On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:39:11 +0100 someone who may be steve.trent
wrote this:-

Try Bob Davis, "Death on the Streets, Cars and the mythology of road
safety" and follow the references.

Oh yes- the book which was printed thirteen years ago - you would
have thought things may have moved on since then.

Many books were printed much more than 13 years ago. That does not
mean that what they have to say is irrelevant.

I note that you have attacked the age of the book, rather than the
arguments it makes. It is the sort of diversionary tactic adopted by
those with no better arguments.




--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

David Hansen gurgled happily, sounding
much like they were saying:

Try Bob Davis, "Death on the Streets, Cars and the mythology of road
safety" and follow the references.

Oh yes- the book which was printed thirteen years ago - you would have
thought things may have moved on since then.

Many books were printed much more than 13 years ago. That does not mean
that what they have to say is irrelevant.

Indeed. However, many books printed a damn sight more recently than 13
years ago are so badly outdated now as to be useless. It's all down to
the timeliness of the content, and whether or not the subject it deals
with changes over time.

I note that you have attacked the age of the book, rather than the
arguments it makes.

Umm, I notice that you snipped the bit where he did exactly that...

It is the sort of diversionary tactic adopted by those with no better
arguments.

Well, quite.

David Hansen wrote:
On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:39:11 +0100 someone who may be steve.trent
wrote this:-

Try Bob Davis, "Death on the Streets, Cars and the mythology of road
safety" and follow the references.

Oh yes- the book which was printed thirteen years ago - you would
have thought things may have moved on since then.

Many books were printed much more than 13 years ago. That does not
mean that what they have to say is irrelevant.

I note that you have attacked the age of the book, rather than the
arguments it makes. It is the sort of diversionary tactic adopted by
those with no better arguments.

Not really.
When a 13 year old book uses terms like "existing trends", it's pretty asfe
to assume that they're talking about the trends 13 years ago.
Therefore, to discount it as a reliable source of data on todays current
trends is entirely reasonable.

David Hansen wrote:

steve.trent wrote this:

Try Bob Davis, "Death on the Streets, Cars and the mythology of road
safety" and follow the references.

Oh yes- the book which was printed thirteen years ago - you would
have thought things may have moved on since then.

Many books were printed much more than 13 years ago. That does not
mean that what they have to say is irrelevant.

I note that you have attacked the age of the book, rather than the
arguments it makes. It is the sort of diversionary tactic adopted by
those with no better arguments.

Unless the book is readily available in print or online (which it
clearly isn't), it is hard to see how anyone who has not got access to
it can argue for it or against it on the basis of directly empirical
evidence. For that very reason, citing it as a source is a pointless
exercise and saying "Try Bob Davis, 'Death on the Streets, Cars and the
mythology of road safety'..." contributes and can contribute nothing to
any discussion on road safety.

But, OTOH, not all is lost. There is at least a review of the book
available, and from all that one can see, it was written by a great
supporter of the viewpoint of the book's author. And he (the supportive
reviewer) says that the book is just the thing to oil the egos of
anti-car nutters. True, he doesn't use those exact words (he wouldn't,
since he admits in terms to being one of them), but that is the gist of
the review.

So perhaps we don't need to read this unavailable book after all.

JNugent gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying:

So perhaps we don't need to read this unavailable book after all.

Or perhaps a quick look on Abebooks would find five copies, eight copies
on Amazon, but admittedly just the one on eBay currently...?

Adrian wrote:

JNugent :

So perhaps we don't need to read this unavailable book after all.

Or perhaps a quick look on Abebooks would find five copies, eight copies
on Amazon, but admittedly just the one on eBay currently...?

I'd prefer it to be available at the county council's library. Apart
from anything else, I wouldn't want to put money into the pocket of an
anti-car nutter (as described by his big supporter).

JNugent gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying:

So perhaps we don't need to read this unavailable book after all.

Or perhaps a quick look on Abebooks would find five copies, eight
copies on Amazon, but admittedly just the one on eBay currently...?

I'd prefer it to be available at the county council's library.

Hmmm. That's severely restricting your reading matter...

Apart from anything else, I wouldn't want to put money into the pocket
of an anti-car nutter (as described by his big supporter).

How does buying a second-hand copy do that?

Adrian wrote:
JNugent gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying:

So perhaps we don't need to read this unavailable book after all.

Or perhaps a quick look on Abebooks would find five copies, eight
copies on Amazon, but admittedly just the one on eBay currently...?

I'd prefer it to be available at the county council's library.

Hmmm. That's severely restricting your reading matter...

Apart from anything else, I wouldn't want to put money into the pocket
of an anti-car nutter (as described by his big supporter).

How does buying a second-hand copy do that?

Are all the copies on Abebooks and Amazon s/h?

JNugent gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying:

So perhaps we don't need to read this unavailable book after all.

Or perhaps a quick look on Abebooks would find five copies, eight
copies on Amazon, but admittedly just the one on eBay currently...?

Apart from anything else, I wouldn't want to put money into the pocket
of an anti-car nutter (as described by his big supporter).

How does buying a second-hand copy do that?

Are all the copies on Abebooks and Amazon s/h?

Yes. And the one on eBay. It's long out of print, after all...

Adrian wrote:
JNugent gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying:

So perhaps we don't need to read this unavailable book after all.

Or perhaps a quick look on Abebooks would find five copies, eight
copies on Amazon, but admittedly just the one on eBay currently...?

Apart from anything else, I wouldn't want to put money into the pocket
of an anti-car nutter (as described by his big supporter).

How does buying a second-hand copy do that?

Are all the copies on Abebooks and Amazon s/h?

Yes. And the one on eBay. It's long out of print, after all...

Fair enough.

I'd still rather get it out of the library (which is what I pay my
council tax for, among other things).