Mayer Hillman was indeed very perceptive on transport policy issues. But he also had a big impact on transport planning in practice.
For several years from 1974 he was a consultant to the government’s Transport and Road Research Laboratory as it moved from being car-focused to looking at the needs of all road users. His radical approach bore fruit in the 1980s and 90s, with more innovative local authorities prioritising pedestrians, cyclists and public transport by putting constraints on the extent to which cars should be accommodated.
In cities such as York, cycling and walking grew while accident rates plummeted. Conservative ministers celebrated this at the time – hard to imagine now when managing the impact of the car has become a culture war issue.
