@crowriver, perhaps the hand of Laid Back can influence him. But rather than motoring, he's more likely to be pro- or anti-fossil fuels.
Most of my uni year took themselves into the oi£ indu$try.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Cycling News
Another cycling death on Scotland's roads
(78 posts)-
Posted 11 years ago #
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On the Conservative front:
Infrastructure, Capital Investment, Housing and Transport Spokesperson – Alex Johnstone
Posted 11 years ago # -
And of course, for the Green party, Alison Johnstone. But then you knew that already.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Oh let's not forget the Lib Dems. Or maybe let's.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Labour, Liberals and Conservatives seem to be offering no opposition whatsoever to Keith "I love the smell of ashpalt (sic) in the morning" Brown, and merely murmur approval that they too would build and widen lots of big roads too.
Perhaps the much vaunted "consensus" politics that the Scottish Parly is supposed to be all about? After all, there's no votes in pandering to the whims of "extremists"...
Posted 11 years ago # -
The more voices for cycling, the better.
TBH, the way the SNP's infrastructure policy is heading (buy bridges, buy dual carriageways and motorways, scale back on rail commitments, be nice adverts), there is a clear route for other parties to differentiate themselves from the SNP by committing to long-term, inclusive, active travel projects like rail and cycling. We're in that point in the political cycle when they'll all be thinking about their policies and, you would hope, noticing that cycling is increasingly high on the media agenda.
Posted 11 years ago # -
there is a clear route for other parties to differentiate themselves from the SNP by committing to long-term, inclusive, active travel projects like rail and cycling.
One would have expected Labour to be more pro-active, to be honest. The current Scottish party seems a bit lost in the wilderness, at least at Holyrood level.
Posted 11 years ago # -
After all, there's no votes in pandering to the whims of "extremists"
How come the wee frees have such sway with K "the future's bright, the future's tarmac" B then?
Posted 11 years ago # -
How come the wee frees have such sway with K "the future's bright, the future's tarmac" B then?
I know there's always been comments about Scotland's land ownership being medieval; but perhaps Scottish society is too? That's the conclusion I can draw from a Government minister kow-towing to the church. I thought the SNP were all about modernisation / Brave(heart) New World / etc?
Posted 11 years ago # -
I'm sure they're happy to get the meenstir preaching the benefits of new road building in an independent Scotland, if they can.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Kaputnik - I don't think the Free Church has any real influence on the political agenda. However, the media love churches critiising politicians, as they are generally seen to hold the moral high ground and politicians have real trouble criticising people of faith (all voters to a man/woman), possibly because they are in awe of people who have principles that they try to live by.
It is worth noting that (with the excpetion of the Greens) every party supports the dualling of the A9, M8 completion, Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and any other road scheme you cre to mention. They may snipe on minor details, but they all agree on the need for these projects. None (except the Greens) support increased investment in cycling - although there are few honourable individuals in each party that do.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"None (except the Greens) support increased investment in cycling - although there are few honourable individuals in each party that do."
(Below doesn't actually contradict above!)
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"Labour is committed to funding and promoting active travel." Cathy Peattie, Scottish Labour - 2010
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Posted 11 years ago # -
"
All too often lorries are involved in London cyclist deaths. Between 2008 and 2012, HGVs were involved in 53 per cent of London cycling fatalities – despite making up only four per cent of the traffic – and have been involved in five of the seven cyclist deaths in London so far this year.http://talklondon.london.gov.uk/blogs/cycling-team/update-cycling-team-–-tackling-unsafe-lorries
"
Posted 11 years ago # -
@kappers
How come the wee frees have such sway with K "the future's bright, the future's tarmac" B then?
I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the remarks I made some moments ago in the "dualling the A9" thread. I thank you. (c) John Major
Posted 11 years ago # -
@Morningsider
politicians have real trouble criticising people of faith (all voters to a man/woman), possibly because they are in awe of people who have principles that they try to live by.
It's a brave Cabinet Secretary that dares to cross swords with the Scottish Taleban. In this case, they are in agreement, the Taleban just want the dual carriageways now, not later.
Was it not some church elders who allegedly spread tacks on the route of the Étape Caledonia? I believe there was righteous outrage that otherwise law abiding motorists could be inconvenienced by lycra louts on their way to worship on the Sabbath.
Posted 11 years ago # -
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Craig Burn (@Craig_Burn)
06/09/2013 09:12
Devastating news. @ScottishCycling member killed while riding his bike. RIP Ally Speed @POPScotland @SpokesLothian"
Posted 11 years ago # -
Posted 11 years ago #
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Crowriver - If you want to see the Scottish Government flicking the V's at the churches then you need look no further than the Marriage and Civil Partnerhsip (Scotland) Bill - pretty much sums up the churches actual influence in national political matters these days.
Pretty sure the tacks guy was also chair of the local community council and a solicitor to boot.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I made a graph using Transport Scotland's numbers.
It's not pretty.
It's cut-off the side bit.
Pedestrians down 34%
Motor Vehicles down 39%
Cyclists up 27%(now with added clickability)
Posted 11 years ago # -
Posted 11 years ago #
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@kaputnik that's quite a powerful graphic, wonder if it would be worth circulating on twitter etc if ok with you?
Posted 11 years ago # -
I've tweeted, by all means do retweet (you do follow me, even if you've not connected this handle with that! I'm @cocteautriplets)
Posted 11 years ago # -
Ha, great, I'm off to retweet then! Thanks.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@kaputnik. Powerful graphic. As data analysis and reporting professional (well it was either that or become an actuary!) I have an unhealthy tendency to pick holes in graphs when I see them. There's two challenges with the data as presented, and I wonder if there's a way to make it more robust.
1) Does the (I assume) relatively small sample size for cyclist injuries (and perhaps pedestrians too) mean the thing that appears to be an upward trend is actually just random statistical variation?
2) Does the graphic account for the increasing numbers of cyclists on the road? My guess is that numbers of drivers and pedestrians are relatively constant over the time period shown, but cyclists have increased, so the increased KSI figures could just reflect an increasing population.I ask in a spirit of genuine inquiry (rather than trying to be negative and critical) and to see if the experts with access to the data and who frequent this forum can make the graphic even more robust. At the moment it makes a really striking point and tells a horrifying story, but at the same time it's a bit vulnerable to annoying pedants like me saying "ah yes, but..."
Posted 11 years ago # -
"2) Does the graphic account for the increasing numbers of cyclists on the road? My guess is that numbers of drivers and pedestrians are relatively constant over the time period shown, but cyclists have increased, so the increased KSI figures could just reflect an increasing population."
We've been through this a few times. To the best of my knowledge there is no data to suggest that cycling as a modal share has increased beyond 2%, and only anecdotal evidence to suggest rising numbers of leisure cyclists.
If there is such data, and it is reliable, then yes, we need to take it on board. I have seen attempts to do just this, but I am not convinced that the data they used was robust enough to justify the inferences drawn from it.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@greenroofer
1) no, which is why I included the serious injury numbers on top of the deaths, as it increases the sample size significantly into the multiple hundreds for both pedestrians and cyclists
2) no with a "but". It's hard to guess which numbers to compare it to. modal %age of journeys, vehicle miles? If you go by the former, cyclist share has increased (perhaps, a little bit and has fluctuated over last 10 years). However pedestrian share has increased too. "Motor Vehicles" has decreased slightly, but we know that the actual vehicle miles driven have increased. There's a lot of underlying complexity, and whichever way I plotted various things out and divived A by B to try and normalise it, what I was finding was that cyclists are the only group where KSI are going up, and they are going up faster than purely modal share would account for. KSI for vehicles are coming down much faster than their modal share is, and are coming down despite increased vehicle miles. And for pedestrians they're coming down significantly too, despite an increased modal share.
The only way cyclist KSIs should have gone over the last 10 years if any Scottish Government had a coherent plan backed up by spending and supported by the legal system is down, they've done precisely the opposite, during which time what I imagine has done the most for cycling is not the government or their propaganda department Cycling Scotland, but a general awarenesses of health and environmental issues amongst the general public coupled with an economic downturn.
The datasets that Transport Scotland have (or that I could find) don't all tie up nicely in terms of years and measured groups. E.G. I don't think they do pedestrian mileage to allow calculation of KSI per '000 miles walked!
I do have the data on a spreadsheet and am happy to share it. Only it's not on this computer so I can't do it right now!
P.S. no pedantry / criticism taken. It's also in the nature of my day job too so am more than willing to take on feedback to improve the visual and to stand by the findings and share and explain the data to support it.
Posted 11 years ago # -
there is no data to suggest that cycling as a modal share has increased beyond 2%,
The Transport Scotland Data for 2010 - 2011 suggests a modal share increase from 0.8% of all journeys to 1.3%. I would take this with a massive pinch of salt and statistical error, as I don't seriously think that cycling increased by 62% in Scotland in that time.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Google drive is handy for this sort of thing.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@steveo such things result in a "computer says no" error on the office PC. I rely on old-fashioned email, but my home PC has Open Office, whose Excel alternative I abhor, so I didn't foresee any use for it at home.
Posted 11 years ago #
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