Prof. Ian Walker
@ianwalker.bsky.social
18K followers 2.1K following 2.7K posts
Environmental psychologist: transport, energy, water, buildings @locastproject.bsky.social. Head of Psychology, Swansea University 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿. Charity trustee x2. My views Guinness World Record for the fastest bicycle ride across Europe drianwalker.com
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
ianwalker.bsky.social
HOT RESEARCH NEWS!

Motonormativity ("car brain") is a bias that stops people making rational judgements about driving en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motonor...

Our new study shows where this bias comes from AND how it makes people think they're odd for supporting changes to the transport system 🧵
Cover sheet of a journal article: "Why do cars get a free ride? The social-ecological roots of motonormativity" by Ian Walker and Marco te Brömmelstroet
ianwalker.bsky.social
I think Microsoft's approach to everything is summed up by how every team name pointlessly has "-UsrGrp" stuck on the end, when a single line of code could hide this internal bit of gubbins from users
ianwalker.bsky.social
It's a proper blast from the past, back in 2013...
Reposted by Prof. Ian Walker
carltonreid.com
Much to parse here. First, it's part of Sketch's ongoing campaign "Poor British Motorist!" This was during the great motorway building boom. And do you know who profited from that boom? Transport minister Ernest Marples ...
engineerlikeagirl.bsky.social
This is amazing! A colleague found it in her cavity wall whilst doing some DIY. A newspaper article from the 1960s bemoaning the introduction of some 50mph speed limits. "Poor British Motorists" - some things never change, do they?!
A crumpled old page from the Daily Sketch newspaper, dated 1963. The headline is "Have another think about it, Mr Marples!" And the story basically bleats on about how unfair it is that some experimental 50mph speed limits are being introduced. Apparently without consulting motorists. A logo saying Poor British Motorists is in the top right hand corner and implies that this sort of article is a regularly recurring theme.
Reposted by Prof. Ian Walker
gravelinfluencer.bsky.social
This is a small detail that jumped out to me, because it reinforces the need to design infrastructure for the lowest common denominator, whether it's a child or someone using a mobility device. Infrastructure must work for everyone!
Smooth routes were found to be very important for some people, but not a major consideration for others. For those where it is the difference between a street being useable or not, then smooth routes are critical, as was the case for some older people and people who roll, exemplified by the ‘access is not optional’ viewpoint. One participant described the wheels on their wheelchair as like the wheels on a shopping trolley, “fine in the supermarket, but in the real-world pavements and roads are not that smooth.”.
Reposted by Prof. Ian Walker
thellamagod.bsky.social
Looking forward to seeing this expanded to also cover cars that have been left for more than two hours...
wyeates.bsky.social
The British Transport Police (BTP) says it will not investigate bike thefts outside stations where the bicycle has been left for more than two hours.

Bike thefts at stations 'decriminalised'
Bike thefts at stations 'decriminalised'
The British Transport Police will not investigate many categories of bicycle theft, the BBC learns.
buff.ly
ianwalker.bsky.social
Weird. If I open it in an incognitio window it just displays the article
ianwalker.bsky.social
Have you tried clicking the link?
ianwalker.bsky.social
"The single most important behaviour, design or regulation for creating streets conducive to walking and cycling, was physical separation between the modes"

We've got a new study out, learning from a broad mixture of street users, planners and designers

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Highlights
    For marginalised street users mode separation is the key to human-scale movement.
    Streets conducive to walking and cycling have functional, safe and accessible design.
    Professionals must approach street design, regulation and user behaviour holistically.
    Combinations of influencing factors persuade people to either use or avoid a street.
    There are no easy fixes to the public realm that will work for all non-drivers.
Reposted by Prof. Ian Walker
beenwrekt.bsky.social
In non-LLM AI news, Waymo has quietly been involved in two fatal car crashes in 2025. Phil Koopman details that this fatality rate is now comparable to humans.

People: 7/billion miles in all conditions
Waymo: 5/billion miles in geofenced conditions
Blame-Free Robotaxi Crashes Are Still Crashes
The tricky logic behind robotaxi crash metrics
philkoopman.substack.com
ianwalker.bsky.social
I think the clock on our oven might be too bright
Reposted by Prof. Ian Walker
janrosenow.bsky.social
The Primary Energy Fallacy is the idea that all primary energy from fossil fuels must be replaced with equivalent amount of clean energy.

BUT: Not necessary because >2/3 of all primary energy is lost as waste heat.

Electrification+renewables are far more efficient.

medium.com/@jan.rosenow...
ianwalker.bsky.social
Everyone needs to know about Hyden! A few police forces have been okay on this in the past, and have treated near-misses as serious opportunities to intervene. We need more
ianwalker.bsky.social
It also fits Hyden's pyramid
Reposted by Prof. Ian Walker
sfrost.bsky.social
Interesting research on attitudes towards & use of e-cargo bikes in the UK.

Particularly noteworthy for demonstrating the level of interest in e-cargo bikes nationally and the extent to which they replace car journeys. In a trial in suburban areas over 50% of the distance travelled replaced car use
E-cargo bikes as a personal transport mode in the UK: insights from surveys and suburban trials
This paper explores the potential of e-cargo bikes as a personal transport mode in the UK, reporting on a series of surveys and trials. Hypothesising …
www.sciencedirect.com
ianwalker.bsky.social
I guess, to try to be fair, the number at each grade is a fairly fixed multiple of the number at the next grade, so if you count the deaths you can basically know the minor injuries. Which has some advantages, as deaths are rarely unreported
ianwalker.bsky.social
Yeah, I typed that too quickly as my phone was ringing! But I think there's a lot more conflict built into a lot of cycle infra than there is for driving infra. The shared-use path I used this morning being a great example
ianwalker.bsky.social
People will (not unfairly) point out there is possibly more than 265x driving than cycling. But a critical nuance is that drivers are never expected to make their trips in narrow shared spaces and roads full of conflict points