About Motorism

Motorism - formerly known as Motocracy !

I'm creating this blog to record and debate the state of road use in the UK.
I shall not necessarily publish in chronological order - I reserve the right to edit, merge, split my posts as this 'blog' evolves.
I have delayed publicising the blog to avoid it changing completely after launch.
I may restructure it : posts each confined to one incident, medium or location (for geo-tagging) : pages that discuss several incidents and extract observations, recommendations and conclusions ?

Highway Code Update

My main aim is to campaign to get the UK Highway Code updated to harmonise with Bikeability - the UK National Standard for Cycle Training.

eg these need clarified :
  • 'Keep to the left' 
  • 'as much room as overtaking a car' 
  • single file 'on narrow or busy roads' 
  • 'Never obstruct drivers who wish to pass' 
  • 'look all around before moving away from the kerb'
... and many, many more !

I think there is some mileage in 'wikifying' the Highway Code, as a forum for debate and re-drafting.
www.highwaycode.info has been around for years, but only attracted a handful of comments !

OK, the Highway Code is largely ignored, but widely-read.

'TakeTheLanes'

is a dual-purpose domain name:
  1. 'primary position' perceived as 'riding in the middle of the road' - to discourage dangerous overtaking
  2. 'lanes' as quiet country roads - to suggest we can actually cycle from one town to another: most debate is limited to cycling within one town

'Motorism'

is a neologism implying a deeply ingrained prejudice in favour of motoring.
The word first occurred on Green Bristol Blog - And Quiet Flows the Avon in 2010, in the context of poor decisions by council highway planning departments.

Chris Hutt's definition was
Institutional Motorism - a deep rooted prejudice in favour of motorised traffic at the expense even of the safety, let alone the convenience, of those that dare to travel on foot or bicycle
It is interesting that it first occurred at the level of 'institutional motorism', whereas 'institutional racism' only emerged at the time of the Macpherson report.

It chimes with calls for motorism to be regarded as a 'hate crime'.

My 'hidden agenda' is a hope that the word 'motorist' will eventually be heard by society as an insult, like 'racist'. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines 'motorism' as 'addiction to or practice of motoring'.

I shall understand if you consider that I am exaggerating, as long as you let me think of you as 'in denial'. If you think things aren't really that bad, take it as a salutary lesson - an example of how bad things might become. Work with me to prevent my dystopian vision becoming reality ...

Not to be confused with 'Car-Racist'.

'Motorism' could also refer to car-addiction, like alcoholism.
A Therapy Created to Treat Addiction Is Being Used to Reduce Car Reliance - [ CityLab ]

See also:
Differentialism
Othering
Implicit-association test
#motorism hashtag - [ Twitter ]
Motorism and Hate Crime - [ Motorism - a failure of democracy ! ]
The Only '-ism' in the Village ... - [ Motorism - a failure of democracy ! ]
Institutional ‘motoristism’  - [ Pedestrian Liberation ]
Institutionalised Motorism near UWE - [ People's Cycling Front of South Gloucestershire ]
[ "Car supremacist" ] - Google Custom Search - [ Motorism - a failure of democracy ! ]
[ "Motorism" ] - Google Custom Search - [ Motorism - a failure of democracy ! ]
Cycling caste? You're disgusting - [ Cambridge Cyclist ]
Motorism by Daniel James - [ World Carfree Network ]
Anti-Motorism - [ Facebook ]
Challenging Motorism In New York City - [ Contexts ]
Challenging Motorism in New York City - [ Bill Millard ]
Australian Motorist Party - [ Wikipedia ]
Morgan’s rum conduct raises suspicions over 20mph survey - [ Inside Croydon ]
Cyclism - the Coroner's Chronicles - [ CTC ]
Cyclism - [ Cambridge Cycling Campaign - Newsletter 53 (April/May 2004) ]
Cycle Lane Abuse With a Difference - [ The Mind of a Helmet Camera Cyclist ] - 'hate crime'
Motorists have ruined England - and they need to pay the price - [ Telegraph ]
South Dakota bill would make cyclists get off bike to let cars pass - [ road.cc ]
Motorists and Cyclists – Where’s the Love? - [ The Cycling Solicitor ]
Bike wire claims first victim - [ Wigan Today ]
Thugs setting lethal traps - [ Wigan Today ]
Homecoming - [ katsdekker ]
Hermann Knoflacher - [ Wikipedia ]
Why do drivers get away with attempted murder? - [ Telegraph ]
More cyclist scum - [ CPFC BBS ]
"Calculated motorphilia. How it works" - [ Bollocks Infra on Twitter ]
"I seem to be overusing my new word of the week, "motorphilia". Meh—it's quite handy. As is "calculated motorphilia"" - [ Bez on Twitter ]
".@TheSocBiz Exactly - they don’t even work for the mode of transport they’re designed around. Driving is a crap experience" - [ Mark Treasure on Twitter ]
Make people, not cars, the priority - [ NZ Herald ]
www.advanced-cycling.co.uk - [ Advanced Driving ] - bigotry or banter ?
seems to have been prompted by "lane 2 gives more clearance from the cyclists"
The Machine Stops - E.M. Forster - [ Wikipedia ] - a chillingly prescient dystopia from 1909
“car supremacist” - [ Google Search ]
".@GazTheJourno Do you think it is fit and proper for a journalist to use media priviledge to incite hatred based on person prejudice?" - [ lstwhl on Twitter ]
Jeremy Clarkson's Peculiar Racism and Bad Driving: A Bigot Leads A twitter Lynching (with images, tweets) - [ lastwheel · Storify ]
"Crouching fold-up bike wanker outside #cannonstreet" - [ Kat on Twitter ]
Dani O on Twitter: "The only people who don't think the majority of cyclists are wankers on the road are other cyclists. - love from a pedestrian with a dog"
The "Racist" Abuse Against People Who Cycle (with images, tweets) - [ lastwheel · Storify ]
Jeremy Clarkson's Peculiar Racism and Bad Driving: A Bigot Leads A twitter Lynching (with images, tweets) - [ lastwheel · Storify ]
Senior Liberal Democrat says "Cyclists do not belong in towns" - [ road.cc ]
Interview: Vulnerable road users - [ The Psychologist ]
WHO, IF NOT YOU? - [ unitedagainstracism.org ]

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