Curbing car use: the dangers of exaggerating the future role of public transport in Transport in Transition (ed. Francis Terry), Public Finance Foundation, CIPFA, 1996

Analysis of National Travel Survey data showed that most of the growth in car use has not come about from transfer from public transport but from additional journeys generated by the ownership of a car, and that it is far more desirable and cost-effective to promote cycling and walking than bus use for urban journeys currently made by car.  

• DoE/DoT PPG 13 in 1994 implicitly acknowledged the greater significance of the non-motorised modes than public transport in planning for less travel. It stated that plans should foster "forms of development which encourage walking, cycling and public transport use", reversing the previous ordering of the modes in public documents. 

 
Speed Control and Transport Policy (with Stephen Plowden), Policy Studies Institute, 1996

Report on the connections between speed and the various harmful effects of road traffic. The likely outcome of lower speeds on journey times and travel times and the wide benefits of lowering vehicle speeds beyond that of casualty reduction, are analysed. Identifies the scope for the reduction of various harmful social, environmental and economic costs and proposed variable speed limiters, set according to the particular class of road, as means of enforcement.

• John Bowis, Minister of Transport, stated in Drive Slower and Save Lives in 1996 that "it is now well understood that if you drive more slowly, lives can be saved".
• A new body, the Slower Speeds Initiative, was set up in 1998, to press for lower speeds on roads. It called for government to undertake a national review of speed limits covering all classes of road.
• From 1997 to 2003, the Government funded research at Leeds University on variable speed limiters.
• The DETR Transport Policy White Paper 1998 included a statement of the government’s intention to review policy on road speed. This was subsequently published by the Department of Transport in 1999.
• Serious consideration has been given in recent years to the adoption of a default urban 20mph speed limit.

Roadside plaques to mark fatalities in Social Innovations – A Compendium (eds. Nicholas Albery et al.), 1993

One of the most effective ways of making it easy to put road crashes involving personal injury "out of sight, out of mind" is by removing all the evidence of their occurrence quickly. A proposal was put to the Greater London Council in 1984 that, provided close family members agreed, a circular black plaque recording details of each fatality should be erected adjacent to the site of each road fatality.  

• A meeting with the Chair of the GLC Transport Committee and his Officers revealed concerns and reservations, principally on psychological grounds, which were sufficient to prevent even a pilot project being tried out.  

Reviving the City: Towards Sustainable Urban Development (with Tim Elkins and Duncan McLaren), Friends of the Earth and Policy Studies Institute, 1991

In favour of the compact city in The Compact City: A Sustainable Urban Form? (eds. Mike Jenks, Elizabeth Burton, and Katie Williams), E&FN Spon, 1996

The contributions to these two publications proposed changes to the form of existing and new urban settlements to take account particularly of the implications for sustainability of climate change. Among the recommendations were relatively high residential densities to allow for economy in the provision of shared heating and waste disposal services, to reduce the need for motorised travel, for priority to be given to the non-motorised modes, for intensive development to be sited close to public transport interchanges, and for the minimisation of resource use, especially fossil fuels. In recent years, the Government has committed itself to policies reflecting appreciation of the justification for these recommendations.  

• The themes within these and earlier reports and documents listed under Further Publications form part of the DEFRA brief in 2007 for submissions for the development of the government's plans for eco-towns.

Danger on the Road: the Needless Scourge (with Stephen Plowden), Policy Studies Institute, 1984

Road danger identified as a much more serious problem than the number of casualties suggests. Concludes that cost estimates of road danger are far too low as they take no account of the other ways in which unsafe conditions impinge on people’s lives. This leads to a distortion of priorities within transport policy. Inter alia, lower speed limits and use of modern technology to help enforcement are recommended.

• Peter Bottomley, Minister of Transport in 1986 urged local councils "to do more to slow down traffic in residential areas", and the role of speed has been emphasised in much government road safety publicity since then.
• A new body, the Road Danger Reduction Forum, was set up in 1994 to press for recognition of the fact that road accidents are not a reliable measure of road safety and that the target for reducing danger should be focused on reducing traffic levels and vehicle speed.  

Social Consequences of Rail Closures (with Anne Whalley), Policy Studies Institute, 1980

A report commissioned by British Rail reached conclusions based on the findings of a survey of ten rural rail closures. It found that the substitution of bus services had resulted in a marked diminution in the quality of public transport and thus a significant curtailment of the activity and opportunities of the communities from which the rail services had been withdrawn. It recommended ending the programme of further closures.  

• The study was referred to as "the only systematic analysis of the effects of rail closures" in Regional Studies, Vol. 21, 1980.
• British Rail reversed its plans for further closures and, from 1980, made no subsequent requests to government to approve further closures. In 1989, British Rail announced that it had reprieved almost all of its provincial network lines from closure.
• In 1990, following publication of a Monopolies and Mergers Commission Report drawing on the findings of the PSI survey, the saving of 30 provincial routes from closure was reported.

Social Goals for Transport Policy in Proceedings of Conference, Transport for Society, Institution of Civil Engineers, 1974

This paper argued that social and ethical principles should be introduced more widely into the transport planning transport process and that this process should become less mechanistic. It set out goals based on these principles and the alternative policies to which their attainment would lead. It concluded by outlining some of the implications of their adoption.

• The contents of this paper clearly had a considerable impact on Government policy, including the setting up of the Social Research Division of its Transport and Road Research Laboratory, and the Department of the Environment’s Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) 13 in 1994. "The key aim of the guidance is to ensure that local authorities carry out their land-use policies and transport programmes in ways which help to: reduce growth in the length and number of motorised journeys; encourage alternative means of travel which have less environmental impact; and hence reduce reliance on the private car." 

Personal Mobility and Transport Policy (with Anne Whalley and Irwin Henderson), Policy Studies Institute, 1973

A large measure of "mobility deprivation", in the main resulting from the increase in mobility of car owners, was recorded among those without a car – especially children, the elderly and the infirm. The report recommended the reversal of priorities so that the non-motorised modes, and then public transport, are favoured. It concluded that the key to the solution posed by growth in car ownership and use lies in reducing the need for motorised travel through the medium of appropriate transport and planning policies.  

• This report was described in a leader in The Observer in 1973 following its publication as "probably the most damaging onslaught every launched on the private car's primacy".
• Invited to advise on the setting up of a new division of the Transport and Road Research Laboratory (then the Road Research Laboratory) to carry out research on the social aspects of transport policy – a post held from 1973 to 1976.

• Government Transport Policy White Paper in 1977 refers to its aim of "reducing our absolute dependence on transport".  

The social costs of hypermarket developments Built Environment, Vol.2 No.2, February 1972

Patterns of shopping and their traffic consequences were outlined, leading to a questioning of the wisdom of giving planning permission for large-scale retail stores, particularly out-of-town stores, in view of the transport implications, associated social and environmental costs and effects on the viability of local shops. 

• The Department of the Environment’s Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) 13 in 1994 stated that "shopping should be promoted in existing centres which are more likely to offer a choice of access particularly for those without the use of a private car".
• John Gummer, Secretary of State for the Environment, ruled in 1995 against further planning permission being granted for out-of-town shopping centres.
• Papers on the need to integrate social goals in transport policy formation and the criteria that could be used.  

Mobility in New Towns Doctoral Dissertation, University of Edinburgh, 1970

The relative merits of each form of transport were evaluated from the viewpoint of their social, environmental and economic costs and benefits. The thesis concluded that the optimal solution for the design of new towns lies in reducing the need for motorised travel through land use planning and promoting walking as the principal means of travel. Studies the relationship between urban land-use development in relation to new towns and transport patterns and the wide-ranging consequences of the rise in the ownership, use and dependence on cars.