Bike Lights

Another interesting talk about how this could become a sustainable city, this time from Peter Headicar, a lecturer at Oxford Brookes University.

I liked his slide showing the ape getting bigger and bigger as it evolves into modern man - and the comparison with our unconscious prejudice that we have developed through natural selection from primitive walking, through old fashioned cycling, to (bigger and bigger) cars.

But like them or not, Headicar showed how cars (and motorists) have been central to town planning for decades, and how they still dominate, even in relatively cycle-friendly cities such as Oxford.

So how to make our city sustainable? Some argued that cars need to be taken out of most streets completely - how lovely would that be?

But failing that, Headicar hinted that road pricing is very much back on the agenda, even under a conservative administration - why, he argues, should we not expect to pay for road space like we do for gas, water and other utilities? He predicted a congestion charge in Oxford soon, but can we really expect such enlightened leadership from our local politicians?

I stepped back outside into the cold, clear streets of my adopted city, and noticed with pleasure that even the festive lights are bike-shaped - if we can't do it here, where can we?