Quoting Dustin Hoffman’s character “Ratzo” Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy – Hey! I’m walking here, I’m walking here! 

Mighk Wilson, a colleague of mine with Florida Bicycle Association and the author of “Freedom from Fear“, emailed this morning with a link to an article that sort of builds upon the topic of my previous post. Entitled Joyriders vs. Jaywalkers: A Collission of Cultures, it examines the history of the clash between those with motors and those without and quotes Peter Norton, assistant professor in the Department of Science, Technology and Society at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and author of the book Fighting Traffic: the Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City. The book explores how the advent of the automobile has shaped our culture, redefined the role of streets, and stratified our public space.

As an urban planner I find this topic absolutely fascinating since many in my profession spend a good chunk of their waking hours working to get humans back out onto and across streets safely and comfortably. A quick history lesson shows that all it took was a good marketing plan and candy that everyone wanted to turn bipedal humans into not much more than trespassers in the public realm. Henry Ford and his contemporaries managed to severely impede what took a million years of evolution to develop.

Here are some other good resources to take a look at should this topic interest you –

Energy and Equity – by Ivan Illich

Fighting Traffic: US Transportation Policy and Urban Congestion 1955-1970 – by Peter Norton

Bicyclists, Motorists, and the Language of Marginalization by Mighk Wilson