Image Courtesy: BounceCars.com via now-here-this.timeout.com

Click here to read more about the unlicensed minicabs issue in London.

About us

The FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society (Foundation) is an independent UK registered charity which supports an international programme of activities promoting road safety, the environment and sustainable mobility, as well as funding motor sport safety research.   The Foundation has consultative status with the Economic & Social Council of the United Nations, participates in various UN road safety and environment related working parties and is a member of the UN Global Road Safety Collaboration.  It also provides the secretariat for the Make Road Safe campaign, the independent Commission for Global Road Safety, and the Global Fuel Economy Initiative. The Foundation is also a member of the UN Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles.

Our objects are to promote public safety and public health, the protection and preservation of human life and the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment through:

• promoting research, disseminating the results of research and providing information in any matters of public interest which include road safety, automobile technology, the protection and preservation of human life and public health, transport and public mobility and the protection of the environment; and
• promoting improvement in the safety of motor sport, and of drivers, passengers, pedestrians and other road users.

About the role

The newly-created post of Research Officer, based full-time at the Foundation’s secretariat in central London, will deal with all research questions and projects in support of the Director of Environment and Research (See full description below)

In this you will provide seamless service both internally to colleagues and externally to the Foundation’s various statutory bodies, members and partners.

You will assist the Director of Environment and Research, as part of an integrated policy, programmes and communications team, on all aspects of the Foundation’s road safety, environmental and sustainable mobility research policies and activities, such as:

• conducting research projects (including economic analysis) and producing research outputs;
• supporting the Foundation’s Seminar programme;
• maintenance of databases and co-ordination of mailings to Foundation partners and members;
• preparation of briefings, advocacy and communications materials;
• speechwriting;
• production of material for relevant websites and social media; and
• representation at seminars and meetings.

About you

A confident self-starter and ideally equipped with a postgraduate qualification or equivalent, you should have work experience in a research role, ideally in a busy research/campaigns or advocacy environment.  Strong analytical, evaluation and writing skills demonstrating close attention to detail are a must as are excellent social skills, diplomacy and personal presentation.  You should have a solid knowledge of all common IT packages, such as Excel, SPSS, Word and Powerpoint.  Foreign languages would be an asset. Experience of issues around public health/injury research, sustainable mobility and/or international development would also be desirable, but not essential.

Please note that we are only able to consider applications from those with the legal right to work in the UK.

The closing date for applications is 20th June.

Click here to learn more and to apply

[scribd id=228183289 key=key-smMdwhXMK3gagtIWZwL5 mode=scroll]

Source: RidetoworkdayUK

Apart from the fun element, I learned from this video that bike riders (in UK??) save an average of 306 hours annually off their commutes.. So, what will you do with so much free time? :lol: Oh, and the Ride To Work Day in UK is June 18th.. Are you ready to don the leather & latex?

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S88N8PCqOFM&hd=1′]

Great footwork and execution!  Samsung has a winner on its hands. Ding, Ding, Ding.    A boring evening commute at London’s Victoria Station, got a bit of fun added, courtesy of Samsung as part of its advertisement campaign for its Galaxy Note.

“A football match has just broken out at London Victoria Station.” Watch to see how four footballers use fancy footwork, along with the brilliant screen and innovative S Pen of the Samsung GALAXY Note, to transform a routine commute into a spectacular event for Londoners.

Via www.youtube.com

(Source: Youtube Via Reddit)

The advent of dash cams in cops cars have brought to us many a horrible crimes as they happened on the roads. Here is one such occurrence where the police saw (and recorded) a woman hit a pedestrian. Then the chase starts and finishes with a nice & beautiful closing statement by the police officer!  It is amazing how the officers handled the situation (one gets off the chase to attend to the accident victim and the other gets off chasing the offending driver).  Just brilliant!  The best part of the video for me was this statement delivered by the cop: “Sod the Bloody Work”!  Well put, Officer! I couldn’t have said it any better.

(Source: The London Evening Standard)

Image Courtesy:Alex Lentati via The London Evening Standard

These figures from the London Ambulance Service about the special cycle crews, set up to respond to 999 calls in heavy traffic, are quite impressive:

(1) The average response time is now five minutes but can be as short as just 60 seconds

(2) Created savings including £300,000 in fuel – the equivalent of 20,000 ambulance journeys.
(3) Treated 50,000 patients since they were first piloted 10 years ago and freed up an estimated 5,000 ambulance hours a year, the equivalent of having an extra two vehicles staffed with two paramedics.

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: Street Films)

Recently, our awesome folks at Streetfilms got a walk through of a  successful DIY project — on Clapton Terrace in London.  Called “DIY Streets,” a total of 11 communities across England and Wales benefited through this program, which brings neighbors together to help them redesign their streets in a way that puts people, safety, and streetlife first.  The non-profit Sustrans is pioneering this community-based method to reclaim streets from high-speed traffic and make neighborhoods safer and more sociable places.

Click here to read more.

Related articles by Zemanta

• London’s Do-It-Yourself Approach to Safer Streets (streetfilms.org)
• NYCDOT Releases Landmark Ped Safety Study, Will Pilot 20 MPH Zones (streetsblog.org)

(Source: Daily Mail Online, UK)

In almost all parts of the globe, traffic enforcement personnel (men and women) are often seen as stern, well-turned out authority figures. But there seems to be a rare exception in Britain.  The appearance of this pictured traffic warden from Hove, Sussex came as a surprise to beachgoers today (copyright issues prohibit publishing the pictureshere).  The traffic warden looks more like a runway model than an authority figure, with his long, flying locks.  UK’s Daily Mail likens him to the celebrities that appear on the famous L’Oreal adverts (which have seen a bevy of stars, including Jennifer Aniston) flicking their manes to the company’s famous slogan ‘Because I’m worth it’.

The hairy worker flouted his auburn locks as he patrolled the seafront in Hove pausing to take pictures of improperly parked vehicles.

At one point he even removed his cap and shook out his crowing glory, allowing the wind to whip through it as he strolled along the promenade.

Brighton and Hove Council were unable to provide any information about the whiskery warden, but admitted they were aware of the stir caused by his wild-man tresses.

It’s not known if the worker is breaking any dress code rules with his unique hairstyle, but it’s good to see authority figures letting down their hair.

Women folk on this side of the Atlantic would really be happy if they got ticketed by a fashionable traffic enforcer like this one.

(Source: Eventbrite via Bernie Wagenblast)

Newcastle University and Imperial College would like to invite you to participate in a different sort of Workshop to help shape future research into sustainable intelligent transport.

It will be sparky; it will be challenging; it will think the unthinkable – and it will be FREE with refreshments provided.

You’ll not want to miss it, will you?

• Will the Internet and technology influence how we travel? Whether we travel at all?
• Can technology help mobility?
• How useful is “user-generated content”?
• How far can mobile Internet and Web2.0 get you? – literally
• Where is transport research going?
• Did Beethoven have a food processor?

Come and listen to new thoughts on old problems; share with us what you think matters; show us what you’re up to; join in when people ask the questions they’ve always wanted to pose on transport and the Internet; suggest the areas you think need investigation.

Proceedings will be live blogged and tweeted from the event; together with remote contributions. These will be forwarded to EPSRC as the outcome of the workshop and the SIMM final report.

If you’d like details about attending, exhibiting, making a short presentation or demonstrating a product or technology, or following the workshop online please contact Hannah Bryan:hannah.bryan@newcastle.ac.uk at Newcastle University (0191 222 6420).

This is the outline programme. It is still a work in progress, and is likely to change before the actual event, especially as we’d like your comments on it .

So, your thoughts and comments are welcome, particularly for the interactive panel sessions in the afternoon…

(Source: Autobloggreen & Royal Automobile Club Foundation)

A new study by the Royal Automobile Club Foundation found that as many as 6.75 million British drivers are thinking about or could consider buying an electric vehicle – once they become available, of course. RAC surveyed 1,000 motorists over two weekends this month and asked the question: “Would you consider or are you planning on purchasing an electric car within the next five years?” Twenty percent picked either “Yes, would consider” or “Yes, planning on purchasing an electric car.” We’re right there with you, says the UK government, which will offer incentives worth up to £5,000 for EVs starting in 2011.

Also, the RAC points out that 20 percent of 33.8 million drivers means there could be a lot of people who want but can’t buy an EV. They say, “The RAC Foundation has discovered that by the Government’s own reckoning electric vehicles won’t be available on the mass market until at least 2017, leaving millions of potential buyers frustrated.”

Commenting on the findings, the director of the RAC Foundation Professor Stephen Glaister had the following words:

• “What the Government is in danger of doing is putting the cart before the horse. It is actively promoting the purchase of electric vehicles long before there is any chance of manufacturers making them widely available.”
• “It has gone out of its way to encourage people to make green choices, yet these choices are not yet realistic.”
• “Ministers’ thinking on green technology is all over the place. They talk of incentives of up to £5,000 for prospective buyers of electric cars from 2011. Yet at that stage there will be almost nothing in the showroom for people to purchase.”
• “The RAC Foundation fully supports the introduction of green vehicles. But electric cars are not the short-term solution. What the Government should be doing is improving the road network and encouraging manufacturers to refine existing technology. That means increasing road capacity to cut congestion and CO2 emissions; focussing on producing leaner petrol and diesel engines; and making smaller and lighter cars.”