March 23, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Mar 17, 2022
The Australien Government has made an ad about this summer’s floods and it’s surprisingly honest and informative.
Ways you can support us to keep making videos: Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/TheJuiceMedia
Triple7Music: https://audiojungle.net/item/epic-adv…
March 23, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Campaigners say subsidy scheme could create Ј2bn in health benefits and cut 1m tonnes of emissions annually
Peter Walker
An employee works on an electric bicycle at a factory in Germany. Photograph: Ralph Orlowski/Reuters
Ministers should consider subsidising e-bikes as they do electric cars, campaigners have urged, after a study found that mass use of such bikes could create more than Ј2bn in health benefits and cut a million tonnes of emissions annually.
While grants of up to Ј1,500 are available for low-emission cars, vans and motorbikes, there is no such assistance for electric-assist bikes, which help propel riders up to a maximum powered speed of 15mph when the bike is being pedalled.
According to an evidence review by academics at Westminster University, commissioned by the campaign group Bike is Best, boosting e-bike use would bring other benefits not created by electric cars, including reduced road congestion and fewer potentially dangerous particulates from tyre and brake wear.
Tyre Extinguishers – deflating SUV tyres as a form of climate action theguardian.com
March 23, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Damien Gayle
The activists who took “climate action” against sports utility vehicles by flattening their tyres in the last two weeks have been receiving solidarity and calls for information from around the world.
Tyre Extinguishers provides instructions on how to deflate SUV tyres, offers guidance on who to target and collates reports of actions across the country. They have gauged the campaign’s reach by angry emails from SUV owners.
Car-free Sundays? IEA sets out 10-point plan to reduce global oil demand – theguardian
March 23, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Energy watchdog says measures could help cut oil usage by 2.7m barrels a day within four months
Rob Davies
Driving more slowly, turning down the air-conditioning, car free Sundays and working from home should be adopted as emergency measures to reduce the global demand for oil, according to a 10-point plan from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Such measures and changes to consumer behaviour would allow the world to cut its oil usage by 2.7m barrels per day (bpd) within four months – equivalent to more than half of Russia’s exports – the global energy watchdog said.
Living without engines and car free day in the Netherlands – A View From The Cyclepath
March 23, 2022 By Steven Edwards
22 September 2020
The 1970s in Assen. The city was then full of cars. Cars are
now restricted in the city centre, but it would be incorrect to
assume that they’ve gone away. In fact, car numbers have
tripled since this photo was taken.
A myth has grown up about the Dutch being enthusiastic cyclists who live in green cities and rarely drive. In reality, the majority of journeys are made by motorized vehicles and people who live car-free are in a small and shrinking minority.
A life without motorized vehicles
Over the last year I’ve travelled about 7000 km. 6200 km was covered by bike and the rest I walked (I walk our dog 2 km a day on a normal day, sometimes much more). 6000 km is nothing to boast about. It’s by no means an extreme distance to cycle in a year – it’s barely more than enough to provide the minimum amount of exercise required for health.
March 23, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Research prepared by #BikeIsBest and the University of Westminster’s Active Travel Academy shows the general attitude in the UK towards e-bikes as well as a huge variety of their benefits, including the reduction of carbon emissions in comparison to electric vehicles (EVs).
The full report is available to download by clicking here.A poll of adults conducted by YouGov, suggests a broad support for e-bikes as a means of reducing carbon, even amongst those who are not currently considering purchasing an e-bike. According to the YouGov poll, one fifth of adults who did not currently or previously own an e-bike were considering purchasing an e-bike in the future, while 67% of participants stated cost was the biggest obstacle preventing them from making a purchase.
With simple policy improvements to address the cost factor as well as improved infrastructure, e-bikes have the ability to transform the way we live. As part of a rapid evidence assessment, the #BikeIsBest and Active Travel Academy report highlighted the benefits of e-bikes:
March 23, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Toby Porter
Climate crisis campaigners disrupted a government minister’s speech as he launched a Tory election campaign amid cars costing up to Ј1.98million.
Wandsworth Conservatives held their Gala Campaign Launch at a luxury car showroom, Joe Macari Performance Cars in Merton, where a McLaren P1 GTR could set you back the price of 20 black cabs or 200,000 boxes of washing powder.
It does on average about 20 miles to the gallon.
Education secretary Nadhim Sahawi was shocked to have the start of his speech there yesterday disrupted by “suprise guests” Extinction Rebellion Wandsworth, who dropped a banner bearing the words “No Planet B” from a balcony.
The two peaceful protesters were removed with what XR dubbed “totally unnecessary and unwarranted violence”.
Greenwich becomes fourth London council to oppose Silvertown tunnel theguardian.com
March 23, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Damien Gayle
A fourth London council has voted to oppose a new Ј2bn road tunnel under the Thames in east London, putting the capital’s mayor at loggerheads with local authorities over his biggest infrastructure project.
Sadiq Khan accused councils of “want[ing] to put off tough decisions”, after Greenwich councillors voted overwhelmingly to call for all work on the Silvertown tunnel to be paused immediately.
The vote means that both of the boroughs that would be primarily served by the tunnel now oppose it. Silvertown would link Greenwich peninsula with Royal Dock in Newham, where councillors two weeks ago voted for the tunnel to be cancelled. Lewisham and Hackney councils voted to oppose the tunnel in 2015.
2019) Anti-Car Groups Call for an SUV Ban, Protest at Frankfurt Auto Show – caranddriver.com
March 23, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Sep 14, 2019 Sebastian Blanco
• Environmental protest groups have been actively opposing the auto industry in Germany this summer, blocking a train carrying new Volkswagen vehicles earlier this month with their bodies.
UPDATE 9/14/19: Anti-SUV protestors entered the Frankfurt auto show when it opened to the public on Thursday, according to the Associated Press and as seen in the photo above. These protestors climbed on top of certain SUV models at the show and showed posters labeled “Klimakiller,” or “Climate Killer.”
UPDATE 9/9/19: Greenpeace and a German climate-change activist group, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, issued a statement demanding a ban on sport-utility vehicles. The Greenpeace International website declared: “What we are witnessing is a ‘SUVization’ of the model ranges being offered” and called today’s auto industry “truly grotesque.” Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess will meet with the activists on Monday night for a debate about these issues, the New York Times reported today.
Filed Under: Other News
March 23, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Zoe Williams
There has been a new Highway Code since the end of January, as anyone who listens to a lot of phone-ins will know. Unfortunately, if you get your information from phone-ins, the only detail you will pick up is that drivers are very annoyed about it. In fact, it’s not so much a technical rewrite as a whole new code of ethics.
There are, of course, new rules, including something called the Dutch Reach, which sounds like a cross between a rugby tackle and a contraceptive. But the main thing is the hierarchy of road-users, which goes, in descending order: pedestrians, cyclists, horses, motorbikes, cars and cabs, vans and mini-buses, HGVs. The principle, which you have probably worked out for yourself, is that those most likely to be injured in a collision take priority.
Filed Under: Other News
2019) San Francisco microplastics study shows car tires biggest likely source – Los Angeles Times
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Rosanna Xia Oct. 2, 2019
Driving is not just an air pollution and climate change problem — turns out, it just might be the largest contributor of microplastics in California coastal waters.
That is one of many new findings, released Wednesday, from the most comprehensive study to date on microplastics in California. Rainfall washes more than 7 trillion pieces of microplastics, much of it tire particles left behind on streets, into San Francisco Bay each year — an amount 300 times greater than what comes from microfibers washing off polyester clothes, microbeads from beauty products and the many other plastics washing down our sinks and sewers.
Filed Under: Other News
Transport analysis is ‘programmed’ to deliver roads, says Create Streets
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Transport prediction models are not sophisticated enough to “balance all the ways in which we travel around nor agile enough to adapt to changing technology and human behaviour”, argues a report by urban design group Create Streets.
In a review of how projects are evaluated, the group claims that embedded values lead to road-based outcomes.
The report’s author David Milner, deputy director of Create Streets, believes that transport prediction models must change “so we can design the infrastructure we really need”.
According to Milner, transport modelling often starts with the question, “Are you modelling for vehicles or pedestrians?” rather than “considering all types of transport holistically”. He writes: “Despite the rhetoric around sustainable transport we still think about walking, cycling and car transport as separate silos. Many planners will never touch a pedestrian transport model.”
Filed Under: Other News
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Dan Alexander Mar 14, 2022
Jeremy Vine shared a video of a taxi driver overtaking him five times, only to drop back behind at the next set of traffic lights.
“If you watch this clip from my commute, you’ll see there is no point whatsoever in any of this driver’s five overtakes — even with the roads clear,” Vine tweeted.
“No complaints about the cab driver: he never passed too close. But why can’t he see: even without traffic, it’s pointless to overtake a bicycle in a city? The argument is that a bicycle is faster, so every single overtake he does will have to be repeated. And as you see from the film, even though he is quite a good driver, all overtaking involves a slight increase in risk.
“I think my point is that any overtake bears risk, and they should be avoided if possible, and the clip clearly establishes that motor vehicles are slower than bicycles, so it’s best for him not to overtake me at all.”
Filed Under: Other News
What future for free public transport in US after COVID-19? – Thomson Reuters Foundation
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Many cities went to fareless systems to protect public health or boost flagging ridership, but are now focused on equity
By Carey L. Biron March 16
Filed Under: Other News
Dictator Inspires UN To Adopt Resolution Promoting Cycling To Combat Climate Change – forbes.com
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Filed Under: Other News
Study: Megacar Drivers Up to 4x More Likely to Hit Walkers While Turning – usa.streetsblog
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
By Kea Wilson Mar 17, 2022
SUVs and pick-up truck drivers are three to four times more likely to hit a pedestrian when they make a turn than the drivers of smaller cars, a new study finds — and researchers think it’s because federal regulators aren’t scrutinizing the common design features that make it impossible for megacar drivers to see walkers passing right in front of them.
In a new study of federal crash data by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, researchers found that crashes in which a driver kills a walker are three times more likely to involve a left turn if that motorist was piloting an SUV at the time of impact, compared to fatal walking crashes involving the drivers of smaller cars.
Fatal crashes involving pick-up truck drivers, meanwhile, are four times more likely to involve a driver making a left — and when it comes to right-turn crashes, they’re still 89 percent more likely. Right-turning SUV drivers are 63 percent more likely to strike a person than the drivers of smaller vehicles.
Proposed air pollution limit in England is twice as high as WHO recommends – theguardian.com
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Fiona Harvey
The government has proposed to set air quality limits that would allow twice as much small-particle pollution in England as the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends as an upper limit, and that would not be met for almost 20 years.
The new target is to reduce levels of fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, to 10 micrograms per cubic metre by 2040, in contrast to WHO guidelines, updated last September, that say concentrations of PM2.5 should not exceed 5 micrograms per cubic metre on average over a year.
Filed Under: Other News
Tougher laws on mobile phone use while driving set to take effect – road.cc
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Legislation banning use beyond just interactive communication comes into force next Friday
by Simon Macmichael
Next Friday 25 March Will see the long-awaited introduction of tougher laws on motorists who use their mobile phones while driving.
Since 2003, it has been illegal to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving Regulation 110 of the Road Vehicles (Construction & Use) Regulations 1986.
However, that regulation provides that for the offence to be committed, the driver would have to be using the device for “interactive communication.
Police in Oxford recover huge haul of stolen bikes, suspect arrested | road.cc
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
It’s the second such discovery in the Littlemore area of the city in five years, with the suspect potentially the same man in both cases
Police in Oxford have arrested a man for handling stolen goods and possession of criminal property after discovering what they described as “a large number of bicycles” from an address in the city.
Thames Valley Police say that the 54-year-old suspect was arrested following the execution of a warrant under section 8 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 at a premises on Giles Road in the Littlemore area of the city yesterday morning.
The bikes recovered are believed to have been stolen and police have begun the process of trying to find their rightful owners.
Officers have appealed for anyone with information that could be of assistance to their investigation to contact Thames Valley Police on 101, or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
Filed Under: Other News
Pedestrian-friendly cities have lower rates of diabetes and obesity – newscientist.com
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Matthew Sparkes
A review of 170 studies finds consistent evidence that people are less likely to be obese or have diabetes if they live in cities where walking and cycling is safe and convenient
Health 24 February 2022
Pedestrians in Montpellier, France
Manfred Gottschalk/Getty Images
Diabetes and obesity rates can be reduced by transforming towns and cities into places where it is safe and convenient to walk, cycle or take public transport rather than drive.
Just Stop Oil responds to Prime Minister’s call for a “climate change pass” – juststopoil.org
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
JSO Press March 10, 2022
The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP
The Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London SW1A 2AA
Dear Prime Minister
Thank you for the reply to our letter written by BEIS on your behalf (which we enclose below).
In the letter you have sought to justify investment in new fossil fuel supply projects, but have done so without reference to the expert advice from the International Energy Agency, the United Nations and the entire scientific community that such investment is inconsistent with keeping 1.5˚C alive.
It would appear that you know, investment in new fossil fuel supply projects jeopardises the future of humanity, but you propose to encourage it anyway.
While the BEIS response refers to the “independent Climate Change Committee” (which is funded by central government), it omits to mention the CCC’s letter to the Business Minister of 24 February 2022, which says:
Campaigners call for action over UK’s ‘shameful’ lung health – theguardian.com
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Andrew Gregory
The UK has the highest death rate for lung conditions in western Europe, research reveals, prompting calls from health leaders for urgent action to tackle the “national scandal”.
More than 100,000 people in the UK die from conditions including asthma attacks, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pneumonia every year, according to data analysis by the charity Asthma and Lung UK.
Across Europe, only Turkey has a higher respiratory death rate than the UK, analysis of data up to 2018 shows, the latest comparable data available from across the continent. The death rate is 162.7 per 100,000 people in Turkey and 134.5 in the UK.
In Germany, the rate is 76.8 while in France it is 59.1 – half the UK rate. People in the UK are three times more likely to die from lung conditions than people in Finland, which has the lowest respiratory death rate (38.4) in Europe, Asthma and Lung UK said.
It described the UK figures as “shameful”, and said that lung conditions had for too long been treated like the “poor relation compared with other major illnesses like cancer and heart disease”.
Cardiff plans intelligent transport network Technology – Transport Xtra
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Rhodri Clark 14 March 2022
The expected opening of Cardiff’s central bus station next year has prompted Cardiff Council to prepare plans to integrate transport technology systems. The draft plans acknowledge that improvements to pedestrian crossings and pavements are among the measures needed.
The new bus station, on the ground floor of a tower block, will have significantly lower capacity than its predecessor, which the council closed in 2015 to make way for property development.
Dame Sarah Storey replaces Chris Boardman as Greater Manchester active travel commissioner – road.cc
March 22, 2022 By Steven Edwards
Boardman left the role in January to head newly-launched government body Active Travel England
by Dan Alexander
Britain’s most successful Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey has been appointed Greater Manchester’s new active travel commissioner.
Last week, the 17-time Paralympic gold medallist announced she would be stepping down as Sheffield’s active travel commissioner in May, and today it was revealed she will be taking the Manchester role over from Chris Boardman.
Boardman left the role in January to head the newly-launched government body Active Travel England.
