Cargo Bike Ben

100%. Feels like trying to hold the tide back with your fingers.

I don't think I have many local people following me here, but just in case, I want the few of you to know about this.

Arranged by @strongtowns-carmel.bsky.social.

I've found timestamp based checks have been effective. If the form's being filled out in under 5 seconds, it's likely spam. Quietly accept and dump the submission.

We should actually not make our fascist tyrant’s choices more palatable.

Democrats who support this do not know what it means to resist. But they’re somehow also not even attuned to the electoral opportunities that rising gas prices open.

Nonsense proposal no matter how you view it.

His actions have demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that he does not have the temperament to be trusted behind the wheel of a vehicle.

“Shaw received a one-year jail term suspended for two years, was ordered to pay £1,500 in compensation and carry out 50 hours of unpaid work.”

He should not have received a custodial sentence - suspended or otherwise. He should have been banned from driving for life. That’s the appropriate outcome.

Or entitled cunts like you could just fucking learn to stick to the speed limit that’s safe for everyone.

That this happened at all shows what a problem we have.

That the perpetrator was unrepentant, the sentence minimal and the victim DEFENDED that it was "hard" to drive at 20mph shows that we've internalised motornormativity.

Yeah. That’s where I saw it. Obviously, I don’t know what the details are, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she tripped over a pavement that had been damaged by some arrogant prick dumping their car on it.

Systemic change, but not if it removes car dependency from the system.

I've not read the government's road safety strategy in detail, I don't need to because given it is not wrapped in Vision Zero, it's already a failure.

Absolutely nobody is suggesting an interurban dual carriageway is made 20mph, but if a local street has a function and geometry incompatible with 20mph, then something is seriously wrong and needs investment to change.

'My nan ended up in hospital after fighting wrongly-issued parking ticket' Jackie Whitehurst, 82, spent six weeks in hospital after falling outside court - where she won her case.

Oh fuck off.

Proof and dog tax 😂. That’s a > 30kg / 65lbs loss.

If it weren’t for ebikes, I’d still be fat 😂

If it weren't for Ebikes, we'd be full-time motorists.

No one maligns homeownership except the NIMBYs. Our issue is with chronically underutilised land. Single family homes on prime land is not a good use of resources, both for the city and the economy.

Oh

Side note: just 2% of trips in U.K. are done using a bicycle vs 25% in The Netherlands….

Because we can’t possibly think about what is best.

And Farage solution today was to lower the fuel duty….

Fuel has jumped 10p a litre here and is currently £1.36. Its still to cheap as people are driving everywhere, idling and wasting fuel.
Adding 2p as increased fuel duty won't make a blind bit of difference to them.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Yes, but the difference is they can lose their jobs if they don't apply the law fairly. Much less likelihood of internal biases affecting results.

Could work. I mean, I'm not strictly opposed to ramping up duty to what it should have been without the freezes, and then providing a reclaim mechanism for commercial use quarterly. Duty should be discouraging private use, while reducing commercial use as much as possible in that money is tied up.

Tied into this, we need to see a reduction in custodial sentences for these types of crimes where it doesn’t lead to death; instead, we need lifetime driving bans with punitive financial penalties for driving while banned. Real lifetime consequences for poor driving will force drivers to be better.

All too often, jurors identify with the driver. Many recognise behaviour they themselves have gotten away with, which makes conviction psychologically harder. Many will have engaged in similar behaviour themselves without consequence, which makes impartial judgement psychologically impossible.

Moving to judge-led, expert assisted technical trials would mean far higher conviction rates & end to the farce that leads to the saying “if you want to kill somebody and get away with it, do it in a car”.

This wouldn’t lead to injustice; it would resolve the chronic injustice that already happens.

Thousands of lawyers oppose jury restriction plan Lawyers including top barristers and retired judges urge the government to drop a plan to abolish some jury trials.

I have said it before, and I will say it again. Any case involving careless or dangerous driving is a prime candidate removing jury trials. There is too much evidence that juries consistently under convict and this leads to downgrading of charges by the CPS.

How about no? How about drive less? How about stop building towns and cities that force driving? How about we stop subsidising drivers to the tune of £4 to every £1 of tax they pay?

Same design. Zero utility.

Nothing says "I can't afford the vehicle I bought" quite like running on slicks until they explode at highway speed, causing a crash and killing multiple people.

It's why I'm not shy about the bike saving me at least £5k a year. Takes the proposition and flips it on its head. Suddenly, I'm no longer "can't afford a car", but "financially savvy enough not to".

It took me 14mins 43secs to ride 5.3km (3.3mi) today. At that pace it would take me 17mins 50secs to do 4mi. That's a damn sight quicker than 2hrs 30mins. I get some people don't feel safe riding, but that's all the more reason to build the bloody infrastructure.