24 January 2021
Kent County Council is to research the effects of reducing the 60mph national speed limit on single carriageway rural roads. “To replace every sign to 40mph or 50mph would be both a huge cost and, in many circumstances, encourage faster traffic,” says Kent. “Therefore, should our research show a net-benefit, we would present the findings to central government, calling for a national change to the default national speed limit.”
‘Give capital vehicle licensing powers’ – transportxtra
24 January 2021 The mayor of London should be granted powers to implement a ‘London vehicle ownership duty’ that would replace Vehicle Excise Duty, says capital business group London First and consultant Arup. The proposal is one of four ideas suggested in a report looking at how TfL could reduce its long-term circa £2bn a year funding gap (LTT 08 Jan). “Replacing VED for all vehicles registered in London would allow the level of tax to be set by the mayor”
Air pollution linked to higher risk of irreversible sight loss | The Guardian
Large UK study found small pollution rise associated with more cases of age-related macular degeneration
Damian Carrington Enviroment editor
Small increases in air pollution are linked to an increased risk of irreversible sight loss from age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a large UK study has found.
Previous work had already found a link between dirty air and glaucoma and a link to cataracts is suspected. The scientists said the eyes have a particularly high flow of blood, potentially making them very vulnerable to the damage caused by tiny particles that are breathed in and then flow around the body.
Apr 2020) Cars to drive or a planet to live in? A numerical assessment. | Ideas from Brussels and York | Brussels Blog
20th Apr 2020
The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee reported:
In the long-term, widespread personal vehicle ownership does not appear to be compatible with significant decarbonisation.
Was the committee correct?
A crude test is to compare personal remaining carbon budgets with the emissions from personal vehicles, aka cars.
1 The fair personal remaining carbon budget
The remaining carbon budget how much CO2 can be released into the atmosphere to limit global warming to a given temperature.
Tim Jackson has estimated the UK’s fair share of the remaining carbon budget. For a 1.5°C rise (with a 66% chance of success) the UK’s share is 2.5 billion tonnes CO2. With a UK population of 66 million, this amounts to a “fair personal remaining carbon budget” of 38 tonnes CO2.
Rogelj et al. have estimated that to keep the Earth’s temperature rise to a maximum of 1.5°C (with a 66% chance of success) the remaining carbon budget is 320 billion tonnes of CO2. With a global population of 7.8 billion, that amounts to just over 40 tonnes CO2 each.
These estimates are for CO2 only: They do not include the effects of other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide.
Road traffic statistics – London region I DfT
Count points: 3,562
Time period: 1993 to 2019
Roads: 392
In 2019, 22.6 billion vehicle miles of traffic were travelled across the 9.2 thousand miles of roads in London.
The Innovative Way Ghent, Belgium Removed Cars From The City – youtube
Premiered Jan 1, 2020
@Streetfilms
“Best of 2020” viewers poll determined that the Streetfilm of the Year is from Ghent (and oddly also debuted the first day of 2020!) 120,000 plays on Youtube alone. Check out what you may have missed.
@filipwatteeuw
The Innovative Way Ghent, Belgium Removed Cars From The City
A MUST MUST WATCH FOR TRANSPORTATION LOVERS!Witness the transformation of Ghent, Belgium, who instituted the Traffic Circulation Plan in April 2017, which co…
youtube.com
Cyclist “seriously concussed” avoiding vehicle on Kensington High Street – where council recently tore out protected cycle lane | road.cc
Council removed safe infrastructure on key road from west London into city centre last month
A cyclist was left “seriously concussed” today after coming off their bike when they had to swerve to avoid a motor vehicle, but in doing so hit another one on London’s Kensington High Street – where the council last month tore out a protected cycle lane.
We understand that the incident happened towards the western boundary of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) with Hammersmith & Fulham, close to the Olympia exhibition venue.
Bicycle Companies Create Cycling Marketing Board To Fuel Bike Boom – Forbes
Carlton Reid Jan 20, 2021
The newly-created Cycling Marketing Board (CMB) aims to do for bicycle sales what the Milk Marketing Board once did for milk.
CMB has been formed by Fusion Media, a marketing communications agency specializing in cycling, and is paid for by bicycle brands, retailers and organizations to “entice new consumers to cycling, and diversify cycling’s image with governments and in the media.”
Fusion Media coordinated last year’s industry-backed #BikeIsBest campaign. A promo for the campaign has been watched nearly 3 million times on YouTube.
Crackdown on dangerous HGVs in capital to start on 1 March – transportxtra
Heavy good vehicle (HGV) owners will not be able to operate in Greater London from 1 March unless they comply with the Direct Vision Standard designed to reduce lethal blind spots. Transport for London (TfL) said the permit system will assign vehicles a star rating based on how much the driver can see directly through their cab window.
York bike couriers ask for cycling ban exemption – argue employers’ algorithms don’t account for pedestrian zones | road.cc
Gig economy workers can sometimes face exclusion from delivery apps for reasons beyond their control
Bicycle couriers in York have asked that a ban on cycling on pedestrianised city centre streets be relaxed on the grounds that it is making their deadlines impossible to hit. “York’s restaurants are relying on us,” argued a union representative.
York Press reports that cycling is not permitted on most of York’s pedestrianised streets.
However, Cristian Santabarbara, of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), says this isn’t factored into employers’ algorithms and so couriers risk losing pay for arriving at customers’ homes late.