Carlton Reid is writing a book about roads history. He’s focusing on the period 1880-1905, which saw the Bicycling Boom and then – pop – the start of Motoring Mania. Examining tangents, finding new areas to explore, digging out deeper and more convincing evidence to show that cyclists had far more influence on government road policies than previously thought. Not just previously thought by the public at large, but by social history and transport academics, too. In today’s W/S article he shares with us some of the historical quotes he has uncovered, which relate in important ways to the matters which concern us here. Let’s have a look at a selection of these. Continue reading