From My Bottom Step

Pedestrian Concern, or Pretense?

A media release from London Police Service. Published by FMBS as a public service.

Correlation

An XKCD sketch.

Boyfriend

An XKCD sketch.

Berton’s Pedestrian Pronouncement

If you haven’t done so yet, click HERE to read Paul Berton’s latest pretentious POV newspaper column.
You probably won’t ever see it printed in the LFP, and it’ll likely be about 4 days before they post it on their website (so fewer people will read it), but you don’t have to worry about that. Because here’s a copy of the response that I submitted to … Continue Reading

Pedestrian Stats Noticeably Absent

Q: How often have pedestrians been struck by hit/run drivers in London ?A: At least twice within the past week.
Don’t blink or you’ll miss it… a brief mention in today’s paper (”Police seek hit and run info”; London Free Press; 2007/11/28) about “a girl” who sustained “minor” injuries last Wednesday evening after she was “knocked down by a dark-coloured station wagon” which then left the scene. And of another female who was “thrown onto the hood” of “a four-door, white Honda Civic” on Saturday afternoon. In both cases, the operators of the automobiles left without identifying themselves. Presumably that means that they left before police arrived.
    Appended 2007/11/30 @ 21:00I just revisited the LPS website and … quelle surprise! … there’s now a “Media Releases” link on the main page pointing to a brand new page (which isn’t dated) all about these recent vehicle/pedestrian incidents and the driver’s “legal obligation” to identify themself before leaving the scene. It seems I may have caught somebody’s attention As short on information as the newspaper article may be, it puts the London Police Services website to shame. Because there’s no mention of these incidents at all on it’s “Media Releases” page. Or on it’s “Wanted” page. Or on it’s “FYI” page. In fact, when I typed “pedestrian” into the search facility on the LPS website, I got a sum total of only 8 articles. One of those (2006/03/23 LPS Board Minutes) refers to “statistical information on Pedestrian Safety” that had been presented by Sgt. Tom O’Brien, but does not provide those stats.
So, how often do incidents involving automobiles and pedestrians happen in London? If we can’t get that information from the police website, perhaps we can get it from our elected officials.
Yeah, right ;(
I’ve been fighting for such disclosure for many years.Plod on, dear reader…
Continue Reading

London Transportation – My Public Response to Paul Berton

Hold onto your hats… this is a long post…
Mr. Berton,

To begin with, a note of appreciation for today’s “Back transit plan before it’s too late” editorial. Public transit is hugely important towards safe and healthy cities, and as I’ve written to you before and despite all of City Hall’s posturing, sadly ignored (as evidenced by per-capita mode share stats). Had it not been for significant transfer payments … Continue Reading