Monthly Archives: November 2012

Education not enforcement; context not numbers

Stricter enforcement is on the cards for certain motoring offences, particularly driving fast (story here). Ironically, “Drivers who drive faster than average have the lowest accident rates yet they are the primary target of speed enforcement,” writes US researcher, Chad … Continue reading

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Good cuts and bad

Studies by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the TUC predict that by 2016-17, the cumulative cost of public service cuts for the poorest tenth of households will be £3,995 – or 31.7% of their average annual income (Heather Stewart in … Continue reading

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How safe are Britain’s roads (Part 2)?

In answer to one of the programme’s opening questions, of course UK accident rates are unacceptable, but in misidentifying driver error as the primary cause, it wasted an hour of precious airtime in simplistic wisdom. “So if we are the … Continue reading

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20 is Plenty v Equality Streets

Today I received a 20’s Plenty for Us press release. It began, “Villagers need protection from speeding traffic.” Sometimes the obvious needs stating. I don’t disagree with 20’s Plenty’s aims – safer roads – but I disagree with their approach. I met … Continue reading

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Asserting equality

Striding across a car park today, I saw a car approaching to my left, and a group of people on the other side of the lane waiting for it to pass. Practising what I preach – that road-users should take … Continue reading

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What has Barenboim got to do with it?

“To have real knowledge,” says Daniel Barenboim (Q+A, today’s Guardian Magazine), “one must understand the essence of things and not only their manifestations”. This is clearly beyond traffic managers, who treat the symptoms, never the underlying cause of our problems on … Continue reading

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Dumbing dunn? (How safe are Britain’s roads? Part 1)

On 31 October, the BBC aired the first of a two-parter about road safety. It skated over the subject of shared space, implying it was lunatic fringe stuff. The presenters were much more excited by technological “solutions”. They prefaced the myth about seat-belts (exposed … Continue reading

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