Category Archives: Uncategorized

State-sponsored child abuse?

A boy of 11 is killed trying to cross the road. Was it an accident? Or was it an avoidable event contrived by the rules of the road, combined with the power imbalance the rules impose, and the mindset they instil? … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

RIP BHB

Last night was a bad news night. Doyen of shared space, Ben Hamilton-Baillie, speaker, practitioner, father and friend, died of cancer on Sunday. He coined the term “shared space”, later preferring “low-speed environments”. Hans Monderman died aged only 62. Ben … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

J’accuse (again)

So the Duke has apologised for the “accident”. But it wasn’t an accident. It was an event contrived by the rules of the road, specifically, main road priority. The Duke was a victim, as were the others involved. If junctions … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Fluke of Edinburgh

It probably was a fluke that the Duke survived the crash at the junction on the A149. Consider the dilemma. You’re on a minor road. You arrive at a junction. You are faced with streams of traffic coming at you … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Clean air “strategy”

The government’s clean air strategy aims to halve harmful emissions by 2025. It plans to ban wood burning stoves and ammonia from farm fertilisers, but abdicates responsibility for vehicle emissions to Local Traffic Authorities. Equality on the roads is the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Road rage v road sage?

On most things to do with street design and road-user relationships, Ben Hamilton-Baillie and I are of one mind, but we diverge on one point. He says street design alone can achieve the desired behaviour change – from war to … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Mugged by ministerial apathy and negligence

The woman below, a talented musician, was crossing the road with her child outside her home, when she was hit by a car. She managed to push the child to safety. She needed 21 stitches in her head. Would this … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

DfT and ministerial negligence

A government paper announces funding for local authorities to ‘tackle air pollution’. One of its grotesquely overdue measures is to ‘adjust traffic signals to cut congestion’. So the paper is an open admission that traffic lights contribute to 40,000 premature deaths a … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Voice in the wilderness

Last year there were 240 deaths from drink driving. Richard Allsop of the RAC Foundation estimates there would be 25 fewer deaths if the drink-drive limit were cut from .08 to .05. The story made the news, but the numbers … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Corporate manslaughter

It’s well-known that dirty urban air causes lung, heart and developmental damage, but increasingly it’s being linked to brain damage. The Times didn’t break the news but covered it on 19 September under the front page headline, “Dementia soars in … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment