Longrider

6
Jan
2005

OMG Common Sense!

Filed under: Transport — Longrider @ 12:15 pm

Exhibition Road in central London is to become the subject of a road traffic experiment. Following the lead from the Netherlands where shared space has proved successful, all traditional road furniture will be removed - including pavements (sidewalks). This will mean that each road user whether pedestrian or vehicle user will have to take personal responsibility for their actions. The overall speed limit will be 20mph, but this is offset by the lack of traffic lights.

Early indications are that accidents fall and car journeys become quicker - a win-win situation. In a similar vein, Wiltshire county council has noticed that removing road markings has caused a decrease in accidents of 35%.

So, traffic planners are starting to realise that our roads do not need to be an authoritarian nightmare of speed humps and chicanes and that drivers can mix safely with pedestrains without nonsensical “traffic management”. Finally, some common sense. It can’t last.
—–

Copyright©2005 Longrider

4
Jan
2005

Blogging

Filed under: Blogs & Blogging — Longrider @ 19:48 pm

A survey conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, shows that blogging is becoming increasingly popular. There are some interesting statistics being bandied about:

“Despite the explosive growth, more than 60% of online Americans have still never heard of blogs… “

Not particularly surprising - I frequently find myself explaining just what a blog is to the uninitiated. The survey also concludes that reading blogs is more popular than writing them - well, there’s a newsflash . Writing is always more laborious than reading and there will always be more readers than writers whatever the medium.

I liked this though:

“Blog creators were likely to be young, well-educated, net-savvy males with good incomes and college educations, the survey found.”

Um, four out of six ain’t bad?

Copyright©2005 Longrider

« Previous Page

Powered by WordPress