves in, but the only certainty of language is change, and you can't control that. Take it from a linguist. =)

Of course, but change for the better can happen. Take reclaiming the word 'gay' (or "schwul" in German). Take people paying more attention to feminine grammatical phenomena when speaking of women. It's not about control, but influence.