Our Word is Our Weapon

Cyclists on pavements: the facts

On an average day, two pedestrians are killed by motor vehicles in the UK.

Only two pedestrian per year are killed by bicycles, almost always on the road.

On pavements and verges, motor vehicles kill around 40 pedestrians every year, nearly one per week.

Only three pedestrians have been killed by pavement cyclists in the last 10 years.

This is quite a change of tone from the Ed Glaeser who said that the size of the average US home showed that Americans have the best housing in the world:

"the tax code encourages Americans to live in big, energy-guzzling homes, instead of thrifty apartments… the real problem with the credit is that it continues the long-standing federal push toward far-flung McMansions and away from dense, apartment living … This pro-suburb, pro-big home policy push helps keep America’s households consuming plenty of energy, both inside the home and in the car."

Matthew Kahn: "Geoengineering options should certainly be explored but the likely lulling effect it will cause —that voters will rebel against carbon mitigation because they will anticipate that ex-post geo-engineering will save us — should not be discounted."