‘Madeline’, promised anonymity, wrote the following to American weekly magazine The Bicycling World, 17th December 1880: “My window looks out upon a street that seems to be a favorite bicycle route, or at least a favored one, and the appearance […]
Continue ReadingStephen Kempton was crushed beneath the wheels of a heavy motor vehicle – a large electric cab – in the winter of 1897 on Stockmar Road in Hackney. He was nine years old. Upon being told the gory details, a […]
Continue Reading1893 advert, Good Roads magazine, published by the League of American Wheelmen. Trivia: Hollywood’s bawdy actress Mae West is popularly thought to have said “Is that a gun [or pistol] in your pocket, or are you just glad to see […]
Continue ReadingHistory books have long said that Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States during and three years after the First World War, was a huge fan of the automobile. “No more ardent motorist ever occupied the White House […]
Continue ReadingToday we tend to think of the Automobile Association as a roadside rescue organisation with a penchant for pro-car PR. However, for much of its early history it was a radical campaigning organisation, a thorn in the side of the […]
Continue ReadingIt’s good to look to the Netherlands for inspiration on how to embed cycling into our everyday lives but it’s also worthwhile pointing out that decent cycle infrastructure has been created in the UK, and by British road engineers. There’s […]
Continue ReadingThe Dutch bike – the omafiets, or grandmother bike – seems to be as Dutch as tulips and clogs. Just as tulips and clogs are not Dutch (tulips were first commercially grown in Persia and wooden shoes are global) the […]
Continue ReadingWhy hasn’t the UK got Dutch-style cycle networks in every town, city and village? Partly it’s down to culture: the Netherlands has had 100+ years of bicycle-based national identification. This is so strong that the Dutch bike – the omafiets, […]
Continue ReadingScotland’s Transport Minister Keith Brown has unveiled a “ground-breaking” new campaign aimed at road users. The £500,000 promotional campaign for the ‘Niceway Code’ launches on 5th August and will use posters and TV ads to ask motorists, cyclists and pedestrians […]
Continue ReadingFrom Modern Roads, of 1919, by Henry Percy Boulnois, city surveyor of Exeter and Liverpool, and later a member of the Government’s Road Board in 1909. In the 1920s, Boulnois was chairman of the council of the Roads Improvement Association. […]
Continue Reading