Research Record

1. Safety
Bus safety & accidents http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/one-death-every-threeweeks-involving-london-buses-new-figures-show-a3091156.html
Between April 2007 and March this year, bus collisions killed 128 people on the capitals
roads. A further 14 died following slips, trips and falls while on board. The fatalities include
81 pedestrians, six cyclists, 15 bus passengers and three drivers. Six of the people who
died were children while 30 were elderly.
Mr Kearney added: If you kill someone with a car, theres about a 35 per cent chance youll
be convicted. If you kill someone with a bus theres a 13 per cent chance youll be
prosecuted. Quarterly collision data published by TfL shows 2,736 people were injured or
killed on or by TfL buses during the first six months of 2015, but no data is published for the
number of collisions that resulted in no injury.
A separate FOI earlier this year revealed London buses were involved in nearly 25,000
collisions in the year 2014/15 an average of 67 every day.
In addition, only deaths that occur within 30 days of a collision are counted.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24923609
Trains & safety

2. Emergency services
3. Public transport

4. History of cars (archive footage)

The Model T had a front-mounted four-cylinder engine, producing 20 hp, for a top speed of
4045 mph (6472 km/h). According to Ford Motor Company, the engine was capable of
running on gasoline, kerosene, or ethanol,] although the decreasing cost of gasoline and the
later introduction of Prohibition made ethanol an impractical fuel for most users.
By 1918, half of all the cars in the US were Model Ts. However, Ford wrote in his
autobiography that in 1909 he told his management team that in the future Any customer
can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.
However, in the first years of production from 1908 to 1913, the Model T was not available in
black but rather only gray, green, blue, and red. Green was available for the touring cars,
town cars, coupes, and Landaulets. Gray was only available for the town cars, and red only
for the touring cars. By 1912, all cars were being painted midnight blue with black fenders. It
was only in 1914 that the "any color so long as it is black" policy was finally implemented. It
is often stated that Ford suggested the use of black from 1914 to 1926 due to the cheap cost
and durability of black paint. During the lifetime production of the Model T, over 30 types of
black paint were used on various parts of the car. These were formulated to satisfy the
different means of applying the paint to the various parts, and had distinct drying times,
depending on the part, paint, and method of drying.
The Model T was introduced on October 1, 1908. It had the steering wheel on the left, which
every other company soon copied. The entire engine and transmission were enclosed; the
four cylinders were cast in a solid block; the suspension used two semi-elliptic springs. The
car was very simple to drive, and easy and cheap to repair. It was so cheap at $825 in 1908
($21,760 today) (the price fell every year) that by the 1920s, a majority of American drivers
had learned to drive on the Model T.
Ford created a huge publicity machine in Detroit to ensure every newspaper carried stories
and ads about the new product. Ford's network of local dealers made the car ubiquitous in
almost every city in North America. As independent dealers, the franchises grew rich and
publicized not just the Ford but the concept of automobiling; local motor clubs sprang up to
help new drivers and to encourage exploring the countryside. Ford was always eager to sell
to farmers, who looked on the vehicle as a commercial device to help their business. Sales
skyrocketedseveral years posted 100% gains on the previous year. Always on the hunt for
more efficiency and lower costs, in 1913 Ford introduced the moving assembly belts into his
plants, which enabled an enormous increase
in production.

5. Petrol