It sounds like the title of a Rolling Stones LP

Good day my good friend.

By the time Sunday comes, I will have ridden the rails of the UK on no less than 4 days this week. Including riding to Southend as this drops into your inbox. Normality starting to resume, maybe?

Here are today’s links curated especially for you.

James

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Telling someone to “F**k off” stresses them out

In a journal article that has the most British title I have ever seen, work by Jones et al1 reveals something that may sound obvious – that when people drive like idiots it increases the blood pressure of others. But sometimes seeing the obvious measured and confirmed is an interesting thing to do.

Their results in summary – you drive like an idiot and shout at people it makes people stressed. You drive like an idiot but say sorry for it, its not as bad. You don’t drive like an idiot and you are nice to others, its good for you and them.

Drugs are bad, mmmkay. And they are really hard to collect data on

TRL have produced an interesting feasibility report for the UK Department for Transport on collecting reliable data for deaths and collisions caused by drug driving. Whereas collecting data on drink driving collisions is an established science, TRL looked at analysing toxicology results to see if that held any promise. In summary: maybe. It needs more work.

Drug driving is a serious road safety issue, with work by RoSPA estimating that 80 people are killed every year by drug drivers. But it is really hard to collect data on, unlike drunk driving through the use of breathalyzers. Work by AAA in the USA and the NHTSA confirm this analysis. But its a issue worth the research time.

Active travel COVID-19 schemes are having a lasting impact, and not always a good one

News that Cycling UK have successfully overturned a decision that blocked them from seeking a judicial review into the removal of a temporary cycle lane in West Sussex (wow, that was a lot of words) has been welcomed by many cycling activists. But it appears that the impacts of cycle schemes introduced during lockdown have extended long past their permanent removal or retention.

Similar challenges were held into schemes in London, Dublin, and Berlin. Whilst you should never let a good crisis go to waste, it seems that many of us forgot that you still have to make sure that your plans are legal when you implement them. Sadly, people will fight these sorts of changes, and every success is hard won.

Random things

Here are a few random things that may interest you.

• A literature review on park and rides (Journal of Transport and Land Use)

• Tren Maya: high hopes and contested development in the Yucatan Peninsula (The Bartlett Development Planning Unit)

• Is there room for e-scooters in New York City? (Bloomberg CityLab)

• Only a call away: Reducing loneliness and social isolation in older people (Policy@Manchester)

• The workers who keep global supply chains moving are warning of a ‘system collapse’ (CNN)

Interesting things

Yeah, ok, this one really isn’t transport related. It’s just a map that looks really cool. That is a heck of a lot of power lines East of the Mississippi River. And by the way, EUA stands for Estados Unidos da América. Or the United States of America.

If you do nothing else today, then do this…

If you are still thinking about it, tickets for Mobility Camp are selling out. So come and join us in Glasgow on 16th October!