Peter Norton
@norton.bsky.social
Historian; author of Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, and of Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving.
We tend to treat technology and labor separately – framing technology as “labor saving” and labor as something technology displaces. But even as it displaces laborers, technology demands new kinds of labor. ...
January 3, 2026 at 3:37 PM
We tend to treat technology and labor separately – framing technology as “labor saving” and labor as something technology displaces. But even as it displaces laborers, technology demands new kinds of labor. ...
Let’s choose not to do this.
January 2, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Let’s choose not to do this.
Cycling Cities: The African Experience covers 17 cities in 12 countries across the continent. The chapters are amply illustrated narratives. In a concluding chapter, “Cycling in Numbers, 1920-2025,” Dorcas Nthoki Nyamai and Frank Veraart offer a century of quantitative data on cycling in Africa. ...
January 1, 2026 at 2:36 PM
Cycling Cities: The African Experience covers 17 cities in 12 countries across the continent. The chapters are amply illustrated narratives. In a concluding chapter, “Cycling in Numbers, 1920-2025,” Dorcas Nthoki Nyamai and Frank Veraart offer a century of quantitative data on cycling in Africa. ...
“Zomba, a regional administrative city, is Malawi’s cycling hub.” So reports David Drengk in “‘I Never Queued for Fuel.’” ...
December 31, 2025 at 2:35 PM
“Zomba, a regional administrative city, is Malawi’s cycling hub.” So reports David Drengk in “‘I Never Queued for Fuel.’” ...
This account’s most popular traffic-related post of 2025:
Streetcar ridership did not merely decline. It was deterred.
Streetcar passengers did not endanger motorists, but motorists endangered them.
In every city, people boarding, alighting from, or waiting for streetcars accounted for a large fraction of pedestrian traffic casualties. ...
Streetcar passengers did not endanger motorists, but motorists endangered them.
In every city, people boarding, alighting from, or waiting for streetcars accounted for a large fraction of pedestrian traffic casualties. ...
December 31, 2025 at 11:56 AM
This account’s most popular traffic-related post of 2025:
This account’s most popular post of 2025:
“ … should the need arise … ”
Americans, the need has arisen.
Americans, the need has arisen.
December 31, 2025 at 11:54 AM
This account’s most popular post of 2025:
In Mzuzu, showy bicycle taxis compete for fares. Malawians call them kabaza taxis or sacramentos. “Today,” Denis Mwiba reports, “Mzuzu is Malawi’s cycling capital – a compact plantation town where more than half of households own a bicycle,” while “cars and buses remain scarce.” ...
December 30, 2025 at 2:13 PM
In Mzuzu, showy bicycle taxis compete for fares. Malawians call them kabaza taxis or sacramentos. “Today,” Denis Mwiba reports, “Mzuzu is Malawi’s cycling capital – a compact plantation town where more than half of households own a bicycle,” while “cars and buses remain scarce.” ...
In Maputo, the bicycle “has borne the shifting weight of colonial power, survival under war, and dreams of renewal.” So Classio Mendiate and Eduardo Pelembe distill the bicycle’s historical role in Mozambique’s capital city. ...
December 29, 2025 at 4:12 PM
In Maputo, the bicycle “has borne the shifting weight of colonial power, survival under war, and dreams of renewal.” So Classio Mendiate and Eduardo Pelembe distill the bicycle’s historical role in Mozambique’s capital city. ...
In “From Iron Donkeys to Bodabodas,” Patrick Otim connects bicycles in Gulu to histories of resistance, resilience and recovery in northern Uganda. ...
December 28, 2025 at 3:42 PM
In “From Iron Donkeys to Bodabodas,” Patrick Otim connects bicycles in Gulu to histories of resistance, resilience and recovery in northern Uganda. ...
Cycles of authority and subversion – such is Kampala’s cycling experience.
The photo shows a policewoman in the colonial city, her hands on the saddle of her assigned vehicle. In Uganda, both before and after independence, the bicycle was also a means of evading authority. ...
The photo shows a policewoman in the colonial city, her hands on the saddle of her assigned vehicle. In Uganda, both before and after independence, the bicycle was also a means of evading authority. ...
December 27, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Cycles of authority and subversion – such is Kampala’s cycling experience.
The photo shows a policewoman in the colonial city, her hands on the saddle of her assigned vehicle. In Uganda, both before and after independence, the bicycle was also a means of evading authority. ...
The photo shows a policewoman in the colonial city, her hands on the saddle of her assigned vehicle. In Uganda, both before and after independence, the bicycle was also a means of evading authority. ...
Chipata is a cycling city. In “Legacy, Bicycle Production, and Dedicated Lanes,” Emmanuel Kamuna and Chris Chirwa report “a culture of road-sharing that enhances safety and sustains Chipata’s identity as Zambia’s most bicycle-friendly town.” ...
December 26, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Chipata is a cycling city. In “Legacy, Bicycle Production, and Dedicated Lanes,” Emmanuel Kamuna and Chris Chirwa report “a culture of road-sharing that enhances safety and sustains Chipata’s identity as Zambia’s most bicycle-friendly town.” ...
Cyclists once crowded the streets of Douala. As Cameroon won independence, Douala was the country’s “leading port for bicycle exports,” and “hosted the country’s first bicycle assembly plants.” ...
December 23, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Cyclists once crowded the streets of Douala. As Cameroon won independence, Douala was the country’s “leading port for bicycle exports,” and “hosted the country’s first bicycle assembly plants.” ...
These are the criminal words of a gangster regime:
“It’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S.”
– Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Dec. 21, 2025, accepting his appointment as DJT’s “special envoy” to Greenland.
...
“It’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S.”
– Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Dec. 21, 2025, accepting his appointment as DJT’s “special envoy” to Greenland.
...
December 23, 2025 at 11:58 AM
These are the criminal words of a gangster regime:
“It’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S.”
– Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Dec. 21, 2025, accepting his appointment as DJT’s “special envoy” to Greenland.
...
“It’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S.”
– Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Dec. 21, 2025, accepting his appointment as DJT’s “special envoy” to Greenland.
...
Historical portrait photography tells us something about the place of the bicycle in twentieth-century Bamako. As Issa Fofana and Issa Togola report in “The Resourceful Few,” Bamakois bicycle owners sometimes included their mount in the photo. ...
December 22, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Historical portrait photography tells us something about the place of the bicycle in twentieth-century Bamako. As Issa Fofana and Issa Togola report in “The Resourceful Few,” Bamakois bicycle owners sometimes included their mount in the photo. ...
Cyclists “were the logistical backbone of Aba’s palm oil economy,” Uche Uwaezuoke Okonkwo reports.
In “Bicycles, Brotherhood, and Oil in the Delta,” Okonkwo explains that in southeast Nigeria, export-oriented roads and railways neglected local transport needs, leaving bicycles to fill the gap. ...
In “Bicycles, Brotherhood, and Oil in the Delta,” Okonkwo explains that in southeast Nigeria, export-oriented roads and railways neglected local transport needs, leaving bicycles to fill the gap. ...
December 21, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Cyclists “were the logistical backbone of Aba’s palm oil economy,” Uche Uwaezuoke Okonkwo reports.
In “Bicycles, Brotherhood, and Oil in the Delta,” Okonkwo explains that in southeast Nigeria, export-oriented roads and railways neglected local transport needs, leaving bicycles to fill the gap. ...
In “Bicycles, Brotherhood, and Oil in the Delta,” Okonkwo explains that in southeast Nigeria, export-oriented roads and railways neglected local transport needs, leaving bicycles to fill the gap. ...
Reposted by Peter Norton
Continuing through the archives of Talking Headways by @theoverheadwire.com, I absolutely loved this episode interviewing @norton.bsky.social about the role of transport in society through the years.
Are cars a tool or a solution? Incredible idea, worth a listen!
Are cars a tool or a solution? Incredible idea, worth a listen!
Episode 362: The Traffic War is Never Won
open.spotify.com
December 20, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Continuing through the archives of Talking Headways by @theoverheadwire.com, I absolutely loved this episode interviewing @norton.bsky.social about the role of transport in society through the years.
Are cars a tool or a solution? Incredible idea, worth a listen!
Are cars a tool or a solution? Incredible idea, worth a listen!
In “Raleigh Riches, Achaba Hustle,” Yusuf Umar Madugu reveals the cycling experience of Kano. This ancient city, Madugu notes, is “now Nigeria’s second-largest metropolis and the commercial heart of the north.” ...
December 20, 2025 at 2:28 PM
In “Raleigh Riches, Achaba Hustle,” Yusuf Umar Madugu reveals the cycling experience of Kano. This ancient city, Madugu notes, is “now Nigeria’s second-largest metropolis and the commercial heart of the north.” ...
That this has happened is shocking. That this is even possible, however, is alarming. No cult of personality can be reconciled with representative government. Idolatry is betrayal. Acquiescence is cowardice. Neroism is despicable.
December 19, 2025 at 11:13 PM
That this has happened is shocking. That this is even possible, however, is alarming. No cult of personality can be reconciled with representative government. Idolatry is betrayal. Acquiescence is cowardice. Neroism is despicable.
Arthur C. Clarke (1968): “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
This is not just an observation. It’s a warning.
This is not just an observation. It’s a warning.
Magic, or menace? Listen to our fascinating chat with @norton.bsky.social about 🤖🚗, and the history of "motordom": open.spotify.com/episode/1jHC...
December 19, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Arthur C. Clarke (1968): “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
This is not just an observation. It’s a warning.
This is not just an observation. It’s a warning.
Today is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Carter G. Woodson.
Woodson was born December 19, 1875, in New Canton, Virginia, 35 miles south of my home.
In my work as a historian, no historian’s example has served me better than Woodson’s. ...
Woodson was born December 19, 1875, in New Canton, Virginia, 35 miles south of my home.
In my work as a historian, no historian’s example has served me better than Woodson’s. ...
December 19, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Today is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Carter G. Woodson.
Woodson was born December 19, 1875, in New Canton, Virginia, 35 miles south of my home.
In my work as a historian, no historian’s example has served me better than Woodson’s. ...
Woodson was born December 19, 1875, in New Canton, Virginia, 35 miles south of my home.
In my work as a historian, no historian’s example has served me better than Woodson’s. ...
“Kisumu is Kenya’s cycling city,” writes Jethron Ayumbah. Bicycles are far more common here than in Nairobi. In “The Lakeside City of Cycling Persistence,” Ayumbah guides us through Kisumu’s cycling experience. ...
December 19, 2025 at 2:38 PM
“Kisumu is Kenya’s cycling city,” writes Jethron Ayumbah. Bicycles are far more common here than in Nairobi. In “The Lakeside City of Cycling Persistence,” Ayumbah guides us through Kisumu’s cycling experience. ...
In “A Return to Bicycles?” Dorcas Nthoki Nyamai epitomizes Nairobi’s cycling experience through the photograph accompanying her title page. ...
December 18, 2025 at 9:42 AM
In “A Return to Bicycles?” Dorcas Nthoki Nyamai epitomizes Nairobi’s cycling experience through the photograph accompanying her title page. ...
In Tanzania the bicycle was both a declaration and an instrument of independence. In “Nyerere’s Bicycle of Self-Reliance,” Frank Edward reveals a familiar pattern by which cycling began in Dar es Salaam as a ruling-class import and developed into a practical local tool. ...
December 17, 2025 at 1:08 PM
In Tanzania the bicycle was both a declaration and an instrument of independence. In “Nyerere’s Bicycle of Self-Reliance,” Frank Edward reveals a familiar pattern by which cycling began in Dar es Salaam as a ruling-class import and developed into a practical local tool. ...