1980 and 2023 primary school reports compared
Wandering Danny | Oxford Blog
by danny
1M ago
Going through memorabilia, I found some old school reports. So here is a comparison of my "Report of Progress" from Year 5, in 1980 at what was then Lindfield Demonstration School, in Sydney, Australia, and my daughter Helen's "Annual Learning Journey Report" from Year 5, in 2022-2023 at Larkrise Primary School, in Oxford, England. My report consists of four A4 sheets stapled between thin cardboard covers. It was produced on a typewriter and then presumably mimeographed or photocopied, with the teacher writing in it by hand. The last sheet is blank on one side and uses the other for a ..read more
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Lower speeds on Oxford's ring-road
Wandering Danny | Oxford Blog
by danny
2M ago
The speed limit on Oxford's ring-road (excepting the A34 outside Botley) should be reduced to 40mph and that should be enforced by average speed cameras. This would help with road danger, congestion, community severance and barriers to walking and cycling, noise pollution, air pollution, and carbon emissions. Enforcement of the existing speed limits would help. Measurements at Barton Park found nearly half of all vehicles on the A40 exceeding the 50mph speed limit (the average speed was 49mph). One interesting comparison: Paris' Boulevarde Peripherique is currently 70km/hr (43mph) and there a ..read more
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Our footways are falling into (the) cracks
Wandering Danny | Oxford Blog
by danny
3M ago
At the moment, footways in Oxfordshire fall into the cracks between different county teams. Parking, Road Agreements, Transport Development Control, Active Travel, Maintenance, and different Localities teams all implement or oversee schemes that affect footways, but no one has overall responsibility for them. A single county team should be given responsibility for footways, with a watching brief over all schemes that affect them. That could be a beefed up Active Travel team, or a Parking team with an expanded mandate. pole to hold CPZ sign and marked parking Walking is at the top of the ..read more
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Timeline of OX4 traffic changes
Wandering Danny | Oxford Blog
by danny
3M ago
Guest post by Owen McKnight (Oxford Pedestrians’ Association) There have been dramatic improvements in infrastructure across East Oxford in the last few years. It’s not just about Low Traffic Neighbourhoods! This post is a timeline of specific changes in the OX4 postcode area (which covers East Oxford, Cowley, Rose Hill, Littlemore, and Blackbird Leys). 2019 January: Thames towpath resurfaced November: Raised table installed at junction of Cornwallis Road/Littlehay Road/Rymers Lane 2020 August: Magdalen Bridge cycle lanes widened 2021 January: Yvonne Constance decides to implement the Cow ..read more
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LTNs and inclusive mobility
Wandering Danny | Oxford Blog
by danny
4M ago
No inclusive transport system for Oxford is possible without low traffic neighbourhoods. A genuinely inclusive transport system has to work for everyone. For eight year olds walking or cycling to school by themselves and for four year olds walking or cycling alongside their parents. For eighty year olds who want to be able to walk - or cycle slowly - to their local shops, their GP surgery, or their bus stops, without fear or stress. For wheelchair and mobility scooter users and for the blind and visually impaired. And for everyone else. A white-cane user: I am a totally blind person in my 70s ..read more
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Iffley Rd cycle lanes
Wandering Danny | Oxford Blog
by danny
6M ago
What is the road layout on Oxford's Iffley Rd and how is it supposed to work? The key features here are the use of advisory cycle lanes around a narrow central traffic lane with no centre line; between Donnington Bridge Rd and the Plain the cycle lanes are mostly 1.575m wide and the central lane ranges from 4.66m to 5.93m wide. (This was implemented on Iffley Rd as part of the "Quickways" schemes in 2022. A similar scheme was implemented on Magdalen Bridge in 2020; there the cycle lanes are 2.4m wide.) The stretch from Marston Rd to the Plain was already 20mph, but the remainder of Iffley Rd w ..read more
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Jericho cycle hangars
Wandering Danny | Oxford Blog
by danny
7M ago
It's great to see Oxford's first cycle hangars appearing in Jericho. Great Clarendon St Nelson St There have been a few complaints that the hangars don't fit in with the streetscape or are inconsistent with heritage values. Unless one is completely blind to cars this seems pretty hard to sustain. The two photos above (taken on my first visit) show one hangar alongside a small car with a much more incongruous colour and the other next to an SUV that is much larger and more intrusive. There were suggestions that there's no demand for these, but the two in Jericho were fully subscri ..read more
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Enabling contra-flow cycling in Oxford
Wandering Danny | Oxford Blog
by danny
7M ago
Contra-flow cycling should be allowed on all the one-way streets in Oxford. From LTN 1/20: "There should be a general presumption in favour of cycling in both directions in one way streets, unless there are safety, operational or cost reasons why it is not feasible." missing contraflows in Oxford (inside the ring-road), from Cyclestreets The Ranty Highwayman has put together a useful overview of UK advice on contraflow cycling on one-way streets. One key takeaway from that is that no infrastructure (as in a marked contraflow cycle lane) is needed if 85th percentile speeds are less than 25mph ..read more
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Peter Green Memorial Split Pawn Award
Wandering Danny | Oxford Blog
by danny
7M ago
Does anyone who played chess in New South Wales in the early 1980s remember what the Peter Green Memorial Split Pawn Award was? Won by Peter Green, R.Colman, Marcus Pesman, Charles Zworestine, S.Twigg, Tim Reilly and yours truly. I vaguely recall it was for the worst performance in a tournament, or possibly a particularly bad game? PETER GREEN MEMORIAL SPLIT PAWN AWARD 5-1981 12-1983 P.Green S.Twigg JM } 5-1982 T.Reilly JM } R.Colman CM 2-1984 5-1983 D.Yee CM M.Pesman CM 9-1983 C.Zworestine ..read more
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An East-West foot-cycle route for Oxford
Wandering Danny | Oxford Blog
by danny
7M ago
This outlines a plan for a direct, coherent east-west foot-cycle route across Oxford's city centre. That would run from the railway station across the north of Frideswide Square, along Hythe Bridge St, George St, Broad St, Holywell St, and Longwall St, ending at Magdalen Bridge. There is currently no safe and accessible cycling route across the city, and the walking options are almost as dismal, with Hythe Bridge a particularly horrible section — try getting from the railway station into the centre with a large suitcase, pushing a buggy, or in a wheelchair. If the county is serious about both ..read more
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