The Lib Dems we know and love

From The Daily Mail:

Cars should be banished from town centres, a Liberal Democrat minister has claimed.

Transport Minister Norman Baker said drivers should be hit with big increases in parking charges so they are ‘disincentivised’ from parking near high street shops. He renewed the Lib Dems’ war on motorists at a fringe meeting at his party’s conference in Glasgow.

Mr Baker admitted that higher parking charges could ‘damage town centres’ but he then claimed that pushing people onto public transport and bicycles would help revive the high street.

That doesn't really merit a response, does it?

Alcohol fuelled carnage on Britain's roads

From The Metro:

There were 380 [drink-drive] fatalities in 2010, compared to a total of 250 deaths in 2009, reveals the department’s provisional report. Serious injuries from drink-driving incidents increased 18 per cent to 1,230 and slight injuries were upn 19 per cent at 8,220. In 1979, when drink-drive casualty records began, there were as few as 164 deaths.

Transport minister Norman Baker said: "The provisional figures suggest the number of drink-drive deaths is now 131 per cent higher than 30 years ago – this is very unwelcome. We are determined to continue to take firm action against the increasingly large minority of drivers who ignore the limit."

RAC Foundation director Professor Stephen Glaister said: "These drink-drive figures are to be expected, because of the revelation earlier this week that police caught more drink-drivers – especially young motorists – in the summer 2011 crackdown than in 2010."

Norman Baker's slow return to sanity

From The Evening Standard:

Appearing at the Commons transport committee, the Liberal Democrat was highlighting how his department was seeking to axe unnecessary and ancient legislation.

He told MPs: "I think there is an offence of furious driving which only applies to taxi drivers because they used to be Hackney Carriage drivers, from about 1847. I must admit I have not seen any taxi drivers driving furiously; they drive rather slowly in my experience, to keep the clock ticking over."

Outbreak Of Commonsense...

... at The Ministry for Cycling:

Transport minister Norman Baker refused to back down today after sparking a safety row by saying cyclists may be safer not wearing helmets. He cited research that drivers may go closer to cyclists with helmets than those without, which could put them at greater risk.

Mr Baker, whose role includes responsibility for cycling, said: "If your head hits the pavement you may be better off with a helmet. On the other hand it may be that drivers drive closer to you and there is more risk of an incident. It's not a one-way street in terms of safety. The jury is out."

The minister stressed that he fully backed the Department for Transport's advice that children should wear a helmet because they are likely to have less road sense and have weaker skulls. But Mr Baker, a keen cyclist who does not wear a helmet, insisted it was up to adults to choose whether they do or not, adding: "I took a conscious decision when I became cycling minister that I would not change my habits after 45 years of cycling."

Roger Geffen, the Campaigns Director of CTC, the UK's national cyclists' organisation, says cyclists who wear helmets are 14 per cent more likely to have a collision per mile than those without.

But Katharine Hartley of road safety charity Brake said: "We have extensive evidence that helmets are effective in reducing the risk of serious head injury when cycling. Wearing a helmet is a really simple step that all cyclists can take. It's highly frustrating to see our minister with responsibility for cycling taking to his bike without a helmet."