Roads Were Not Built For Cars How Cyclists Were the First to Push For Good Roads & Became the Pioneers of Motoring vi CARLTON REID Washington | Covelo | London iii Copyright © 2015 Carlton Reid. All rights reserved. The moral rights of the author have been asserted. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher: Island Press, 2000 M Street, NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20036 Island Press is a trademark of The Center for Resource Economics. Library of Congress Control Number: 2015934553 Printed on recycled, acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN (cloth) 978-1-61091-687-5 ISBN (paper) 978-1-61091-689-9 Copy-editor: Martin Rickerd Indexer: Nicola King Front cover illustration: Pete English Logo design: Paul Robson Back cover photo © National Motor Museum. The photo shows an 1898 Benz Velo in front of Glover Brothers Cycle Makers & Engineers of Windsor Street, Coventry. As well as signs for the CTC and Ariel bicycles there’s a sign (on the spine) advertising Pratts Spirit, one of the earliest petrol brands in Britain. Bicycle shops were among the very few places that motorists could buy petrol. In 1912, Henry James Glover and Hubert Walter Glover manufactured a (short-lived) motor car of their own. This book was supported with financial contributions from the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation, and the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information retrieval system without written permission of the publisher. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher/author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of this information contained herein. iv For Jude v vi CROWDFUNDING Much of the research for this book was enabled by backers of a Kickstarter campaign run in 2013. The names of these backers – all 648 of them – can be found in the back of the book. However, a number of individuals (and an organisation and a company) went above and beyond pre-ordering a book and I’d like to thank them here for their generosity. Joe Breeze Peter Berkeley Emily Lang Denis Caraire Hackney Cycling Campaign Trikke Tech Patrick Russell Knox Sr. DaveWalker Terry Malouf John Simpson vii viii